Space Apps Challenge 2017

We have designed an application with two principles of operation, with the purpose of answering the question "What is a watt?"

Firstly, the app flum calculates existing theoretical solar power given live meteorological data for a given latitude and longitude, as well as daily sunshine hours and solar irradiance. From this calculated solar output, the user can then select a daily target of power usage, by selecting how much they expect to use certain appliances such as lights or television. If the user is drawing exclusively from the grid, the expected solar power output for a given solar panel can inform the user as to the relative savings they could be making with solar.

Secondly, flum takes readings from sensor which measures the actual power consumption of a household and actual power generated by the solar panel. This enables verification of actual power generation with our model, and the ability to alert the user if they're generating less power than they could be - i.e. due to poor location or orientation of their solar panel, or damaged solar cells.

The app has a social component, allowing users to connect via social media to compare with their friends or locals in the area, as well as a functionality enabling users to browse statistics of their previous daily power usage. To foster a continued understanding of what power actually is, educational games and quizzes are integrated in the app for kids, and users are encouraged to guess how much solar they've used in a given time period, which is then contrasted with how much power they've actually used.

Current challenges involve synthesis of the hall sensor that communicates with the app, as well as the ability to handle large quantities of live data from online meteorological databases.