Global Market and Impacts

The negative impacts of climate change affect communities across the globe. For example, global warming, which consists of the elevation of Earth’s surface temperature due to greenhouse gas emissions, is one of the main reasons for the heating of the Atlantic Ocean which negatively impacts wildlife and humans. This temperature difference brought forth by climate change makes the environment warmer and more humid, which leads to more occurrences of storms and heavy winds. In Florida, floods and sea level rise are some of the main climate change hazards that affect the state. These hazards are responsible for things such as causing power outages and infrastructure damage.

By observing the impending hazards regarding climate change and looking at how Miami-Dade’s energy grid, and consequently businesses and residents may be impacted, our team developed an intuitive human-centered platform for government officials and utility providers with the purpose of discovering solutions. This interactive platform is a map that breaks down Miami-Dade County into different areas based on zip codes. By clicking at one, information related to the area’s flood risk, average roof space, annual electricity generated, and annual cost savings will be displayed. These metrics were chosen based on available data so that stakeholders can make the best decisions possible about what areas are most suitable for solar energy installation.

Furthermore, our team has noticed that the needs and wants of our initial stakeholders were similar to those of the residents in the area. The goal of our platform is to help people make an informed decision when considering if they should install solar panels within a specific area. The user base is considered for whether that be a commissioner within Miami-Dade or local looking to switch towards solar, or a resident who wants to personally install panels on their house. The conditions we applied to our program helps both groups. Due to the lack of time and the inability to get a clear line of communication with Florida Power and Light (FPL) our project does not include information from their perspective. Had the team been able to develop a relationship with FPL, our platform would have been more inclusive to the needs of this group.

When reflecting on people groups that were not initially considered in our project, the team took two approaches. The first approach was to consider the groups impacted by the actual product we designed, this is the group that we defined as “those impacted”.

When creating our virtual map, we did not consider citizens with disabilities for the use of our product. Because we did not initially consider this group in the creation of our product, our platform is not equipped to meet the needs of people with disabilities. If we had more time, we would have tested and improved navigability for persons within this class.. Due to the fact that the team has predominantly been using a computer interface, we did not consider the possibility of a user using the product on their cell phone.

The second approach we took while reflecting on our product relies on the socioeconomic statuses of our users. Our project exhibits economic information relating to solar panel savings but does not consider those who may not be able to afford solar panels on their homes due to economic factors. This group could be addressed by including items on the map that allowed users to learn about government programs that make the installation of solar panels more cost affordable. In future iterations, we hope for our product to be able to display information related to available grant programs with the purpose of reducing the cost of installing solar panels. Implementing this would ensure equity amongst residents considering switching to solar energy. A feature of this sort could also help policy makers visualize what areas are underserved and how they can create government programs to support groups with lower socioeconomic privileges. Other areas of improvement include improving our program to operate with different operating platforms outside of desktop computers such as mobile devices.

Our current project scope is Miami Dade County with the hope that in the future this technology can be expanded to other areas across the United States, and even eventually internationally. In future prototypes, our interactive map of Miami-Dade county can serve as a guide for how other areas can tackle climate issues and implement renewable energy. At a global level since Miami is an international city other areas can see Miami’s success with the platform and make plans to create a similar platform. As they implement their own interactive map, it will be important to define what climate hazards that specific area faces and what renewable energy generation methods are most feasible.