Creation of an internet based global sustainability efforts mapping platform
Project Proposal 1.
2.
Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 2 1.1.
Project Goals & Objectives ...................................................................................................... 2
1.2.
Pilot Development ................................................................................................................... 4
Technical description....................................................................................................................... 4 2.1.
Tool Description ...................................................................................................................... 5
2.2.
Data ......................................................................................................................................... 5
2.3.
Data representation and analysis............................................................................................ 5
3.
Mock-ups ......................................................................................................................................... 6
4.
General technical specifications .................................................................................................... 13
5.
6.
4.1.
OpenGeo Suite ...................................................................................................................... 13
4.2.
QGIS ....................................................................................................................................... 13
4.3.
Website ................................................................................................................................. 13
Partners and contact information ................................................................................................. 13 5.1.
Switzerland ............................................................................................................................ 13
5.2.
India ....................................................................................................................................... 14
Budget and funding ....................................................................................................................... 14
Noé21 - Quai Charles Page 19 - 1205 Geneva – Switzerland - Tel : +41 22 329 51 36 - www.noe21.org -
[email protected] No2co2 Environmental Project – Plot 350-A, 202 Joy Apartments, 21st Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai, 400050 - Tel : +91 22 9987061676 - www.no2co2.in -
[email protected]
1. Introduction The overall goal of this project is to develop an internet based tool to document and map sustainability efforts of various businesses around the world with open source geographical information systems (GIS). GIS allows users to view, understand, question, interpret, and visualize data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns, and trends in the form of maps, globes, reports, and charts. The use of GIS will allow better and more comprehensive visibility of sustainability efforts undertaken by various businesses and communities and will allow benchmarking and comparison that could serve as a basis for eco-labelling programs, certifications, and rewards and in turn lead to eco-competition and dissemination of best practices. 1.1. Project Goals & Objectives The open-access sustainability mapping platform will be defined by the following features, each of which is explained in greater detail subsequently.
Comparability Knowledge Exchange
Extensiveness
Openness
Sustainability Mapping Tool
Connectivity
1. Openness: The platform will be characterized by ‘inward’ and ‘outward’ open access. With respect to ‘inward’ openness, it will allow individuals, research institutions, civil September 2013
P a g e | 2/14
Noé21 - Quai Charles Page 19 - 1205 Geneva – Switzerland - Tel : +41 22 329 51 36 - www.noe21.org -
[email protected] No2co2 Environmental Project – Plot 350-A, 202 Joy Apartments, 21st Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai, 400050 - Tel : +91 22 9987061676 - www.no2co2.in -
[email protected]
society organizations as well as enterprises to submit sustainability performance data related to specific organizational units: homes, buildings, neighbourhoods, commercial establishments and campuses (educational, corporate, institutions etc.). With respect to ‘outward’ openness, all visible data residing on the platform will be made available for download through interactive features that will enable selection of geographical boundaries (eg. by pin code, district level, city level etc.), data types, and specific organizational units (buildings, hotels, IT offices) for further use by civil society organizations, research institutions and policy advocacy groups. This openness is designed to empower more penetrative action by specialised groups that have felt the dearth of such well-organized and high-quality data and who’s efficacy would be greatly enhanced through access to it. 2. Extensiveness: The GIS platforms data-points (i.e. points on the map which will indicate institutional or individual sustainability efforts) will contain exhaustive data related to sustainability metrics and supporting documentation. In particular it will include the following qualitative & quantitative information fields: - description of technological, behavioural and operational processes/policies adopted to enhance sustainability performance - videos, sustainability reports, images related to sustainability initiatives - GHG mitigation (tonnes CO2e avoided/year) - energy conservation (kWh and kJ avoided/year) - water conservation (kilolitres avoided/recycled/recharged per year) - waste management/reduction (% and qty. of non-biodegradable waste recycled, tonnes compost generation/year, kJ waste-to-energy recovery/year) - material management/reduction (% material reduction achieved for paper, plastic, wood, metal etc., % and qty. of recycled/biodegradable materials used) - socio-economic sustainability: community socio-economic and environmental development project metrics 3. Comparability: Comparison of sustainability performance as measured across above mentioned parameters, especially GHG emissions and energy, across peers within geographic boundaries and similar end-use sectors will be enabled through statistical comparison, tabulation, and plots/charts available for live visualization and download. The emphasis on comparability also seeks to aid policy advocacy through enabling visualization of trends and quantification of opportunities for GHG September 2013
