Best Sun

Solar power is the one of the cleanest forms of renewable energy. Have you ever wondered if your house should have solar panels? Try out Best Sun for a financial analysis of solar panels for you!

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Inspiration

Renewable energy served as our primary inspiration. Our goal is to promote cleaner energy for a more sustainable world, and we recognize that one of the key challenges in adopting renewable energy is determining whether solar panel installation offers a worthwhile return on investment, given that the benefits can vary significantly between homes.

What it does

This project helps users explore the potential for solar energy installation at any location. By integrating the Google Places API, users can input a location, such as their home, and the app retrieves relevant place data. Using the Google Solar API, it then provides information on solar panel feasibility, including estimated energy output, cost savings, and environmental impact. The tool is designed to make it easy for anyone to assess the solar potential of a location with just a few clicks.

How we built it

We developed this project using React for the front end, combining it with the TypeScript template for type safety and scalability. The Google Places API was used to gather precise location data, while the Google Solar API provided information on solar potential based on geographic and environmental data. The app’s UI and logic were built to create a smooth user experience, allowing users to search for places and view solar data efficiently.

Challenges we ran into

A major challenge was managing the large volume of data returned by the Google Solar API. The API provided extensive information about solar potential, including details on energy production estimates, cost breakdowns, and environmental impact metrics. We had to learn how to filter, process, and display only the most relevant information to the user, which taught us valuable skills in managing large data loads in React.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of successfully integrating multiple APIs to create a functional and user-friendly application in a short timeframe. Overcoming the API challenges and ensuring the app’s accuracy and reliability were big wins. We are also proud of our success with processing the loads of data from the Solar API. This project showcases our ability to combine complex data sources to deliver a valuable tool for users interested in renewable energy.

What we learned

Through this project, we gained experience working with the Google API ecosystem and learned more about handling API rate limits and error handling in a React application. We also improved our TypeScript skills, particularly in typing complex API responses, which enhanced the app’s robustness.

What's next for Best Sun

Next, we plan to expand the app by adding more data visualization features, such as interactive graphs for energy output projections. Additionally, we could add support for other renewable energy sources, providing a more comprehensive sustainable energy assessment tool.

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