Environmental issues like climate change, overuse of energy, and carbon emission are problems that we all hear about often in political campaign debates, around the internet, and in science classes. The well-being of our planet is inarguably a prevalent issue, and communities around the world suffer from the adverse effects of pollution, unclean energy, and nature’s reaction to an increasing climate. Yet, as big of a deal as the environmental problems prove to be, it seems that there still isn’t a way for this tech savvy generation to use their tech to positively impact the environment. So, the one change that would most improve our digital media landscape is also the change that would improve our home on Earth: a technology to reduce humanity’s carbon footprint.
Ladies, gentlemen, and non-binary folk, I’d like to introduce you to Planet-Tech, an app that acts as a personal energy monitor, carbon calculator, and green-shopping companion. Planet-Tech combines existing technology to create a one-stop shop for all your “green” needs. The personal energy monitor is a portion of the app influenced by the research of Computer Technology professor Andy Hopper. It allows you to see how much energy you’re using personally, from how much petrol your car burns and the amount of carbon it emits, to the amount of energy you use throughout the day in your classroom, dorm, and office. In addition, it allows you to see how much energy is being used in total in your entire office building, dorm building, or house to show you the fraction of the whole energy that is your own usage. Finally, it shows you your share of energy usage in regards to the entire nation, and eventually planet.
The carbon calculator calculates your carbon footprint in a similar manner, by taking into account things like CO2 emissions from your personal vehicle, whether or not you use alternatives to driving, how you insulate your home, how long you leave your lights on in your dorm, office, or home, and how long you leave your chargers plugged in. It also measures how much you recycle, and how much water you use, which both contribute to your carbon footprint.
Finally, the green-shopping companion allows you to make the right choices when buying groceries and appliances. Using the app, you can scan the barcode of an appliance and the app will tell you on a scale how “green” the appliance is. For instance, it will advise you against a shower head that isn’t water efficient, or a dishwater that isn’t energy efficient. It will also give you an estimate of how much money you will be wasting or saving in installing said appliance. By scanning the barcode of a certain food item, you can find out if it was locally produced. You can scan apparel items to find out if it was made with organic cotton or cotton grown with pesticides, which tends to be detrimental to the environment. A humanitarian aspect of the green-shopping companion also tells you if the product you scanned was produced in a sweatshop or harvested inhumanely and in unhealthy working conditions.
All of these technologies combined give you a Green Score. The Green Score is a number that represents your personal contribution to humanity’s ecological footprint. The lower your score, the less severe your contribution to the environment, and Planet-Tech rewards individuals as they achieve certain scores. With Planet-Tech, not only will individuals be able to see how their green choices decrease their impact on the environment, but entire communities can collectively watch their numbers decrease.
The target audience for my digital technology is young adults. After all, we are the future leaders of this world, and how we tackle climate change and energy wastage will set the example for future generations. Furthermore, my generation and younger will be the most responsive to Planet-Tech. We carry our phones, laptops, and tablets with us everywhere we go. We like posting our high scores from Temple Run and Trivia Crack on our social media sites so that all our friends can know. We like posting before and after pictures of our fitness progress, our hair growth, and our acne journey. We just like sharing achievement. Planet-Tech will not only make people more aware of their personal contribution to global warming, but will incentivize them to act toward decreasing it. It’s easier to work towards a goal when you have a way to quantify it and view your progress. Planet-Tech is just like a game, except it requires real life effort and you reap real life benefits.
Planet-Tech’s social media sites give people an outlet to learn about Planet-Tech and to post their latest scores and achievements. Tumblr is a blog site that millions upon millions of users from around the world use. It’s particularly popular among younger individuals, but people of all ages, backgrounds, religions, and more use the site. Planet-Tech’s Tumblr blog will feature interviews with some of our highest achievers, and allow people to post their own Green Scores to the blog by using the hashtag #greenscore. Our Twitter account posts daily about advancements and changes in environmental legislation and technology, as well as updates regarding our app. We also encourage individuals to post their Green Score using the same hashtag #greenscore on all of their social media, like Instagram, Facebook, and more. Below is an example of how some have already interacted with our app*.
*these posts are not real posts, but created to show our app’s potential*
Great idea. I would suggest using technologies like twitter, Facebook, instagram, and other social media technologies that would speak to your intended audience, which is the younger generation.
Sounds like an idea that an engineering company would invest heavily on! I would recommend you looking into innovations or available technological tools that allow for household or individual carbon footprint management, and list the best ones out to support in the promotion of your campaign.
This is really cool, and I definitely see this app becoming that results in a very successful and widely backed program. I think that with the rise of technology and people’s concerns in terms of how they leave a footprint on this earth. It’d be nice to have a little more information on how exactly you plan on rolling this out? Who will help you push this? Also, any insight as to how you would convince governments/individuals to implement this on a broad scale. Keep up the good work!
Really good advice guys! Thanks! A lot of the technology I am discussing here already exists in some way, shape, or form, but my idea “Planet-Tech” just combines it all into one forum and adds on this idea of a Green Score, a single number that tells you where you stand in regards to the entire planet’s well being. Thanks for the constructive commentary!
This is such a cool idea! Although I may be disturbed at first, I would love to know more about my carbon footprint. Considering many have caught on to FitBit, which educates consumers on how far they have walked, their heart rate etc, this app seems it will be successful too! While advertising the product I would strongly advise to emphasize how it can save consumers money by guiding them to make environmental choices. Any way to encourage people to become more educated about the environment is worthwhile. What a wonderful idea, hopefully we will see something like this develop in the near future!