Envora

Empower your sustainable travel journey—track your carbon savings, make eco-friendly travel choices, and contribute to a greener world.

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Inspiration

The inspiration for Envora came from the increasing awareness of climate change and the desire to make travel more sustainable. Travel, especially air travel and car emissions, is one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions. This project aims to empower individuals to make better travel choices and track their carbon savings, helping them understand how their decisions impact the planet.

What it does

Envora helps users track their travel-related carbon savings in real time. It allows users to:

  • Track their distance traveled using geolocation.
  • Compare the carbon savings between private car usage and public transportation (e.g., buses).
  • Access flight data and calculate carbon emissions based on the aircraft type and category.
  • Get actionable sustainability tips and advice from an AI-powered assistant.
  • View their overall carbon savings stored locally, making it easy to track progress over time.

How we built it

  • Frontend: Built with React and styled with Tailwind CSS, the app is responsive and interactive. The main page features a clean, simple interface that tracks travel data and displays sustainability tips from an AI assistant.
  • Geolocation Tracking: Integrated Geolocation API to track the user’s real-time location and calculate the distance traveled for carbon savings.
  • Third-party APIs: Integrated AviationStack API to retrieve flight data and Google Apps Script API to get aircraft categories and related carbon emissions.
  • AI Assistant: Used Google Gemini AI (Generative 1.5) to provide helpful, sustainable travel advice and insights, turning environmental data into easily digestible content for the user.
  • Local Storage: Stored carbon savings and travel history using localStorage to ensure persistence across user sessions.

Challenges we ran into

  1. API Rate Limiting: One of the major challenges was managing API rate limits, especially with the AviationStack API, which required handling quota errors and implementing fallback solutions when data was unavailable.
  2. Accurate Carbon Emission Calculation: Calculating carbon emissions accurately based on real-time travel data, considering variables like transport modes (car vs. bus), required careful assumptions and tweaks.
  3. Geolocation Accuracy: Ensuring the Geolocation API provided precise location data across different browsers and devices, especially dealing with location access permissions or errors.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Successfully implemented real-time geolocation tracking to measure distance and calculate carbon savings dynamically.
  • Built an intuitive AI assistant that generates sustainable travel tips and advice, making it interactive and personalized.
  • Created a seamless user experience by integrating multiple APIs, ensuring that data was fetched and displayed in real-time with minimal lag.

What we learned

  • API Integration: Working with multiple third-party APIs taught us how to handle data parsing, error handling, and managing third-party service limitations.
  • LocalStorage Management: Storing and retrieving user data using localStorage helped us create a persistent user experience, making the app more engaging and useful over time.
  • Sustainability Awareness: Building this project gave us a deeper understanding of how different travel modes impact the environment and the importance of making informed, eco-friendly choices.

What's next for Envora

  • Expand Travel Modes: Integrate more sustainable travel options like electric vehicles, bike-sharing, and walking into the carbon-saving calculations.
  • User Accounts: Add the ability for users to create accounts and track their progress across devices, allowing for personalized data storage.
  • More AI Features: Enhance the AI assistant to provide more in-depth recommendations and insights based on user behavior and preferences.
  • Integration with Booking Services: Add functionality to help users book eco-friendly travel options (e.g., flights, hotels, and transportation) directly through the app.
  • Mobile App: Convert Envora into a native mobile app to reach more users and provide on-the-go carbon tracking.

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