footprintMinder

footprintMinder main screen

Inspiration

Nearly everyone is aware of the need to reduce their carbon footprint, but many people simply don't know where to star. We wanted to build a web app to show users how much of a change we could make if we reduce our carbon footprints by changing the way we commute or eat.

What it does

The app allow users to see their carbon footprint scores and question their daily habits by asking themselves questions like:

Should I drive today based on my carbon footprint score I got yesterday? Or should I walk instead because the app tells me it would reduce my carbon footprint by x amount. Should I limit the amount of meat I consume from now? The app tells me my score would be significantly lower if I cut out x amount of meat.

How we built it

The front end was built using React.js with the Material UI component library, and is connected to the Python Flask back end using a REST API we developed.

Challenges we ran into

Our team has very little experience in front end design, so we wanted to stretch ourselves by implementing a UI in React.js. Figuring out JavaScript's syntax, return types, and other quirks took quite a bit longer than expected.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Collectively, it is our first functional React.js App, so we are very proud of that.

What we learned

We got to experience how front end development works! None of us had use Javascript or React so there was a lot of learning involved. We also learned time and project management skills, and how to prioritize what features to develop when working with such a compressed development window.

What's next for footprintMinder

Adding support for more sources of emissions, like vacations, clothing, recycling, food waste, etc. Adding more dimensions to the footprint will help complete the picture for our users and open up new options to inspire users to reduce their own footprints.