The Energy Group spent the last week cleaning up our idea after the Midpoint Review presentation, which had culminated with lots of first-hand feedback. We decided to proceed with the following revisions to our presentation based on the evaluation forms:

• Introduce problem we are trying to solve in a clearer manner.
• Add an appendix citing every single external data source used.
• When citing governmental policy, be very clear on which statuettes/goals will need enforcing.
•  Devise a business plan that has distinct streams of revenue, with each explained in full detail.
• Demonstrate how cap-and-trade will work more convincingly.

After lots of skepticism from the judges on why the government would even want to implement our pollution reduction scheme, our group members compiled an extensive document with specific policy already in place that bound the administration to certain initiatives. India’s 2030 Climate Action Plan, submitted to UNFCCC, promised an ambitious 30-35% reduction in green-house gas emissions all over the country. The federal government had committed up to 2.5 trillion rupees for the effort, which introduced a decent degree of leverage for our business model.

This week, we believe that it is prime time to figure out the assembly and functionality of the Arduino sensor that is the center of our technological solution. The team engineers are already looking into startups which develop the kind of sensors that suit our needs. A couple potential possibilities have already led to dead ends, such as the Birdi sensor suggested by Mr. Param Singh which is not currently in commercial production. This turn of events might force our hand into buying components and building the sensor prototype ourselves. The latter needs to happen quickly to enable the data collection and display phase of the project, which is dependent on the successful deployment of a sensor.

The Energy and Pollution Group
Chaitanya Mittal, Trevor Dowds, Natalie Chyba, Wendy Ho, Mischa Fritz, Amy Nguyen