Eco-Save - App for Planet & Pocket

Aim

To build Eco-Save, a free app to help people and the planet - by cutting household carbon, waste and pollution, and bills.

The money-saving app that helps people and the planet

We need your support to further develop our app, Eco-Save, to help people save money, cut household carbon emissions and reduce waste, water usage and pollution.

Why? We are in a climate and environmental emergency. We need people to switch to a sustainable way of living to protect our environment. Many people are also struggling with cost-of-living pressures, so we also want to help them save money on their bills at the same time. To have a real impact across the UK, an app like Eco-Save, which is freely available, user friendly and easily accessible to people across the UK can help achieve that.

An app that also helps people save money will have a much broader appeal.

What it could achieve – A practical, user friendly app with popular appeal that is used by thousands of households (or more) could save thousands of tonnes of carbon emissions, as well as cutting waste, plastic and pollution every year.

With your support – We can turn our current basic prototype into win-win for the planet and supporting people who are struggling to pay their bills.

How – We are crowdsourcing to further develop the Eco-Save app - currently a prototype being tested. The funds we raise here will help us bring in more expertise to our growing team of volunteers and network of contributors, as well as the necessary support systems and technology.

The Eco-Save prototype is already helping people to cut hundreds of kg of CO2, as well as household waste and use of polluting household products. We now need to take Eco-Save to the next level so it can scale up its impact. 

Why your donation matters

Every £1 donated will go to ensuring the app is further developed and used by thousands, if not millions, of people across the UK. This app will help them cut household costs and cut their greenhouse gas emissions by hundreds of kilogrammes a year, as well as reducing household waste, water usage, and pollution. All adding up to reductions of many tonnes across the country.

Your contribution will help us build our crowdsourced team of expert volunteers to ensure that Eco-Save, reaches its full potential, with content and features that inform, inspire and enable people to take everyday actions (and some bigger steps) that will make a real impact on tackling climate change and protecting our planet.

Your support will help ensure the app can become mainstream - adopted and used by households across the country.

Crowdsourcing the app - bringing the volunteer expertise and commitment needed - will mean we can stretch the money raised much further.  Up to 20 times more.

What will make the app a success?

Promoting Eco-Save as a money-saving tool as well as a sustainability app will ensure it reaches the widest audience, broadening its appeal and use. It needs to appeal those who have other priorities and concerns such as managing to pay the bills.

An app that helps people save money, while also benefitting the environment is a win-win for the user and our planet. Eco-Save has the potential to make a significant impact on household bills, sustainability and the wider environment.

Content and features that encourage users to use the app regularly and share with their friends. These include:

• Practical and easy low-cost ideas for reducing energy, waste, water and plastic use    
• Tips, advice and tools tailored to the user, time of year and location
• Progress tracking so users can monitor household money, carbon, waste and other savings
• Community content to promote local sustainability and environmental projects / services
• Free and ad-free: No cost, no advertising, and no in-app purchases
• A range of incentives to encourage use and sharing.

More about Eco-Save, the app for people and the planet

The app focuses on everyday actions that people can take at home to save money and be more environmentally sustainable. Eco-Save will be full of practical tips and ideas, from cutting food waste and lowering energy bills, to finding clever ways to repair, repurpose or reuse household items. It will also help people find the most cost-effective ways of reducing use of plastic and toxic household products, and water consumption.

We want to inform, inspire and enable people through everyday practical tips, advice and information. Small steps can add up to big savings, helping struggling households to get by. Each small step is also a reduction in emissions. It’s win-win for the user and the environment.

Eco-Save is about making sustainable living simple and accessible. For many struggling with the cost of living, saving money is critical, so thinking about the planet comes second. Our app helps people achieve both at the same time, appealing to everyone.

Why an app?

There are many benefits to further developing Eco-Save:

• Our app will be freely available so it’s easily accessible to every household with a smartphone
• Users can track how much carbon, waste, water and money they save, which is a good way of encouraging more use and sharing
• Each individual will create a positive impact, which all adds up across up thousands of users to a significant nationwide impact
• Includes features and content with competitive elements such as personal/local challenges which will encourage people to keep using and share the app with their friends
• Advice and recommendations can be tailored to each user, so they are relevant and timely
• There's a lot of information out there already, but the advantage of an app like Eco-Save is that the right information is presented in one place, in the right quantity at the right time for it to be acted on
• People can receive personalised recommendations based on their household needs, the time of year, locality, interests and past actions
• Eco-Save can take people on a journey from easy everyday steps to long-term lifestyle changes, and on to more climate and environmental action
• Users can be notified about sustainability support and services available in their area
• Users can receive news about upcoming sustainability and environmental activities they may be interested in
• Eco-Save can provide local information and incentivise the uptake of local services, as well as supporting community projects. We see this as a key feature. Helping increase support for community-led initiatives will help these grow and make environmental activities more accessible and more of a part of the users’ community life. Another win-win.

