Calculate Your Carbon Footprint Just By Carrying Your Phone

A new software app for your phone takes all the calculating part out of figuring your carbon footprint. All you have to do is carry your phone around - which most of us do anyway - and it does the calculations for you. But, that also means it knows what you're doing at all times.

In a nutshell, the app, called Carbon Diem, uses your phone's GPS to track how you're moving, guesses your mode of transportation, and figures out your carbon footprint.

Carbon Diem's inventors claim that, by using GPS to measure the speed and pattern of movement, their algorithm can identify the mode of transport being used. It can therefore calculate the amount of carbon dioxide that a journey has emitted into the atmosphere – without any need for input from the traveller.

We already know there are myriad ways to calculate carbon footprints, all of which require the user to do some inputting and figuring in order to get an output. The fact is, it might be fun once or twice, but continually inputting your info in order to track your habits can get pretty old. Systems like Carbon Diem and Ecorio make it a whole lot easier to track your habits and cut your footprint down. And with Carbon Diem, it takes virtually no effort.

He has tested the software in Nokia and Blackberry phones, using computer algorithms to predict the kind of transport a person is taking. He claims that in tests over the past year, the software was almost 100% accurate in working out when people were on airplanes or trains; it was between 65-75% accurate at guessing when people travelled on buses.

Via The Guardian

More on Carbon Footprint Calculators:
CO2 Calculator is Endless Fun for Adding Up (or Subtracting) Your Emissions
BP's Carbon Footprint Calculator
Carbon Calculator for Online Shopping Measures Footprint of E-Commerce

More on Eco-Conscious Phone Apps:
Ecorio Shows New Android Users Their Carbon Footprint
20 Ways Your iPhone Can Save You Gas, Energy, Time and Money