Aspiration
At a Glance
Industry
Internet, Software, Hardware and Technology Services
Project Types
Data Analysis, Engagement and Behavior Change, Financial Evaluation and Planning
Year
2022
Location
Marina del Ray, CA
Summary
Tatiana Sokolova developed home and vehicle energy usage models to quantify the carbon emissions of Aspiration customers to help them live more sustainably.
Goals
Aspiration is a sustainability-as-a-service firm that empowers consumers and businesses to make a difference through personal action. Aspiration’s Impact Team enlisted EDF Climate Corps fellow Tatiana Sokolova to develop home and vehicle energy usage models to help quantify emissions for Aspiration customers. The models will inform several offerings that will aide customers in shifting their behaviors to live more sustainably.
Solutions
Tatiana approached the challenge using a three-part process:
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Analyze and explore data: While becoming familiar with the engineering team’s processes and codebase, Tatiana explored vehicle fuel economy and home energy consumption data from the EPA, DOE, and EIA. She explored the data trends and completeness in addition to existing analyses of it.
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Develop energy consumption models: For vehicle energy usage modeling, Tatiana automated the processing of passenger vehicle fuel economy data into a standard measurement to seamlessly be used in energy consumption models. For home energy usage modeling, she performed a parameter down-selection process, completed regression analyses, and built predictive models for each home energy/fuel type.
- Report findings and observations: To engage broader company stakeholders, Tatiana presented the findings and potential impact of her work to Aspiration’s C-suite leaders as well as the Impact, Sustainability, Engineering, and Product Teams.
Potential Impact
Utilizing the energy consumption models in several of Aspiration’s key offerings could lead to carbon emission reduction and offsets of up to 500 thousand metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. This number assumes moderate usage of Aspiration’s offerings but does not include the additional potential reductions that could occur should new customers, now aware of their carbon footprint, choose to make small incremental changes to minimize their climate impact outside of the solutions provided by Aspiration.