Team

Aryan, Ayaan, Charan, Sai, Sujeeth

Houston Streetlight Report

Help Houston save energy.

Inspiration

Streetlights that stay on when they should be off waste energy. But reporting a problem can be difficult when residents don’t know the pole number, exact location, or how to describe the issue.

We built Houston Streetlight Report to help residents identify the right streetlight and prepare a clear report for CenterPoint Energy. Our goal is to make it easier to flag energy-wasting lights and help Houston use energy more efficiently.

What it does

Houston Streetlight Report helps residents identify a streetlight, document its location and issue, and prepare a report for CenterPoint Energy. By making it easier to report streetlights that waste energy, we hope to help Houston reduce unnecessary electricity use.

Residents can:

Open the website on a phone without downloading an app.
Take a photo or choose one from their device.
Use their location, search for an address, or select a streetlight on the map.
Review the selected streetlight’s location and pole information.
Choose an issue, such as a light that stays on during the day, an outage, flickering, pole damage, or exposed wires.
Review the report details before continuing to CenterPoint Energy’s official reporting system.
Save an unfinished report as a draft in their browser.

The prototype helps residents prepare a report for the official reporting channel. It does not submit reports directly to CenterPoint or provide verified repair updates.

How we built it

We built Houston Streetlight Report as a mobile-first web application using Next.js, React, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS. Residents can use it in a phone browser without downloading an app.

The reporting flow brings together photo capture or upload, location and map selection, pole details, issue selection, and report review. Unfinished reports can be saved in the browser. When ready, residents can continue to CenterPoint Energy’s official reporting system.

Our five-person team divided work across research, mapping and pole data, frontend development, report processing, and photography, testing, and deployment. Separate Git branches helped us organize contributions and review changes.

Tech Stack

Frontend: Next.js, React, and TypeScript.
Styling: Tailwind CSS.
Mapping: ArcGIS Maps SDK.
Location and pole information: Streetlight map and pole details to help residents identify the light they mean.
Drafts: Browser-local storage for unfinished reports.
Deployment: Vercel.
Version control: Git and GitHub.

Challenges we ran into

The hardest part was connecting a resident’s observation to the correct streetlight. GPS coordinates alone may not identify which pole a person means, especially when several lights are nearby. Residents need a way to review and confirm the selected light and its location.

We also wanted to focus on streetlights that waste energy, such as lights that remain on during daylight, while recognizing that outages and damaged poles create different problems. Each issue needs to be described clearly so the report is useful.

Another challenge was distinguishing between preparing a report and submitting one. Our prototype does not submit reports directly to CenterPoint or receive repair updates, so it directs residents to the official reporting channel.

Accomplishments that we’re proud of

Built a working mobile-first web experience for preparing a streetlight report.
Connected photo capture or upload, map and location selection, issue details, report review, and browser-local drafts.
Designed the flow to help residents identify the correct streetlight before continuing to the official reporting channel.
Focused the project on making it easier to flag streetlights that may be wasting energy.
Collaborated across five team roles using separate Git branches.
Researched Houston and Galveston streetlight spending and created graphs that distinguish published costs from illustrative estimates.
Established a foundation for future testing and authorized utility integration.

What we learned

We learned that civic technology depends on clear interfaces, accurate location information, and coordination with existing services. We also learned to distinguish what the prototype can do today from what would require future utility access.

Saving energy starts with identifying the right problem and making it easier to report. Houston Streetlight Report helps residents prepare a report; it does not automatically detect energy waste, submit reports to CenterPoint, or confirm that a repair has been made.

What’s next for Houston Streetlight Report

Our next step is to test whether residents can identify the right streetlight and prepare a clear report using the current flow. Longer term, we hope to explore authorized streetlight data, durable report storage, and utility-supported reporting or repair updates.

With the right data and an approved partnership, the project could better identify lights that are wasting energy and make it easier for residents to report them. Any direct submission or repair-status tracking would depend on an authorized integration.