EcoQuest

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Inspiration: Coming into this project, our team knew we wanted to help the environment but also keep it engaging for our users. EcoQuest is a perfect combination of these two values, and helps motivate users to do environmentally friendly actions, instead of contributing to the global issue of global warming.

What it does: EcoQuest is an app/website where users get points for doing environmentally friendly actions, like walking instead of driving, or simply just recycling or composting. We also have a CarbonTracker feature that tells users an approximate amount of how much carbon their actions prevent from going into the atmosphere. Users can also complete challenges and compete with other users in their area for prizes and awards.

How we built it: EcoQuest was built using a modern and efficient tech stack focused on performance, scalability, and a great user experience. We used Vite as our build tool for its fast development server and optimized production builds. The app is written in TypeScript for type safety and scalability. For the user interface, we used React along with shadcn-ui components to create a clean, accessible, and responsive design. Tailwind CSS helped us rapidly develop custom, utility-first styling that looks great on both web and mobile views.

Challenges we ran into: One major challenge was calculating accurate carbon offsets in a way that’s both meaningful and understandable to users. We had to balance scientific accuracy with simplicity. Another challenge was designing a UI that felt both educational and engaging—we didn’t want it to feel like homework. Finally, syncing real-time data for leaderboards and rewards took some back-and-forth on the backend to ensure performance and fairness.

Accomplishments that we're proud of: Our team is incredibly proud of our CarbonTracker feature that tells users an approximate amount of how much carbon their actions prevent from going into the atmosphere. We also are proud of our multitude of challenges, which will help raise awareness about how even small things can help the environment.

What we learned: We learned how powerful gamification can be in driving behavioral change. We also gained experience in environmental research, data estimation, and how to translate those concepts into user-friendly features. From a technical perspective, we deepened our skills in cross-platform development, real-time databases, and user experience design.

What's next for EcoQuest: We are looking forward to partnering with businesses to offer users coupons or discounts if they win the competition in their locality. We believe this will help attract more users and also motivate current users to focus more on their eco-friendly actions.