#ClimateCitizen Hackathon: The Internet of Things
Project Team Members
Caroline CraigEric Alper
Project Description
The objective is to use the Internet of Things (IOT) technology to help meet The New School’s NYC Carbon Challenge commitment, reducing emissions by 35% below 2014 levels by 2025. IOT tech is both innovative and simple (here are some examples). By using special sensors, we can virtually communicate with objects and spaces, harnessing campus-wide data to better inform our decisions, from when to lower the heat, to where we should invest.The benefit of using the Internet of Things is that we are now capable of monitoring certain metrics around campus that will fill critical gaps and provide context to how we use energy and resources. This team proposed beginning with three key areas: heating and air conditioning (HVAC), lighting, and the potential for renewable energy.To install the Internet of Things on campus, they will use Arduino sensors. These sensors are hardware that read input -- incoming light, a finger on a button, wind speed, and so forth -- and turn it into digital output that can be read on a computer. In other words, Arduino boards capture input from the environment and relay it back to the user for analysis. Best of all, each of the three projects could easily be adopted by professors and students.