Project Overview
The Energy Consumption Calculator is a C++ application designed to help users estimate their household energy usage and monthly electricity costs. The program asks users a series of questions about their home, including lighting, appliances, and electric vehicle usage, and then calculates their overall energy consumption and estimated monthly cost.
In addition to calculating energy usage, the program allows users to save their results to a CSV file and load previously saved data for future reference. Loaded data is displayed in a table format, making it easy to compare and track energy consumption over time. The goal of this project was to combine user input, data storage, and energy calculations into a practical and easy-to-use application.
Our team chose to reverse-engineer a Scorpion model because of its complexity and large number of interconnected moving components. Every part had to be carefully studied and recreated before being integrated into the final assembly. The final result was a fully functional 143-part SolidWorks assembly that accurately reproduced the original model while demonstrating the capabilities of CAD modeling, assembly management, and reverse engineering.
The Process
Before writing any code, I started by creating pseudocode to map out how the program would function. Writing the logic in plain English helped me organize my ideas and establish a clear workflow before moving into development.
Once the overall structure was planned, I focused on building the core functionality of the calculator. Instead of writing everything in one large file, I broke the program into smaller functions responsible for specific tasks such as user input, energy calculations, displaying results, loading saved data, and exporting information to CSV files. This made the code easier to read, debug, and maintain throughout development.
As new features were added, I continuously tested the program to ensure calculations were accurate and all functions operated as expected. Throughout the project, I encountered several bugs and logic errors, but by troubleshooting and refining the code, I was able to resolve these issues and improve the overall reliability of the application.
Results
The final Energy Consumption Calculator successfully performed all intended functions, including calculating household energy usage, estimating monthly electricity costs, saving results to CSV files, and loading previously saved data for review.
The project helped strengthen my understanding of C++ programming, modular code design, file handling, debugging, and problem-solving. Most importantly, it demonstrated how a well-structured program can take user data, perform meaningful calculations, and present results in a clear and practical way.