Updated March 2024
There are millions of apps and a growing number of them have an ecological purpose. The huge and growing eco-apps market is making a significant contribution to the welfare of the planet and its inhabitants.
This post follows up on a 2012 eco-apps article. When that article was published, there were less than 800,000 apps. According to Statistica, as of 2021, there were 3.04 million apps available on the Google Play Store and 2.09 million on the Apple App Store. Consumers spent $133 billion on apps in 2023.
Ecologically oriented apps are organized around several categories, including air and water quality, transportation, energy, education (games), consumer information, food and visualizations, and chemicals.
Harnessing Technology for Environmental Sustainability
Air & Water Quality
EPA AirNow: This mobile app provides real-time air quality information that you can use to protect your health throughout the day. Just enter the zip code of your location to get the current air quality index information and air quality forecasts for ozone and pollution.
State of the Air: This air quality app shows live color-coded maps for any U.S. location and includes both ozone and particulate pollution counts. The app also provides air quality alerts, short-term forecasts, and opportunities to learn more about air quality risks. It also includes a mechanism to contact lawmakers to push for more stringent pollution regulations.
Bluesky Map: This smog-busting mobile app from the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE) allows users to monitor air and water pollution in China. The app uses government-installed air and water monitoring systems and reports real-time emissions from sources all over the country. High-pollution areas are identified with orange circles. This app encourages citizens to report high levels of pollution by emailing government officials.
Dropcountr: This app enables you to conserve water by connecting you to your water utility company via smartphone. Water companies can send customized drought and water budget messages or notify you of leaks. You can also see how much water you use and compare these figures to others.
The app will also help you to set a reasonable water budget to conserve water. You can organize their water consumption by day, week, month, or year. Dropcountr also informs you of rebates to help you save money.
Transportation
Carbon Emissions Calculator for Air Travel: This easy-to-use app allows passengers to estimate the carbon emissions attributed to their air travel. Simply select your origin and destination airport, and specify the class of travel and number of passengers. The app will display the carbon footprint and the distance traveled.
ChargeHub: Along with a big map and route planning, the app filters for plug type, charging speed, charging network, and more. The success of electrifying transportation depends on a robust charging infrastructure. Apps like ChargeHub are an essential part of consumer acceptance.
Alternative Fueling Station Locator: This app locates alternative fuel stations, including electricity, natural gas, biodiesel, e85 Ethanol, propane, and hydrogen. It was developed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and draws on information from Clean Cities’ Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC).
The app can find the 20 closest stations within a 30-mile radius for any alternative fuel. You can view the locations on a map or as a list containing station addresses, phone numbers and hours of operation.
Carma Carpooling: This app helps you find nearby people to share your commute with so that you can reduce traffic, emissions, and the cost of your trip. Riders pay the driver and Carma’s website claims that carpooling with its platform is often cheaper than the bus. More than 80 percent of the fee goes to the driver, however, drivers can also give free trips by adding people to their favorites.
Waze: This traffic navigation app helps you waste less time and reduce emissions by avoiding gridlock. Drivers share real-time traffic delays, including accidents and traffic jams, so that others can avoid them.
Roadify: This app gives you real-time data on transit info in 50 cities in the US and Canada. It tells you when the next bus or train is coming, and it can even relay information explaining delays.
Energy
Ohmconnect: This energy app helps customers save energy, reduce emissions and earn money doing it. It’s designed for people getting energy from the grid. You earn money by powering down electric devices in your home for about 30 minutes following a notification from the app. It can interface with smart gadgets like Nest thermostats or a Tesla Model S. The app can also remotely turn things off for you. Ohmconnect is only available in California.
EnergyCloud: Information is power. With EnergyCloud, you can track your energy use in real time down to the appliance level. Conserve energy and lower your energy bills.
Google’s Project Sunroof: This Google app allows you to assess your home’s solar potential. This energy app is a web application, and you simply enter your zip code to get an estimate of how solar energy might work on your roof.
VELObill: This energy app makes it easy to read and understand your energy bills. The information provided helps consumers reduce their energy usage and utility costs by making smart decisions about consumption.
You can view your utility usage and determine if it is high or low. You can also compare these results to peers and examine ways to save. You can create an energy-saving action plan and decide whether to change consumption habits or seek an infrastructure upgrade to your home.
Education & Games
#climate: This educational app helps you to discover and share actions that you can take to combat climate change. You can build a profile and specify the topics you’re passionate about. When you log in to the app, you’ll see suggested actions personalized for you.
