Trends and Observations of Production and Consumption of Solar Energy
Trevor Do, Gia-Vy Ngo, Melody Nguyen, Jacob Motsenbocker, Caleb Dhaemers, Andrew Garcia
Methodology / ALGORITHM
Background
With natural resources becoming more scarce, we must find new ways to produce energy. Even though the price of natural gas has been steady over the years, solar prices have been cheaper as the years progress. With that in mind the data shown on this project reveals that solar is a viable option when it comes to pricing and efficiency.
Our goal is to demonstrate to individuals that solar energy is the optimal and sustainable resource to invest in through our app.
To find the trendlines, we used the slope formula y = mx + b. Additionally, to find the average, we simply used Σx / N.
Possible use / future research
Our app contains a calculator that allows the user to approximate the amount of solar panels they need based on their needs. This mostly applies to homeowners (more likely in suburban areas) looking to purchase solar panels.
Our app can be used to demonstrate the projected decreasing cost of solar energy compared to other energy sources using our trendlines and graphs. An additional component that can be added is to have a focus on the commercial use of solar panels as opposed to the average home owner’s. As more time passes, we can have more accurate data since solar energy is fairly new.
SAMPLE App IMAGES
COMPONENTS
Button: used in the production, consumption tab to load data.
Edit field: used in several tabs to display text.
Drop down menu: allows user to choose different energy options
Switch: determines visibility of significance paragraph
Graph: visually displays trend
Legend: informs user the significance of colors in graph
Image: allows user to visually see the lightbulb when the switch is on/off
Radio button group: allows user to choose which energy source to be displayed
Spinners: allows users to select numbers from list
“Solar PV Module Prices.” Our World in Data, https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/solar-pv-prices.
“2021 Annual Technology Baseline (ATB) Cost and Performance Data for Electricity Generation Technologies.” 2021 Annual Technology Baseline (ATB) Cost and Performance Data for Electricity Generation Technologies - CKAN, Publisher National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), 13 Aug. 2021, https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/2021-annual-technology-baseline-atb-cost-and-performance-data-for-electricity-generation-t.
Works Cited