EcoSnoop

EcoSnoop and Crowd Sourcing

EcoSnoop has received a great deal of email recently pro and con about what we are doing, how we are Nazi's, that we are causing the downfall of the green movement, suggestions that we are funded by Al Gore and George Soros to bring an end to society.  We accept the negative buzz as a result of our own shortcomings in marketing and examples.

EcoSnoop has no dog in the global warming fight.  Our effort is around eliminating unnecessary waste in our communities.  Waste that costs us money.  If eliminating waste also happens to reduces dependence on foreign sources of energy or emission of CO2, so be it. 

We are not looking for neighbors to snitch on neighbors.  We are after the waste around business, government, and community - all public spaces.  More specifically, we are after waste that building  owners do not know about.  Lights on at night in an office building and no one is there?  Mybe the owner would like to know.  Think of it as a suggestion box.  You don't need to listen.  We are not sending your name to DOE for re-education.

The notion of community engagement to resolve a challenge is referred to in some contexts as crowd sourcing.  Amongst the articles posted on about EcoSnoop, I think the Frugal Prosumer has come closest to understanding what we are trying to do, despite our poor execution. 

EcoSnoop Stirs Controversy - Good or Bad?

In a posting today on the Climate site WhatsUpWithThat.com (EcoSpy vs. EcoSpy) there was an open spirited debate on the invasiveness of EcoSnoop.  We like debate at EcoSnoop.  We can see how our emerging model could steer in a bad direction, but we are eager to strike a balance resulting in education not ridicule, and of course respecting privacy. 

• What are your thoughts?
• How can stop people using EcoSnoop for evil?
• How should we protect privacy?
• What specific features should we add or remove?

Growing EcoSnoop

EcoSnoop is a startup, as a matter of fact it is a total bootstrap funded by the sweat and tears of folks that want to make a little impact on society by making it easier to save energy, eliminate waste, and help people save money. We are not exactly sure about the business model, but Google was not sure either when they started. It will be a while before we have things worked out to get venture funding. We are focusing more on the iPhone application, which is why this website is a little rough right now. We of course will be adding blackberry, palm, etc over time.

We ultimately want to be a for profit entity, not necessary rich, but profitable so we can expand the way we need to offer a complete customer experience and effect change. We will be adding features to link to twitter/face book, allow more commentary from experts, garner revenue by helping companies be green, and much more. The value of EcoSnoop is a function of the users, content, and connection between groups.  You can help grow EcoSnoop in many ways:

• EcoSnoops: Adding pictures showing inefficiency attracts other users. You can add pictures via our iPhone app or via the web as an EcoSnoop member (http://ecosnoop.com/index.php?option=com_user&task=register). You can also add notes to each EcoSnoop case, providing more details and information by selecting a case and adding a note.
• Solve Cases: Look through the cases to see if you can help connect the case to the company or government entity that is leaving lights on or wasting energy. You can copy the website link and send it whomever might be able to resolve the issue. Please add a note to the Case so people know you are helping resolve the case.
• Find Users: Send information about EcoSnoop to your friends. The link for the paid ($1.99) iPhone app or a free version with ads. Follow and retweet EcoSnoop and energylover
• Find Businesses and Government that Care: EcoSnoop is starting to design its interface to companies and government entities, so that they can manage cases on their own. We are looking for beta users to share their requirements so we can make EcoSnoop more effective.
• Download EcoSnoop: If you like what we are doing, download a paid version of EcoSnoop from the iTunes store 
• Tell us how to get better: How to grow our EcoSnoop network is not clear. We have a range of users with different concerns including climate change, conservation, energy security, and saving money. We want to serve everyone’s interests. So, you can send your good ideas to snoop@ecosnoop we will see what we can do.
• Sign up for our email list: sign up for our email list on our homepage
• Contribute to EcoSnoop: We need cash to pay for development. Sending money to EcoSnoop is NOT tax deductable. But if we ever do charge a fee for the service (Unlikely), we will credit your contribution back to you for that subscription. But a second promise, we keep track of all the contributions and set aside that much profit when the time comes. We will host an online competition and donate the money to a good cause our community of users support. How about that? A contribution is easy using PayPal following the link below. Any amount helps. Users have contributed as little as a $1 and as much as $1,000, on average though people contribute $20.

Protecting Corporate Brands

Corporations are a target for organizations critical of energy waste.  But indeed many corporations are working hard to be good corporate citizens, often doing more than they are credited with.  EcoSnoop works with Corporations to help promote activism, allowing consumers to capture examples of waste they see working with "BigCo" and reporting examples of missives to the right people in the corporation to allow rapid fixes.For more information please contact snoop@ecosnoop.com.

EcoSnoop Community Principles

EcoSnoop is an evolving social community.  As community, we need to maintain a certain decorum to assure everyone benefits from the "networks" observations to eliminate waste.  These principles form the foundation of our online community, operations, and future strategies.

