Bangor Green
Project 3, New Media 200, By Claudio VanDuijn
An environmental Rating App For The Greater Bangor Area
The Idea
Our project is a proof of concept app called Bangor Green. This app inspects businesses for their environmental impact and gives a letter grade (scale of A to F) The app allows the user to search all businesses within the Bangor area that the app has graded. This app would help environmentally conscious customers find like-minded businesses and avoid excessively harmful ones that might not be forthcoming with their own environmental data. Essentially the app is a way for local people to shop with the environment in mind. Just as restaurants have to have routine health inspections we hope this app would hypothetically start a similar trend among general commerce in regards to eco-friendliness and sustainability. Eventually conquered businesses would start coming to Bangor Green for active feedback on where they are going wrong and what they can do to stop it.
The Rating Procedure
The rating is based on five aspects, establishments sustainability, carbon emissions, sourced goods, waste disposal, and company transparency. For each of these aspects, we developed 6 to 10 questions that can be asked of the company. These 6 to 10 questions add up to the total in each category. Then each category is added up to get a total number out of 100. This number is then translated into a letter grade for the company.
Note: Each category will be rated on a scale of F to A and the final grade averaging them all together will be given at the top. An F in any category bars them from getting an overall A no matter how good the rest is. This is to ensure the business is making strides in all areas and not just succeeding in a few green aspects.
Here is each rating and the questions asked to get the rating number.
Establishments Sustainability:
- Solar power is one of the most energy-efficient methods to save money and stay clean. Is this implemented in any way?
- Is all the building space being utilized? Smaller buildings have lower impacts and cost more, if there’s extra space it is most likely a waste of money.
- How is water use being reduced? Is water constantly running or going to waste at all?
- Are you heating your building even when it’s not being used? Does the heat constantly have to be on?
- Is there insulation? This can reduce heat usage which saves energy and money.
- Are there many windows for natural light, or are lights constantly on? Building more windows can save much more energy
- Is anything provided reusable? Such as cups, plates, straws, and silverware?
- Are the materials to make the building nontoxic? Are they considered green?
- Are any light bulbs energy saving?
- Low flush toilets are a huge way to save money. Toilets use much more money than we think, is there anything implemented to help with that?
Carbon Emissions:
- Meats take more emissions than any other product, how often are different meats being prepared and produced?
- Transportation using fuel can generate harmful emissions, how far do your vehicles need to travel?
- Are your vehicles’ fuel efficient? Electric?
- How much power does your equipment use up?
- One way to reduce carbon footprint is to plant locally. Does your business have a local produce provider?
- How much beef does your establishment cook and source?
- When making and cleaning up different things, are you cautiously recycling?
Sourced Goods:
- Are your products organic?
- Do you know where your goods are coming from?
- Are your sources local manufacturers?
- How reliable is your supplier?
- Are goods always in good condition? Have they ever been damaged?
- Do you know where the goods are coming from?
- Is your supplier sustainable?
Waste Disposal:
- How much waste does your business produce?
- How much of it is toxic?
- How do you dispose of a said toxic material?
- In what proportions does your waste come in: Paper, Plastic, Metal?
- How much of your waste is recyclable?
- How much of your waste is recycled?
- How do you dispose of your non-toxic, un-recycled waste?
Transparency:
- Are the products handled properly?
- Is the information on the product provided or disclosed?
- Do the providers inform you of where the food is grown/coming from?
- Are you aware of the environmental impact of the products you are purchasing?
- How energy efficient are the suppliers?
- What plans does your company have to become more eco-efficient
- Are there product methods such as organic certifications?
- Are there indirect or direct environmental impacts with these products?
The Logo and Seal of Approval
Our seal of approval will be placed on the door of the business so customers know the business complies with our standards. The customers will also be able to see the seal on google and through our app. Here are a few mock-ups of the seal and potential app.
A larger example of the seal.
An example of how the app may look.
The Rating process and Many-to-Many strategy
The rating process is the key to this app. Bangor is our focus group for the launch but the app could expand to other places; because having a single person go from business to business would be both costly and not very time efficient we need to look into many to many solutions. I will outline a few ideas for the business review below, with many to many solutions as there base.
Method 1: Do a freelancer style system, people would apply to be a business review expert. We would review their applications and train them online for what to look for and how to approach businesses. They would then go to businesses and review them, we would pay the individual for each review.
Method 2: Businesses could review themselves, we could then check fact their reviews. This would cut down on manpower and allow us to streamline the process.
Method 3: Donation based review process, customers of businesses could donate to having their favorite business reviewed. This would allow funding for hiring people to perform the reviews and allow us to expand much faster.
Method 4: We could pair with local sanitary and food health inspection agencies, we could share our information in exchange for theirs. This would allow us to spend less on reviews and more on expanding the app.
Method 5: We could charge a few from the companies being reviewed. This fee would help pay for the app and reviewers.
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