Can social networking help solve our energy woes?
My Clean Break column today takes a look at the power of Web 2.0, or social networking, or whatever you want to call it as a way to problem-solve or influence consumer and social behaviour as it relates to energy consumption, management and production. I take a look at a new initiative in Toronto called ClimateSpark.ca that is using the Web as a way to access a community of good ideas that might otherwise be lost in the noise or overlooked by a finicky venture-capital crowd. I also look at a new Toronto-based Web venture called Lowfoot.com that is trying to created a Facebook-like community of energy users who can participate in a cash-for-conservation program that rewards good behaviour. Who knows if it will work, but clearly there appears an emerging role for Web 2.0 in the energy game.
Tags: ClimateSpark, Lowfoot
Tyler Hamilton is associate publisher and editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and former business columnist for the Toronto Star. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005.
November 14th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
Tyler,
Very very valid point! This is surely a huge opportunity and it will just take someone a little while to figure out how to crack the nut. It piggy backs on humans want to be like other people. Its like the Hotel Towel Experiment (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/yes/200808/changing-minds-and-changing-towels) the only thing that makes people put their towls up is that they know that other people are. With energy it also unleashes people competitive nature. I’m seeing a facebook application of some sort, perhaps Zynga will pick it up to have some actual real world benefit!
What do you think?
Chris
November 21st, 2010 at 2:36 pm
A very valid point. And Chris is right, it is just like the Hotel Towel experiment.
I think you are right!