Description
Describe the problem you are trying to solve
Companies and Developers are trying to reduce Carbon Emission produced by Web Applications, but is there anything users of the application can do to reduce the application?
Yes, One way to do that is by using the application when energy is clean.
Veron is an ecommerce platform where we rewards users if they do the purchase when the energy is clean and checkout in a period of 30 minutes.
What does your solution do?
The aim of this solution is to create awareness among the users and change the way users use the application. Veron has a rewarding system based on the data from Carbon Aware API, these rewards then can be used to plant a tree.
Because of the rewards system, users will try to shop during time when carbon Intensity is low, thus reducing the carbon footprint of the application.
How does your solution use the API/SDK?
To make the decision on the ideal time for shopping for users, Carbon Aware API is used. We calculate average using the
/emissions/average-intensity
and compare it with latest data available using
/emissions/by-location
So if the current intensity <=average we reward points to user on checkout.
Points are given only to those purchase which are completed in a period of 30 minutes.
What is the impact of your solution?
This solution can help in creating awareness among the users and help to reduce carbon footprint of the application by promoting users to use the application when carbon intensity is low.
Motivation behind this idea
Ant financial reduced carbon footprint of 200 million users by similar point based system in which user were given points when they make low carbon-choices. These points then were used to plant 112 million trees.
Describe your solution’s feasibility?
The technical implementation of the solution is feasible, for implementing rewards system we would need to partner with NGO or any other organisation that will collaborate with the ecommerce platform to grow plants on behalf of the users.
Describe the vision for your solution?
The main reason I wanted to make something that users can also interact with is due to lack of awareness among people on the emission that is caused due to technology.
If we integrate such reward system in platforms that people access on regular basis then it will not only help in awareness to users but also help to reduce the carbon footprint of the applications.
Improvements that can be made in future
-> Adding gamification so that user will enjoy using the application and it will help in spreading awareness related to impact of carbon emission and how to prevent it.
-> Creating plugin or browser extension so that it can be used for other applications as well
Links
Frontend - Veron
Backend - Veron Backend
Reference