CarbonCompass

Los Angeles is responsible for approximately 27 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year. This WebApp allows users to compute their CO2 emissions, based on the modes of transport used.

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Inspiration

Los Angeles is responsible for approximately 27 million metric tons of Greenhouse Gas emissions per year . To promote attentiveness towards reducing CO2 emissions, a primary greenhouse gas, for the residents of this metropolitan city, CarbonCompass is a demonstration of the intersection of environmentalism with addressing the technological divide (by making a WebApp that is easy to use and navigate) that details how much CO2, in pounds, a user has emitted through their use of transportation. From here the user can reflect on strategies on reducing their emissions, and test their reflections using CarbonCompass and see if their hypotheses hold.

What it does

CarbonCompass acts as a "personal journal" for LA denizens to get an idea of their carbon footprint, throughout the trips they take. By entering the distance of each of the trips they have taken, as well as their chosen mode of transport, CarbonCompass gives the user a detailed breakdown of the CO2 emissions of each of their trips, as well as the total CO2 emission throughout. The user can select from four common forms of transportation:

  • Walking/Bicycle,
  • E-Scooter,
  • Bus,
  • Car,

How we built it

We built the application using React, as well as using the typical web technologies JavaScript, CSS, and HTML.

Challenges we ran into

One of our main struggles was to keep track of the total emissions when the user refreshed the page, since that would reset the total carbon emissions. By making use of the locally stored tasks - stored as an array of JSON objects - we were able to solve this issue.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of the simplicity and effectivity of CarbonCompass. Users can simply add and remove trips with intuitive navigation and clicks of buttons. Furthermore, the design is crisp which enhances user experience.

What we learned

As a group, this was our first extended experience using React, so our front-end development skills were solidified. One aspect of the technology that we learnt from this project, for example, was using state hooks.

What's next for CarbonCompass

A Leaderboard system! To give even more incentive for those living in LA to reduce their carbon emissions as much as possible.

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