P a g e | 3/14
Noé21 - Quai Charles Page 19 - 1205 Geneva – Switzerland - Tel : +41 22 329 51 36 - www.noe21.org -
[email protected] No2co2 Environmental Project – Plot 350-A, 202 Joy Apartments, 21st Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai, 400050 - Tel : +91 22 9987061676 - www.no2co2.in -
[email protected]
mitigation, energy conservation, water intensity reduction etc. in various geographical regions and economic sectors in a country. 4. Knowledge Exchange: A bulletin-board forum and continually evolving library of knowledge building materials (videos, ready reckoners, case studies etc.) for referencing and exchanging sustainability best-practices for all vital economic activities / sectors will be setup and embedded into the platform. The forum is intended to foster organic growth and diminish adoption barriers for sustainability best-practice replication at the least possible cost; maximizing efficacy of this platform beyond just direct one-way knowledge and information dissemination through publication. 5. Connectivity: To further the organic growth and empowerment of more specialized sustainability efforts by other environmental / social groups across the globe, the platform will deliberately integrate features to enable publication of as much content onto other platforms through APIs and other facilities for embedding GIS maps / widgets onto other portals and publication onto mobile communication platforms. 1.2. Pilot Development At first this project will focus on efforts made by partners and members of (F)air conditioning in India (http://www.fairconditioning.org/) in the cooling and refrigeration domain (domestic, industrial and commercial refrigeration and air-conditioning). In a second step, once the tool is developed, it will be extended to other areas of sustainable development such as water resource management, waste management, energy efficiency, mobility, etc. This project would be part of the second phase of the campaign for natural refrigerant gases in India started by Noé21 in 2012. (http://www.noe21.org/site/images/stories/Noe21/pdf/project_description_nov2012.pdf)
2. Technical description As stated in the introduction, the goal of this project is to develop an internet based mapping tool to showcase sustainability efforts undertaken by various entities. The idea is to offer a better visibility of said efforts by allowing the general public to consult maps containing relevant sustainability oriented data. September 2013
P a g e | 4/14
Noé21 - Quai Charles Page 19 - 1205 Geneva – Switzerland - Tel : +41 22 329 51 36 - www.noe21.org -
[email protected] No2co2 Environmental Project – Plot 350-A, 202 Joy Apartments, 21st Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai, 400050 - Tel : +91 22 9987061676 - www.no2co2.in -
[email protected]
By achieving this, visibility will be enhanced and databases will be created allowing statistical and spatial analyses of sustainable development. 2.1. Tool Description The tool will consist of a widget or module (an API – application programing interface for interaction between a database on a server and the web) that can be embedded in any website. An associated dedicated website for the widget could also be created that could include the widget and other forms of data presentation such as charts and reports. The module will be interactive and will allow the general public to zoom in and out on maps and to interrogate different objects and to access information. Entities that wish to enter data will have to pay a subscription fee (amount TBD) and go through a data verification process. They will then become members of the project and could subsequently receive awards and certifications for their efforts. 2.2. Data At first, a minimal amount of data will be presented by the tool:
Name of business Type of business Size of business Website of business Old Technology, practice New Technology, practice GHG mitigation - Quantity of saved C02 per year (t CO2e/yr) – Per cent reduction Energy conservation - Quantity of saved energy per year (KWh/yr) – Per cent reduction Money Saved ($) Any other relevant fields (TBD)
But once the tool is developed; it is fairly easy to broaden its scope and to include all kinds of other information such as water savings, waste management practices, materials used, mobility data, etc. Data can also be easily classified in different categories depending on areas of interest such as businesses, public entities, communities, etc. 2.3. Data representation and analysis One of the strengths of GIS is that it allows representing data in a spatial manner and offers comprehensive visibility of data. Once the GIS associated database is populated, numerous types of representation can be imagined according to what information one wants to show. September 2013
P a g e | 5/14
Noé21 - Quai Charles Page 19 - 1205 Geneva – Switzerland - Tel : +41 22 329 51 36 - www.noe21.org -
[email protected] No2co2 Environmental Project – Plot 350-A, 202 Joy Apartments, 21st Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai, 400050 - Tel : +91 22 9987061676 - www.no2co2.in -
[email protected]
The mock-ups in chapter 3 display a few basic ways to represent data regarding GHG mitigation. But anything can be imagined. Different semiology can be applied to represent different types of data and several various maps can be created to showcase any kind of information. Another strength of GIS is that it allows for spatial and statistical analysis. Once the database is populated different layers can be created and information can easily be aggregated to offer a big picture or separated to offer specific detailed figures. Charts and reports can be created directly from the database to show the evolution of the information with time for example or to build a ranking chart of best environmental efforts from businesses for instance. In a second phase, one can also imagine performing several types of spatial analyses such as number of natural gas based ACs sold in regards to cost of living for a neighbourhood for example (or education level, or crime rate, or local climate, or urban density, etc.) Such analyses can allow to identify hotspots of where uptake of natural based ACs is the most likely by the population and can allow targeting of specific areas for marketing purposes or for implementation of natural gas based AC retailers for example.
