EcoFacts: Interactive data to save the planet

Andrés Quijano, from Argentina, is one of 14 finalists in the contest "Apps for Climate", that recognizes the most innovative applications developed on World Bank indicators.

It has not been so long since Quijano received an email from her mother telling him about the World Bank competition and the ceremony that will be held in Washington DC
on June 28th.

In about four months, Quijano created the application Ecofacts, submitted it to the contest on the closing day, and was elected one of the three finalists from Latin America (along with Colombia and Bolivia).

"Ecofacts is a software application that aims to raise awareness on climate change through the comparison of a country with the region to which it belongs and the rest of the world," said Quijano, who as a child produced compost in the garden of his home.

The site shows the comparative information in a chart and the user can change the display of some indicators.

Open and interactive

"My idea is that the user interacts with the data as he likes and see what is most interesting for him about three indicators: carbon dioxide emissions per capita, energy consumption and sources of energy production," says Quijano .

In addition, the application is open source, allowing others to copy and modify.

In the end, the app provides alternatives to reduce the impact on climate change through changes at home, in transportation and at country level. Again, the user can manipulate the indicators and see different degrees of impact.

Quijano, 33, holds a degree in Computer Science from the University of Buenos Aires and works free lance developing applications and games.

He also receives a grant from the Trust Fund for the Promotion of Software Industry (Fonsoft), of the National Ministry of Science and Technology.

In 2009, he first travelled to United States thanks to a scholarship to attend the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. In Washington D.C. he will now receive the news if his application is worthy of one of the top prizes of this global contest.