HEEP: Milestone 2

We have finally reached Milestone 2. For this Milestone, we wanted to have working prototypes that were packaged as Google Gadgets. We were able to create gadgets for the appliance savings comparator, negawatts, and HCEI goals prototypes.

Learning Javascript has been a major portion of the learning curve for this project. In order to get the prototypes working, we had to use Javascript functions to pull data from our Google Spreadsheets. While initially it seemed like a simple task, it took a lot of research in order to actually implement it. However, the effort was definitely worth while because we increased our Javascript knowledge in the process and we are now able to pull data from Google spreadsheets with relative ease. This has broadened the types of applications that we can create.

We also learned how to package our prototypes as Google Gadgets which has increased our applications' portability. Our applications can be used stand-alone or added to iGoogle as a gadget on a user's homepage. This allows users to easily incorporate our applications with minimal effort.

The display of Negawatts generated by HEEP has been updated so values are read from a spreadsheet on load and placed into the application. Changes have been made to the spreadsheet to simplify its use. Originally, different models were used to calculate the amount of negawatts generated. While this was a more accurate model of the negawatts generated, it was more time consuming when new models were entered. Originally, every time a rebate was given for a model that did not exist in the spreadsheet, its information had to be added to the spreadsheet. Instead, we opted to use an average savings for each appliance. This greatly simplified the spreadsheet and hopefully makes it more user-friendly. The simplified spreadsheet is shown below the gadget screenshot.





The appliance savings comparator was also updated to allow values to be read from a Google spreadsheet on load. This application contains drop-down menus which allow a user to select a specific model to see its savings. Based on the user's selection, the appropriate data is loaded from the spreadsheet. This application was also put into a Google gadget.



The prototype that displays HCEI goals displays the progress of achieving its goals by comparing actual progress with the original projections. The goals that are visualized are that 40% of the total energy generated are from renewable sources and that the total energy generation is reduced by 30%.



We are getting closer to scheduling a meeting with HEEP to show them our prototypes. A few modifications and improvements still need to be made, but the core functionality has been accomplished. After becoming a little more familiar with Javascript, progress has increased and we are now able to produce the prototypes much faster. I look forward to showing HEEP our prototypes. I also hope that they have more suggestions for other applications that we could potentially create.