Overview
Arenius is a carbon accounting web application designed for small-to-medium sized businesses. It allows users to track their carbon footprint, manage their emissions, and take steps to reduce their impact on the environment. The platform provides a user-friendly interface for businesses to input their data and receive insights into their carbon emissions. Company bank transactions are imported from their 3rd-party accounting software and their carbon footprint is estimated based on assigned carbon emission factors.
As an engineer on the Arenius project at Generate (Northeastern's student-led product development studio), I focused on building robust backend systems and creating intuitive data visualizations. Working with a cross-functional team of designers and engineers, we delivered a fully-functional carbon accounting platform that helps businesses understand and reduce their environmental impact.
My key contributions included implementing a secure authentication system using Supabase Auth that enabled user registration, login, password reset, and account deletion. I created a critical automated data synchronization system using a cron job that runs nightly to import new transactions and contacts from Xero, ensuring users always have up-to-date information. On the frontend, I handled cookie management and middleware to maintain user sessions and implemented batch updates to optimize performance.
I also developed several key data visualization components, including the contact details page, top emissions factors graph, and contact distribution tree map. To enhance user experience, I added loading spinners and tooltips throughout the application, making complex carbon accounting data more accessible and understandable for users.
This was my first time learning about the carbon accounting space and making a data-focused app that revolves around visualizations. It was very rewarding to work on this project with my team and complete all of the features that we set out to accomplish.
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