It's been a while since I've written about a Facebook app, but this one, designed by two interaction design students, caught my eye. Via itbusiness.ca, GreeNet is the project of Simon Fraser University students Kevin Muse and Jin Fan. It won second place and $4000 in the Interface Design category at this year's Imagine Cup, a student technology/programming competition put on by Microsoft. Environmental awareness is a hot topic, and everything is more fun with high score lists, so GreeNet visualizes your energy savings in the form of virtual plants. The plants or tree grow inversely proportional to your energy usage, and are displayed beside your friends for comparison.
In the video, they theorized cooperation with BC Hydro, whereby a user inputs their Hydro account number and consumption data is obtained from power company data. While power companies may be reluctant to provide such data to third parties, BC Hydro has already had some experience in the Facebook application space with the Green Gifts application, built by Vancouver's Social Signal. Kevin and Jin, pitch your idea to them, if you haven't already, they have the resources to make it happen.
GreeNet isn't live on Facebook, but you can watch their demo video.
