Visualizing the Impact of User Preferences and Habits on Carbon Emission

Presenter

Tanush Vijayakumar Savadi

Campus

UMass Amherst

Sponsor

Prashant Shenoy, Department of Computer Science, UMass Amherst

Schedule

Session 1, 10:30 AM - 11:15 AM [Schedule by Time][Poster Grid for Time/Location]

Location

Poster Board A41, Campus Center Auditorium, Row 3 (A41-A60) [Poster Location Map]

Abstract

The significance of understanding GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emissions from energy usage has grown considerably in recent times, as it plays a pivotal role in facilitating effective and targeted efforts to decarbonize society. As such, the access to real-time and future grid energy and carbon information serves as a foundation for research in environmental economics, life cycle assessment, and environmental health. Existing services fall short of providing an open and comprehensive access view of emissions information, without granular access to past and future data. To tackle these issues, we propose the CarbonCast API, an extensible tool to access and visualize carbon information. The API grants external users seamless access to grid information generated from the CarbonCast machine learning model and includes predictive carbon intensity data metrics accessible through a choropleth map and a REST API that can be deployed locally, without the need to use third-party services. In evaluating the applicability of the CarbonCast API, we delve into user preferences and priorities when it comes to utilizing everyday appliances and applications critical to their daily lives. We evaluate the potential carbon savings due to household users' receptiveness to altering their behavior across various technologies, shedding light on how people's decisions regarding utility consumption can help quantify the environmental impact of energy usage.

Keywords

Sustainability, Climate Change, Carbon Intensity Monitoring, Real time grid visualization, API

Research Area

Environmental Science and Sustainability

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