ecoAir

Web app based community portal where all involved KEY players can access their carbon footprint information and recommendations to offset.

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Targeted Challenge

Sustainable Air Cargo

Inspiration

We have also come across the Net Zero 2050 IATA plan and realized there is a great challenge when it comes to transparency and motivating all key stakeholders to be part of the great cause.

We need people/parties to be motivated towards sustainability. And what a better way to convince them is to:

  1. equip them with the right knowledge.
  2. Help people process info
  3. Leverage the leaders (IATA to enforce)
  4. Make actions easy and enjoyable (with incentives, disc, green badges, etc)
  5. Allow participation
  6. Take one step at a time Based on article: https://nbs.net/articles/how-to-motivate-people-toward-sustainability/

In modern world, it has become our second nature to look up and consider online reviews, whether we want to purchase an electronic, choose a restaurant, or book a hotel. The reviews not only have the power to influence consumer decisions but can strengthen a company's credibility.

This is where our solution/idea will come in. By providing a dashboard for airlines/agents/shipper/consignee, etc. with how they contribute in CO2 emissions, they can analyze how they impact the environment. And by these infographics/reports, in coordination with IATA, we can think of actions to take in achieving a greener environment and sustainable air cargo.

What it does

  1. This web app addresses the two key challenges faced by Carbon Offset program – transparency & motivation.
  2. It brings all KEY players together on the ecoAir community portal and provides:
  • Data transparency to Governing bodies such as IATA in form of registries
  • Motivate the players in form of Badges/Rating and Green Loyalty program.

How I built it

  • The initial idea/inspiration was brainstormed by the team.
  • We worked on the story line and identified the key actors who need to create the positive impact to meet the end goal.
  • We wore hat of each actor and created his ‘wish list’
  • The ‘wish list’ question gave us the UIs we will need and APIs we will need to support the workflow.
  • For UI’s we created wireframe/mock-ups and for the API we studied the oneRecord and decided which APIs we will be using and changes needed to it to make it work with the wireframes and work flow.
  • We prioritized the development and based on it distributed it (Few of team members translated the mock-ups into real UI and few worked on API side).
  • Used oneRecord API’s to feed the data to ecoAir – Company, transportMeans, transportMovements, pieces and shipments (with enhancements)
  • Came up with ecoAir’s own set of recommendation APIs which can be consumed by Cargosysystems to make greener decisions.
  • Use ReactJS for the UI
  • Use of Springboot, MongoDb, oneRecord standard public implementation for the backend.

Challenges I ran into

  • The evolving nature of the documentation of OneRecord API took time to comprehend what is the correct request for the API endpoints
  • The domain objects are complex and multilevel for simple object creation
  • Since our idea was broad, we faced some scoping issues and time difficulties
  • Aside from OpenRecord API, we were able to develop UI using react-js even if some of the developers are beginners with the platform
  • Some of our members had Visa issues so they were not able to join on-site

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

  • We have considered a lot of possible scenarios, and were able to define a good solution for the IATA Net Zero 2050 Sustainability Plan
  • We are able to successfully implement OneRecord API
  • This is our first time joining a hackathon and we are pleased with the results despite the challenges

What I learned

  • Great tools make great applications. But more than the tools available, great team work is what really matters.
  • Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, so expect that not everything (with limited amount of time) can be accomplished, but be wise and quick on what are the key things that needs to be addressed.
  • OneRecord is a great initiative and the possibilities for it to support multimodal solutions is almost endless.

What's next for EcoAir

  • Try to create a startup/POC and provide ecoAir as a service in CHAMP
  • ecoLand and ecoSea sustainability portals

Repositories

https://github.com/ThomasLoi/EcoAirAPI
https://github.com/uupuludukala/EcoAir

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