CO2 efficient washing machine scheduler

Inspiration

Procrastinating putting washing on in a student household can be dangerous. Just when you really need that jumper, the washing machine is loaded with someone else's stuff and now you have no time to wash anymore before you need to leave for lectures. We felt that the solution to these kinds of situations needed a simple scheduling system to book washing slots and avoid conflicts.

• Please note it may take a moment for the API results to be collected and processed ## What it does This scheduler takes in your available times and provides you with a slot which, based on those available times, suggests the least CO2 producing time to put the washing on. This both gives you security in that you will be able to get that washing done and just a little bonus that by putting your washing on in this hour, you are helping to save the planet. You can predict the amount of CO2 intensity produced by our energy providers across the next 48 hours. Simply putting your washing on in times of low intensity can decrease CO2 emissions and contribute to the battle of climate change! We also put in a points system which bases off how much better your booking time was than the worst option, giving users incentive to rack up points and since its first-come-first-serve, the users who book earlier will get lower emission slots and therefore more points.

How we built it

To get CO2 forecast we use the Carbon Intensity API, a free API that gives amazing forecast data. We have made a web-app with a python backend and a REACT front end.

Challenges we ran into

There were various challenges faced. REACT was a new framework to us, so learning that was tricky and time consuming. Similarly, trying to come up with the best algorithm to schedule the bookings was difficult. The scope of our project has dramatically decreased from our original idea, which was a full appliance scheduler, from dish washers to dryers and even things like car charging.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud be developing a project that is the first step to a way to combat climate change.

What we learned

We learnt to divide up tasks and jump from section to section when needed, as well as speedy bug fixes.

What's next for CO2 efficient washing machine scheduler

We hope that our project can be the inspiration to a much more complex system of scheduling multiple appliances to get the best out of the day's CO2 forecast - which could even be narrowed down to regional location. For example, charging your car at night, and leaving the washing until after 6pm can save a lot of emissions. Or, if you and another housemate both need the oven for dinner, why not put the food in at the same time to save on energy? It could work for multi-users, or just a single user - as well as sending notifications as reminders to put an appliance on. The goal is that collaboratively, across your household, you can get all your chores and tasks done but limit emissions in the process, and avoid clashes when different people need the same appliances.

Built With

• flask
• javascript
• python
• react
• sqlite