open analysis of open data - climate change challenge

Business Objects is a powerful but expensive business intelligence tool (NRC uses it).  Therefore I was surprised to see that

Business Objects, a company that focuses on helping businesses make the most of the information they already have, is announcing an effort to foster a new community around open data analysis. The project will be called Insight and to help draw participants to it, they're announcing the first of what they hope will be a series of challenges: use the available data to help cities approach the problem of climate change.

...

The first challenge is being unveiled today at the Large Cities Climate Summit, happening right now in New York City.  The city of Toronto has worked with the environmental group zerofootprint and Business Objects to create what they term the GoZero Footprint City Calculator. At the press conference announcing the effort, Toronto's mayor, David Miller, expressed very high hopes for it: "Climate change is the issue of our time and it’s up to all of us to do our part to minimize the impact of day-to-day activities. Zerofootprint Toronto is going to help make my city not only one of the greenest on the planet, but one of the most innovative as well."

Via Ars Technica.

The Insight site bears the rather provocative banner "Can Open Data Save the World?"

It's interesting to contrast this with thw recently-launched Yahoo Green site, which takes a more traditional hectoring-you-into-conservation approach.