1. Assisting Energy Efficiency: Energy Efficiency offers a solution for saving money, reducing dependence on sources of energy, and offers a hedge to the uncertainty of CO2 emissions impact on cooling or warming.
2. Owners: Building owners, government and other large entities seek to reduce waste and inefficiency, but are not always aware of how they are wasting resources.
3. Observations: Customers and users of buildings and public space sometimes observe opportunities to improve efficiency, save energy or otherwise help business, government or the community, but are unsure who to inform.
4. Solutions: There are experts with effective solutions that have difficulty finding opportunities to help business, government and the community.
5. Free Market: A free market matching solutions and opportunities reduces the need for regulations, tariffs, and taxes.
6. Crowd Sourcing: Social networking systems can facilitate the connection between those that observe an opportunity, those that seek better solutions and those that offer solutions.
7. Privacy: Despite the benefits of Social Networking and tools offered by EcoSnoop, people have the right to privacy.  As a community, the EcoSnoop community will respect the rights of people and corporations to Privacy.  We assume others are likely aware of the opportunities discovered through EcoSnoop.  EcoSnoop will continue to adapt to facilitate solutions, reducing intrusion and eliminating misuse.
8. Residences: The community will not seek or report on opportunities regarding someone else’s residences/homes.  Personal privacy must be respected at all times.
9. Respect the Views of Others: EcoSnoop is not a political platform.  EcoSnoop is about using technology and social networking to help people, companies and communities understand how awareness can eliminate waste, reduce emissions, and save money. 
10. No Personal Attacks: Do not use EcoSnoop to single out and attack people or companies.  The best way to help people understand is through better information and cooperation.  In taking pictures and making notes on the EcoSnoop site, think about what information will help a person or company understand how energy efficiency and waste reduction can help them improve profitability and community appeal.
11. Company Names and Private Data: It is helpful to identify opportunities and describe ways to improve, but EcoSnoop finds the property owners take action quicker if they are not threatened or attacked.  Sometimes when lights are left on at night it might be a simple instance of night maintenance rather than persistent waste.  The EcoSnoop community assumes everyone is well meaning, so given them a chance to take action.  If they take no action, assume there is a good reason or work to better educate. 

A Community Driven Platform

As EcoSnoop continues to grow, this site will let users make recommendations to buildings owners. See a light than can be replaced with a Compact Florescent, take a picture and notify the building owner. A polite but empowered social networking experience, EcoSnoop will help us all take a step to green, one picture at a time.

Companies, government and other organizations can use EcoSnoop "Enterprise" solution to monitor their properties of energy, water and other environmental waste. Corporations that wish to encourage customers to find "Green" problems, can use EcoSnoop to motivate customers to engage in a collaborative effort to achieve better Green performance.

EcoSnoop is bootstrap funded.  We will continue to add more services and features as our community builds.  If you would like to help us, please contribute to the effort via PayPal.  The donation is not tax deductible or anything, but if our features ever include a paid component, we will apply your contribution at twice its value for those services if you elect to use them.

EcoSnoop is Not Big Brother

EcoSnoop is not about picking sides in the environmental or climate change debate.  EcoSnoop helps identify opportunities for making improvements that help companies and people reduce cost, waste and inefficiency.  McKinsey Consulting has identified Energy Efficiency as the best and cheapest form of energy.  Energy Efficiency often payback quickly, putting cash into our pockets to use for things we would rather do. Just as many people did not know what to use a personal computer for in the early 80's, so to do many people not realize how much energy can be saved in their daily life.

For those that feel strongly that climate change is man made, EcoSnoop offers the least costly method for reducing carbon emission - Energy Efficiency. For those that believe dependence on foreign sources of energy puts a nations security at risk, EcoSnoop offers the least costly method for reducing dependency on foreign sources - Energy Efficiency.

A Mission for Change

EcoSnoop's mission is to help our communities heighten awareness of opportunities to be more green, save energy, improve treatment of animals, and even fill pot holes. Leveraging the power of the community, EcoSnoops use their cellphone or the web to capture clear pictures of a problem and post these pictures on a community website so that building owners and others can take action. Have you ever.....

• Seen lights left on in a building, late at night, for no good purpose?
• Noticed a door that never closes properly, wasting heat or air conditioning?
• Observed a truck unnecessarily idling at a loading dock?
• Been bothered by a broken sprinkler running non stop?
• Complained about street lights left on all day?
• Wanted a pot hole filled?

EcoSnoop lets you help solve these problems and more. EcoSnoop is a photo driven "Trouble Ticket" system, letting you identify a problem while leveraging to community to take corrective action. The EcoSnoop website is a tool for environmental awareness and a tool for actively promoting energy conservancy and green awareness. By using the EcoSnoop iPhone application, the user becomes an important link in the chain of helping to report and mediate green waste (energy, pollution, etc.). Additionally, by going yourself and encouraging friends to utilize the website to add as much information as possible about the picture (address information, responsible party information, etc.) you are giving the EcoSnoop community the tools to encourage positive change!