Codes+
Currents

PowerPlants is a design project by Corinne Ehrsam, developed as part of the CAS program Generative Data Design at the Hochschüle der Künste Bern (HKB). The project visualizes real-time data from renewable energy sources — such as solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal power — translating the invisible flows of electricity into organically growing, plant-like forms.

Each visualized plant represents both the quantity and the source of the green energy being generated. The visualization is based on a retrospective view of the energy data from the past 24 hours at a selected location.

To reduce harmful emissions, promoting alternative energy production is the only viable path to keeping earth a habitable home for both flora and fauna. The digital plant thus becomes a symbol of the life-giving potential of renewable energies.

Visitors to the interactive web application are invited to explore, observe, and reflect on the data in a playful and intuitive way.

The data visualizations were created using p5.js, while the web application is built with nuxt.js. Live energy data is sourced from the ElectricityMap API (electricitymaps.com).