Electric App

Electric App is a mobile application made on Android Studio that utilized the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (PV Watts) API to locate utility companies and electricity rates within a given location.

Authors

• @musajean

Demo

Login Demo	Register Demo	Request Demo	Request Rate Demo

Aplogies for the Gif quality, this was the best I could do, my virtual device is glitchy, so I had to use a third party tool.

Screenshots

Splash Page	Login Page	Register Page
Utility Tool Page	Utility Info Page	Utility Rate Page
Utility Rate Result Page	Utility Info Result Page

Acknowledgements

• Awesome Icons
• FIU GDSC
• How To Implement Firebase
• NREL Utility Rates API

Features

• Firebase Authentication
• Usage of NREL API
• Works Across Locations in U.S

API Reference

Requesr URL

  GET /api/utility_rates/v3.format?parameters

Parameter	Required	Type	Description
format	Yes	string	The output response format
api_key	Yes	string	Your API key
address	Depends	string	The address to use. Required if lat/lon not provided.
lat	Depends	decimal	The latitude for the location to use. Required if address not given.
lon	Depends	decimal	The longitude for the location to use. Required if address not given.
radius	No	decimal	The radius (in miles) around the search location to search for utility rates with intersecting boundaries. With the default radius of 0, only utility rates whose boundaries contain the search location point will be returned.
limit	No	decimal	The maximum number of results to return. If no limit is specified then all matching results will be returned.

Response Fileds

Field	Value	Description
utility_name	string	The name of the utility company. If there are multiple utility companies serving the location, the names will be returned as a pipe-delimited string.
company_id	integer	The ID of the utility company. If there are multiple utility companies serving the location, the IDs will be returned as a pipe-delimited string.
utility_info	collection	An array of hashes containing the name(s) and ID(s) of the utility company or companies serving the location.
residential	decimal	The residential electricity rate ($/kWh).
commercial	decimal	The commercial electricity rate ($/kWh).
industrial	decimal	The industrial electricity rate ($/kWh).

Environment Variables

To run this project, you will need to add the following environment variables to your UtilityCompanyActivity.java & UtilityRateActivity.java file

API_KEY

From API Key Usage

Run Locally

Clone the project

  git clone https://github.com/musa211/ElectricApp

Open with Android Studio

Run using your AVD (virtual device)

Start the server

Documentation

Async Http Client

Recycler View

Lessons Learned

What did you learn while building this project? What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

This is my first significant project utilizing Android Studio. I learned how to implement

• Firebase Authentication
• Sending JSON Request
• Recycler View & Adapter
• Email Validation Using Regex
• Interactive UI
• Activities & Intents
• Clickable Images
• Input Controls
• Menus and Pickers
• User Navigation

I faced issue with handling the JSON output file and working with the different layouts. JSON issue was overcomed through appropriate logging. I just used trial and error for issues with the layouts.

FAQ

Do I need an API Key in order to use this application?

Yes, but I provided a default key to use but feel free create your own.

What IDE to I use to run this application?

Android Studio, and make sure to install an AVD.

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