What we’ll spend the money on

All donations will go towards supporting and developing the app, including:

• Recruiting and supporting volunteers to help us build an app that scales up the impact on climate change
• Developing the app’s systems, features and roll out
• Paying for essential IT licences and technology 
• Building a community network across the country of local info providers, advisers and supporters.

There are also other ways to support our new app - we also need involvement in shaping and developing the app. We need to make Eco-Save a truly people powered app for the planet. See “How else can I help?” in FAQ section for more details.

Who is behind the app?

The Eco Centre is a charitable community benefit society which started five years ago to help people live and work sustainably. Over the last two years we’ve grown hugely to over 30 volunteers – most of whom joined in the last year to get the app off the ground.

The Eco Centre is a non-profit membership organisation based in Taunton, with charitable aims, owned and run by members – a community of people and organisations who want to see practical action against climate change. Anyone can become a member for as little as £1.

Our team is made up of passionate volunteers, community organisers and tech-savvy changemakers. We’ve been working in communities across Somerset (where we started from), helping people live more affordably and sustainably. 

The Eco Centre’s mission is to empower people to live and work more sustainably. Its aim is to inform, inspire and enable people, their communities, and their organisations to take action on climate change and protect the environment.

The Eco Centre’s work ranges from practical local workshops, including sessions on cutting energy use, reducing waste, to digital tools that share sustainability knowledge nationally. 

We’ve already helped over 200 people in fuel poverty to reduce their bills and keep heat in their homes through practical advice and energy-saving kits, as well as helping them with cut household waste.

We help people like Joanne, a single mum in her 20s on Universal Credit who was skipping meals regularly. We helped Joanne save over £200 a year so she now has the money to put enough food on the table for her and her two children. This is the kind of impact we have on people’s lives, that we want to scale up. We want to help many more people like Joanne across the country — with your support.

FAQs

How can I ensure my donation will be well used?

As the overwhelming majority of work on the app will be crowdsourced so current and expanding team of expert and passionate volunteers the impact of your contribution will be multiplied many times. We have very little overheads.

Do you have to know how/capacity to do this?

In less than a year we've come from no expertise to producing a basic prototype that is being trialled now in selected areas Thanks to the current team sustainability experts and enthusiasts, and experienced programmers (and others!). However, to build a successful app of this complexity means we have to recruit, manage and support a much larger team of volunteer content creators, carbon accountants, designers and programmers, and supporters. As well as develop a network of local information contributors, advisers on supporters. But we know what it takes and we are planning building capacity for this.

Are you a charity?

Yes, we are charitable community benefit society –  known as an "exempt charity". We are registered with the FCA rather than the Charity Commission - but we still have charitable objectives and restrictions just like other types of charities.

When will I receive my reward?

Rewards will be sent out by the end of February - thank you for your patience.

How else can I help?

There's two ways of helping:

• Please share this page, one of our relevant social media posts, or one of our emails with as many of your contacts as possible
• If you're not already done so please complete our survey to give us your views on how to make the app successful and benefit your local community, and let us know if you want to be more involved or supportive in some way of the app’s development.

How did you come up with the idea for the app?

The idea from the app comes from:

• Our community outreach In a range of urban and rural locations providing advice and help with sustainable living. And we wanted to find a way of scaling up the impact of what we were doing.
• We've done a lot of engagement and consultation, we surveyed over 600 people in the last three years, and consulted over 80 organisations.

All of this has helped to shape our plans.

We will continue to engage people directly, As the app is piloted and rolled out. Feedback and engagement with users across the spectrum is essential to making sure that the app is relevant and effective.

How much money do you need?

Our initial £10,000 target is the bare minimum to take us to next upgrade of our basic prototype. And it will help us find other support to keep the work going.

But if we can raise over £30,000 we will in much better position to put progress on from a web app to a fully-fledged mobile app within 12 months. Anything less than that will just mean slower progress.

Are you going to make a profit out the app?

No, it will be free to use, with no in app purchases. We want to make it as accessible and user friendly as possible - we want to get the maximum impact for the planet.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made