3. Mock-ups The following images offer an idea of what the tool will look like and the data that it could display. All information is fictitious and random and serves only for demonstration purposes. The mock-ups have been made with ArcGIS proprietary software. The open source software that will be used has a different look.
September 2013
P a g e | 6/14
Noé21 - Quai Charles Page 19 - 1205 Geneva – Switzerland - Tel : +41 22 329 51 36 - www.noe21.org -
[email protected] No2co2 Environmental Project – Plot 350-A, 202 Joy Apartments, 21st Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai, 400050 - Tel : +91 22 9987061676 - www.no2co2.in -
[email protected]
Figure 1: Overview Map
Noé21 - Quai Charles Page 19 - 1205 Geneva – Switzerland - Tel : +41 22 329 51 36 - www.noe21.org -
[email protected] No2co2 Environmental Project – Plot 350-A, 202 Joy Apartments, 21st Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai, 400050 - Tel : +91 22 9987061676 - www.no2co2.in -
[email protected]
Figure 2: GHG Mitigation Map September 2013
P a g e | 8/14
Figure 3: Energy Savings Map September 2013
P a g e | 9/14
Figure 4: Identification interface September 2013
P a g e | 10/14
Figure 5: GHG Mitigation Chart September 2013
P a g e | 11/14
Figure 6 Sustainability Comparison Chart
September 2013
P a g e | 12/14
4. General technical specifications This tool can be built using open source software under general GNU licenses. There are various ways of creating this tool. Here are two non-exclusive ways: 4.1. OpenGeo Suite
PostGIS and PostgreSQL for the relational database
Geoserver to publish share and edit geospatial data Geoexplorer: Javascript application for composing, styling, editing and publishing mapping applications Client SDK: provides tools for building web mapping applications
4.2. QGIS
PostGIS and SpatiaLite for database QGISserver to store, share and edit geospatial data QGIS API or Openlayers API for web publishing
4.3. Website To build a specific dedicated website for the tool to allow members to log in and to edit data there are numerous ways, to say the least. One way is to use an open source CMS application such as Joomla! in combination with XAMPP to install the Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl.
5. Partners and contact information 5.1. Switzerland noe21: is an independent association of public utility founded in 2003 and based in Geneva, whose mission is to identify, evaluate and promote solutions to climate change, with a constructive approach. Noé21 is a member of the Alliance for Climate, the European Office of Environment and Climate Action Network Europe CAN-E. Noé21 is accredited to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Noé21: http://www.noe21.org/site/ Sven Schmitz-Leuffen Environmental Engineer Association Noé21 19 Quai Charles-Page CH-1205 Geneva September 2013
P a g e | 13/14
t. + 41 22 329 51 36 m. +41 78 924 42 30 e.
[email protected] 5.2. India no2co2: ‘The no2co2 Environmental Project’ is a registered non-profit Research and Outreach Society in India. It is a proactive Climate Change leadership body that elevates Climate Change from an environmental issue to a human rights issue of the severest magnitude ever encountered by the human species. It creates tools, establishes programs and designs campaigns for galvanizing and channelling the individual and his radial congregations – the household, the community, and the economy, into a state of Climate Change responsibility, accountability, solutions awareness and participation. no2co2 cofounded and is the facilitating agency of India’s first Sustainability Ecolabel (‘The Green Signal’) with the Center of Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA). It is co-founded by a lifetime Ashoka Fellow with expertise in Environmental Engineering, GHG Mitigation and Energy Conservation. Its board members are co-founders of the Mangrove Society of India, Mumbai Environmental Social Network, ‘The Walking Project’, ‘The Informed Voter Project’, Founder of DailyDump Composting Solutions & RecycleGuru, and Research Fellow with the Andaman Nicobar Environmental Team.
no2co2 : www.no2co2.in Vivek Gilani Ashoka Fellow, Environmental Engineer Co-Founder, President: no2co2 Environmental Project Plot 350-A, 202 Joy Apartments, 21st Road, Bandra (W) Mumbai 400050 t. 020 - 3042 1636 m. +91 99 87 061 676 e.
[email protected]
6. Budget and funding TBD in accordance with interest from funders
September 2013
P a g e | 14/14
