Inspiration
Environmental degradation is a long-standing problem in the human society, and many people are ignorant of how their actions and activities impact the environment, either for good or for bad. For example, climate change is a result of irresponsible decisions we make on a day to day basis. Whether a person chooses to recycle paper or not can contribute a lot to how much carbon footprint they leave behind and the impact that will have on the environment. Therefore, I was inspired to build this project to serve as tool that can be a moral guide people's decisions, actions, and choices that impact the environment.
What it does
The software is a carbon footprint calculator. It utilizes certain tested metrics to calculate a person's carbon footprint based on regular activities like monthly electricity, gas, and oil usage, car mileage, air travels, and recycling decision.
How I built it
I built this project in Python. In the backend of the project, I used Google's Gemini Pro model to create the AI part of the application, which recommends practical solutions to reducing carbon footprint based on an individual's total carbon footprint score. The total carbon footprint is computed and the output of that calculation is passed to Gemini for generating recommendations. The frontend of the project was built using Python's Gradio web framework. I chose to use Gradio because of its very simple syntax, which greatly speeds up development time since I was already running behind schedule. Also, Gradio really facilitates creating a simple UI, which makes it easy for first-time users to quickly understand what the application or software does. And that was the goal of this project.
Challenge I ran into
The main challenge I encountered building this project was getting a reliable formula for calculating carbon footprint and what metrics/parameters to use. It took quite a bit of researching before I could finally find what seems to be a reliable formula for performing this calculation.
Accomplishments that I am proud of
I am proud of how well the project has turned out and the fact that it is calling attention to and attempting to address a long-standing sustainability issue, which impacts our lives.
What I learned
What I learned from building this project is that my actions impact the environment even without me realizing it. Therefore, I am resolved to become a more responsible citizen of the earth.
What's next for Carbon Footprint Calculator
In the future, I intend to add some more functionality to the software, such as graphical representation of data over time, which will require connection to a database. My goal is to eventually make it a versatile environmental activity monitoring software, which can be utilized by individuals and organizations passionate about sustainability.
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