SHUM E WYN (1092700117)

Final year project

PROJECT PROSPOSAL

PROPOSAL 1 Research Topic: Carbon footprint

BackgroundCarbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly and indirectly support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). Greenhouse gases can be emitted through transport, land clearance, and the production and consumption of food, fuels, manufactured goods, materials, wood, roads, buildings, and services. Carbon dioxide causes global warming. Other greenhouse gases which might be emitted as a result of your activities are methane and ozone. The carbon footprint is a very powerful tool to understand the impact of personal behaviour on global warming. People can see the amount of CO2 their activities create. This might personally help people want to contribute to stop global warming.

Problem IdentificationPeople are unaware of the greenhouse gases they produced during human activities which contribute to global warming.

Aim & ObjectivesTo address the issue of carbon footprint towards the environment & how to reduce carbon footprint

MotivationI was pretty unaware of how much carbon dioxide that myself produce during human activities until I read an article about it. Sharing this information & awareness with others would be a great step towards a better & greener environment.

Ideation & conceptTo create a carbon calculator that calculates the user’s carbon footprint and how much does it cost.

Review, Analysis & precedence studieshttp://footprint.wwf.org.uk/ (wwf carbon footprint calculator)http://www.behance.net/gallery/Carbon-Footprint-Awareness-Campaign/434673 (awareness campaign)

Design ApproachSerious approach.

RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

CARBON FOOTPRINTThe amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activities.

GREENHOUSE GASES (GHG) Gases in Earth’s atmosphere that prevent heat from escaping into space.

GHG SOURCES & GASESScientists are certain that human activities are changing the composition of the atmosphere, and that increasing the concentration of GHGs will change the planet's climate.

GHG sources :-burning of fossil fuels-industrial process-waste breakdown -deforestation-farming & agriculture-food production & consumption-land clearance-manufactured goods/products-electricity-transport-roads -buildings-energy-materials & packaging

Greenhouse gases causes: -Carbon to be released into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuel for transport and electricity.When oil, gas or coal burns, carbon contained within it combines with oxygen in the air to create carbon dioxide.

Demand for electricityThe growing population of the earth all want cars, refrigerators, air-conditioning and a double garage. Most electricity is generated by burning coal.

Demand for red meat. Cattle emits methane. Deforestation decrease the absorbtion of carbon dioxide from the air.Animals, particularly sheep and cattle, produce large amounts of methane. Some fertilisers also release nitrous oxide, which is another greenhouse gas. Planet's ability to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. High concentration of carbon dioxide cant be removed by plants completely through photosynthesis. This is why deforestation increase the output of carbon dioxide.

The process is pretty simple :-Plants absorb & store carbon inside of them. -Oxygen is then released through photosynthesis.

This is why land clearance & deforestation reverse the process by releasing carbon dioxide into the air.

Of the approximately 8 billion tons of carbon emitted each year, scientists believe about :-30% is absorbed by the oceans-30% is absorbed by terrestrial ecosystems-40% accumulates in the atmosphere

CARBON CALCULATOROne of the easiest way to determine how much carbon footprint we produce is by calculating it.This will give us an estimation of carbon we produced.

Based on the online carbon calculators, majority of them will ask:

1 BASIC INFO-number of people in household-location-type of house

2 CALCULATION PART-what you do-type of energy used -electricity based-transportation, vehicles & flights-some questionaires-secondary footprint-how much money spent-fuel/petrol

3 RESULTS-average carbon produced-charts-donation-take actions

Online carbon calculators:http://www.nature.org/greenliving/carboncalculator/http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspxhttp://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/ind-calculator.html

CARBON CALCULATOR’S PROBLEMS:

-Too much numbers-How much does the numbers represent?-Units are confusing-Less visuals, too many words-The calculation output is not impact enough. It's just numbers.- No camparisons

CALCULATIONS & FORMULAS

kwH (kilowatt per hour)

Watt x Time ----------------- 1000

ELECTRICITY COST

kwH x Price for kwH

Price for kwH/hour in Malaysia:Rm0.22 (TNB)

Carbon emission : 1 kWh = 0.5kg CO2

IDEA DEVELOPMENT

Types of charts that are suitable for data visualization.

UI and data visualization

CONTEXTUAL STUDIES

Geographical & personal

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

CARBON CALCULATORLAYOUT & CONTENT The way carbon calculators were being design encountered problems like:

- Too much to calculate -Some users also had problem inserting the right amount of number.- Time consuming- Some users don't know how much value to input

RESULTS-Some results are just numbers- Too much information

CONCEPTTo create a carbon calculator to calculate the amount of carbon footprint produce and how much money it will cost.

This calculator will be very straight forward & easily understood.

Instead of making people figuring out what value they need. Why not calculate it for them? This is more accurate than estimated data.

USABILITY - no calculations required- focus more on data visualization- results are simple & easy to understand- time saving- no need to insert any value- user can check their carbon footprint & cost just by looking.

4. Data from PC will generate visualization.FLOWCHART

HOW IT WORKS

1. Using a light sensor arduino board to capture the amount of light from a light source. 2. The captured data will be sent to a server3. Server sends data to the computer

REFERENCES

VISUAL SIMULATION

MORE VISUALS GENERATION

VISUAL SIMULATION 2

FINAL SYNOPSIS

FINAL VISUAL

So, the overall visual will look like this. This data and UI focuses the user's eye to the middle more than the previous one. User can know how much that amount of carbon footprint will cost.

This calculator calculates the user’s carbon footprint, duration, kilowatt/hour & cost. Everything is calculated for the user with visuals & data. There is no need for the user to waste their time to calculate or key in any amount of numbers in the calculator

TEASER VIDEO