Derek Eder

Civic Tech Builder

I use data, build tools, and organize people in Chicago to democratize power. Read more »

DataMade
Founder and Partner

Chi Hack Night
Co-Founder and President Emeritus

Wanna talk? Email me.

Hi, I'm Derek Eder. I'm an entrepreneur, developer, civic technology leader and climate advocate. During the day, I run DataMade, a civic technology company. We build open source technology using data to empower journalists, researchers, governments and advocacy organizations.

I am Co-Founder and President Emeritus of Chi Hack Night, Chicago's weekly event to build, share, and learn about civic technology. Read my full bio »

Blog more »

Joining Local Government as an Oak Park Village Trustee

Published on Jun 17, 2025
On June 17 2025, I will be appointed to the Oak Park Village Board as a Trustee. I am assuming the seat that was recently vacated by Susan Buchanan and will fulfill the remainder of her term until 2027. This will be a part-time, paid commitment. I will continue my important work as Partner at DataMade and Board Member at Chi Hack Night. This is the speech I will give after being sworn in, introducing myself and sharing my vision for Oak Park.

Electrifying Our Old Oak Park Home more »

In 2022 and 2023, I documented our process of fully electrifying our 100-year-old home in Oak Park, IL. We installed solar panels on our roof (giving us a source of free renewable electricity), switched out our gas furnace with electric heat pumps, and replaced all gas appliances with electric equivalents.

Read all 5 parts »

Talks Public appearances and presentations | more »

How to Fully Electrify Your Home

I was interviewed by the Village of Oak Park on our fully electrified home and showed off our heat pumps, induction stove, hot water heater, solar panels and electric car charger.

Introducing Decarb My State

As part of our 500th Chi Hack Night on July 12, 2022, I gave a lightning talk debuting DecarbMyState.com, a new website that shows where emissions come from in each state to galvanize action on climate change through clean electrification.

Intro to being anti-racist in civic tech

What does it mean to be anti-racist? What is white supremacy culture and how does it show up? Over the past months, Chi Hack Night’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee has discussed and researched these questions. I am joined by fellow Chi Hack Night Board Members Ryan Spencer and Samantha Evans to share what we learned in our blog post so that we can all work to make our communities more equitable and just.

How Chicago ‘Hacktivist’ Derek Eder Uses Public Data for Good

WTTW Chicago Tonight interview I did with Phil Ponce on Chi Hack Night, DataMade, and the work done by the Chicago civic technology community in the last 5 years. We discussed some more recent projects including Chicagos Million Dollar Blocks and Justice Divided.

Projects Civic tech projects I've built or collaborated on | more »

Illinois Solar Map
https://ilsolarmap.com

As of May 2023, 1,622,000 kilowatts of operating solar capacity have been installed in the State of Illinois thanks to the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA). The Illinois Solar Map allows you to explore solar projects by Census Tract, Place, County, and State Congressional Districts, as well as by category of project.

Decarb My State
https://decarbmystate.com

With volunteers at Chi Hack Night, we pulled together emissions and electrification data for all 50 states + DC and organize it based on the biggest sources of climate pollution: the machines we use to heat our homes, cook our food, get us places, and produce our power. We count and name every coal, gas and oil plant that needs to close, track how many of our buildings and cars have been electrified, and how much wind and solar has been built.