The builder's path
For: Web developers using CO2.js can't produce a standard Software Carbon Intensity score for their site.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
ὁ δὲ ἀνεξέταστος βίος οὐ βιωτὸς ἀνθρώπῳ
Routes to a solution
Each route is a different kind of journey, with real people and organisations to contact at each step, starting with those in every country.
Step 1
Build in the open
Publish the code and invite contributors from the community.
Let the people a free tool helps fund its maintainer directly.
Raise and spend money in the open for a community project.
Grants for open source that makes the internet better.
Network of civic tech groups in many countries; find the one near the problem.
Step 2
Fund the maintainers
Sponsors, collectives and open source grants.
Let the people a free tool helps fund its maintainer directly.
Raise and spend money in the open for a community project.
Grants for open source that makes the internet better.
Network of civic tech groups in many countries; find the one near the problem.
Step 3
Get it adopted
Civic tech groups and public bodies take it up.
Y Combinator's free course and co-founder matching.
Raise and spend money in the open for a community project.
Network of civic tech groups in many countries; find the one near the problem.
Volunteer data scientists working with social-sector organisations.
Ideas, sources and tools for this problem, from first interviews to funding.
the models and outputs the library already has
the formula and terms to implement
maintains CO2.js and put this on its roadmap
Starter prompt
Built from this problem's brief. Paste it into Claude or any AI assistant.
Help me design and build a first working prototype for this problem in Anywhere. Problem: Web developers using CO2.js can't produce a standard Software Carbon Intensity score for their site. Who it hurts: Developers who use CO2.js, the Green Web Foundation's JavaScript library, to estimate website emissions. The moment it hurts: When a team wants to report emissions per page visit in a format others recognize. What people do today: CO2.js gives carbon estimates, but turning them into an SCI score is left to each developer. Why it is still unsolved: The API design is still open: an option on the existing model or a separate SCI function. What solved looks like: An sci() function in CO2.js that takes operational emissions, embodied emissions and a functional unit and returns a score, with unit tests based on the SCI specification and a documented page-visit example. Where: Anywhere First, list what you would need to learn from the people affected before building, as interview questions. Then propose the simplest version that would help, the screens or messages it needs, and the data it would use. Keep it cheap to run, accessible, and respectful of people's privacy. Flag anything you are unsure about instead of guessing.
Talk to the people who live it before you build.
“Knowledge itself is power.”
Ipsa scientia potestas est.
Get a working version in front of people fast.
Using AI is not cheating. Every tool carries the work of the people who made it, and using it well is how knowledge has always moved forward. The thinking, the care for the people who live the problem, and the judgement are still yours.
“The Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves.”
Open data that fits this problem.
“In the fields of observation chance favours only the prepared mind.”
Dans les champs de l'observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés.
Tools matched to what this problem needs.
“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.”
Ship it responsibly, and find help and funding.
“While we teach, we learn.”
Homines dum docent discunt.
Kit written for this problem from its brief; every link was checked. Links go to each provider's own site. Zetema is not paid for any listing.