Appropedia is a wiki-based website that contains content relating to sustainability, poverty, environmental degradation, and international development.
Appropedia can be used to help people who lack in financial stability and are looking for an alternative source to advance their financial expertise as well as environmental sustainability.
Appro means "Appropriate Technology". Despite "pedia" in the title, the site is not an encyclopedia, but a collection of various types of content, including original research.
Appropedia was founded in 2006 and registered it as a not for profit in California.
The website is organized into portals that are groups of articles arranged by topics. Topics include construction, energy, food & agriculture, health, and water. Like other wiki based websites, the content can be navigated in multiple ways, using tags to indicate themes.
Content is made under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license.
The rules for content acceptance and editing on Appropedia vary from Wikipedia due to having different goals. For example:
An Ontario man, Aren Page, used Appropedia to help him design an off-grid residential vehicle.
Michigan Technological University faculty Joshua Pearce used Appropedia to share hundreds of designs for cost saving.