You can choose an action to learn the intended impact and the details you’ll need to take part. Then, you can share actions on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Google+ with a single tap. You can track your progress on the platform with metrics like the number of supporters you’ve recruited, the count of reactions you’ve inspired, and the number of shares you’ve caused.
Oroeco Climate Hero: This web app tracks your personal impact on climate change, and you are encouraged to engage in friendly competition to reduce your impact on Facebook. The app provides 50 tips to reduce your footprint.
These tips are personalized based on your location, your data, and how you can save money and reduce emissions. You can track how the choices you make (including how you spend your money) impact climate change. You can reduce your footprint with customized actions in each area of your life.
Consumer Information
Ethical Barcode: This consumer app provides information about the products we purchase every day and what our purchases actually support. This app harnesses information from about 20 nonprofits to help shoppers make environmentally friendly decisions.
A quick scan of a product provides a snapshot of the manufacturer, its owner, an overall grade on those companies’ ethics and the factors that comprise that grade. The percentage-based score also factors in certifications and recent news about particular companies.
Greening Your Family-Free: This green app is a practical tool for parents who want to make safe product choices for their families. There are a variety of categories ranging from food, cleaning, and personal care, as well as many subcategories that offer facts about what to avoid in manufactured products.
Besides advising you on what not to buy, another helpful feature of this app is the list of environmentally friendly products that are safer options. The paid version is more extensive and provides more than 30 recipes and tips for concocting your own non-toxic cleaning products.
Greenly Climate App Store: Greenly Climate offers businesses a range of apps to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Greenly allows business leaders to measure accurately, reduce waste, promote sustainability, contribute intelligently, and report on their progress.
Think Dirty: This consumer app tells you exactly what’s in the personal care product you’re about to buy. You scan the barcode, and it shares information about potentially harmful ingredients and gives alternatives.
Food
OLIO: OLIO is a sharing app that allows users to reduce food waste by finding and sharing food items locally that would otherwise go to waste.
Fooducate: This app empowers food shoppers everywhere to make healthy, informed decisions while at the supermarket. Scan your food, and the app generates a letter grade (A, B, C, or D) for each product scanned, along with brief explanations and warnings about its nutrients and ingredients. The app will recommend minimally processed, real foods that are naturally rich in nutrients and antioxidants.
Locavore: This food location shopping app shows you which fruits and vegetables are in season and how long they will be in season. It uses GPS to find community-supported agriculture (CSAs), farms, and farmers’ markets in your area that sell organic foods.
The app can also keep a running list of comments by other Locavore users and the types of local produce they’ve eaten and where they’ve purchased them. The app has one-click access to thousands of healthy, seasonal recipes and other information that can be shared. The app not only lets you know which fruits and veggies are in season—it also lets you know how long they’ll be in season.
Farmstand: This app helps you discover locally grown food from more than 8,700 farmer’s markets around the world. It can help you find the closest market and see what’s going on at farmer’s markets nearby. It shows you information on each market, such as open times, directions, and photos shared by other market-goers.
You can also post your own photos to share with the Farmstand community to promote your favorite farmer’s markets. You can also add new markets or keep the information on existing markets up to date in the app, and when searching, you can filter farmers’ markets by distance, next open time, or by which ones accept food and nutrition benefits like SNAP, EBT, and WIC. This app allows you to search for community farmers’ markets in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, making it an excellent download for frequent travelers..
Local Dirt: This app is a one-stop shop for buying organic, grass-fed, heirloom, or free-range foods delivered directly from your local farm.
Seafood Watch: This redesigned app makes it easier than ever to get the latest recommendations for seafood and learn more about the seafood you eat. You can also locate or share businesses that serve sustainable seafood. Seafood Watch features up-to-date seafood recommendations and searchable seafood, sushi, and restaurants.
The app allows you to sort seafood by “Best Choice,” “Good Alternative,” or “Avoid” rankings. It also highlights a list of “Super Green” seafood that’s good for you and the oceans. Additional features include a glossary, links to seafood recipes and news, and other things of interest to all seafood lovers. The app also offers access to in-depth conservation notes and reports.
Visualization
Our World in Data: Our World in Data combines data visualizations, interactive maps, and informative articles on a searchable database of topics, including this one.
NASA’s Images of Change: NASA’s web app visualizations track the changing face of the planet as a consequence of climate change. This includes retreating glaciers, drought and other impacts from human activity. It offers a global perspective on our planet in flux, including before-and-after images.
Image credit: Ecobox, courtesy of Vimeo
