Top prizes in B.C. Apps for Climate Action contest go to VELO, VanTrash

Luke Closs hopes the B.C. government will hold more contests in order to spur the development of applications that make use of open data.

“I think these contests are a fantastic way to encourage innovation,” the Vancouver software developer told the Straight today (September 16). “So, I’d like to keep this happening maybe twice a year—something like that—where it’s just a regular thing, a regular part of our community, to keep recognizing this innovation and encouraging innovation.”

Closs was at the Vancouver Aquarium to accept the People’s Choice award in the Apps for Climate Action contest. Along with Kevin Jones, Closs developed VanTrash, a garbage-collection reminder service. They won $3,000 for their efforts.

VanTrash is one of 17 Web and mobile applications that vied for Apps for Climate Action’s 26 prizes. The contest challenged Canadian developers to create applications that raise awareness of climate change and use data sets from the B.C. government’s Climate Change Data Catalogue.

The $5,500 grand prize, for Best Overall App, went to VELO. The app—developed by John Anzin, who wasn’t on hand to receive his award—aims to encourage businesses to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions through measurement and benchmarking. VELO also placed first in the Best Web category.

Math Tappers: Carbon Choices, created by Tim Pelton, won the top prize for Best Mobile.

Herb Lainchbury’s Waterly took home first place in the Best of B.C. category.

GreenMoney, developed by Ryan Nadel and Anshul Goyal, won second prize in the People’s Choice category, which garnered a total of over 500 on-line votes from the public.

Nadel told the Straight that he’s happy that members of the community recognized his iPhone app, which encourages users to see the relationship between their everyday spending and global warming, and to make environmentally responsible choices.

“It speaks to the fact that people understand the importance of it and the value of using technology to effect change and make a positive impact,” the Vancouver digital-media producer said.

John Yap, B.C.’s minister of state for climate action, was on hand to present some of the prizes. After the ceremony, the Liberal MLA for Richmond-Steveston told the Straight that he hadn’t tried any of the apps in the contest yet, but he planned to check them out.

“We’re really excited that we had the response from the developer community and some real creativity was shown through and some great apps now have been created,” Yap said. “And we look forward to these apps informing people and inspiring people to think about and maybe take action on climate change.”

John Yap announces the People's Choice and Best Overall App winners.

The Best of B.C. winners are recognized.

You can follow Stephen Hui on Twitter at twitter.com/stephenhui.

Here is the full list of Apps for Climate Action contest winners:

Best Mobile

Winner: Math Tappers: Carbon Choices, created by Tim Pelton

Honourable mentions: Green Money, created by Ryan Nadel; and VanTrash, created by Luke Closs

Best Web

Winner: VELO, created by John Anzin

Second place: Waterly, created by Herb Lainchbury

Third place: BCEmissions, created by Carson Lam

Honourable mentions: ShowMeBC, created by Jan Hannemann; Save-the-Rain, created by Mark Laudon; and Smoggy, created by Paul Yuan

Best of B.C.

Winner: Waterly, created by Herb Lainchbury

Second place: BCEmissions, created by Carson Lam

Third place: ShowMeBC, created by Jan Hannemann

Honourable mentions: Save-the-Rain, created by Mark Laudon; The Climate Reports, created by Dave Jarvis; and Smoggy, created by Paul Yuan

People's Choice

Winner: VanTrash, created by Luke Closs

Second place: Green Money, created by Ryan Nadel

Third place: ShowMeBC, created by Jan Hannemann

Honourable mentions: Save-the-Rain, created by Mark Laudon; Smoggy, created by Paul Yuan; and Math Tappers: Carbon Choices, created by Tim Pelton

Best Overall App

Winner: VELO, created by John Anzin