Carbonly

Inspiration

Our inspiration for Carbonly came from a few key challenges we noticed in the world of sustainability. Often, convenience is prioritized over environmental impact, and eco-friendly alternatives can be less accessible than unsustainable options. This, coupled with the feeling many people have that their individual actions don’t significantly contribute to solving global issues, leads to inaction. We wanted to address these concerns by making sustainable choices rewarding and fun, while also supporting local small businesses.

What it does

Carbonly is a web app that encourages sustainable habits through a point-based system. Users create tasks focused on eco-friendly actions, like reducing waste or conserving energy. Each task is assigned a point value, and when the user completes a task, they earn those points. Points accumulate over time, and users can redeem them at participating local businesses, creating a direct incentive for being environmentally conscious while also supporting the local economy.

How we built it

Flask with Python, SQLAlchemy, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Challenges we ran into

We faced several challenges during development, such as managing the user database and styling the web app. The process involved a lot of trial and error, but ultimately a lot of learning. Time was also a significant constraint for us, as we only had our weekly hackathon club meetings to work on the project, with each session lasting less than an hour.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Despite the obstacles, we’re proud of what we accomplished with Carbonly. This was our first full-stack project as beginners, and we successfully integrated multiple technologies. We created a functioning platform that motivates people to take small, impactful actions toward sustainability, while also learning a lot about coding and project management along the way.

What we learned

Throughout the project, we gained valuable experience in full-stack development, particularly in handling databases and front-end design. We learned how to manage our limited time effectively, making each weekly meeting count. The project also taught us the importance of iterating on our designs to improve both functionality and aesthetics.

What's next for Carbonly

We plan to implement AI features that suggest sustainable tasks based on user activity, making the experience more personalized. Additionally, we want to assign different point values depending on task difficulty, so that more challenging actions are rewarded appropriately. We also plan to add detailed statistics to show users the impact of their actions, like tracking their carbon footprint or the amount of energy they've saved.