Cell Phone Software Tracks Carbon Footprint on the Go

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One time, while Andreas Zachariah, a graduate student of the Royal College of Art in London, decided to compute his carbon footprint using an online calculator, he thought the process "painful." For the idea of regularly checking one's carbon footprint regularly to take off, it needs to be effortless. Hence, Zachariah came up with "Carbon Diem," a carbon footprint calculator application for cell phones. According to Guardian UK, the creators of Carbon Diem claims that all you need to do is install it on a cell phone and bring the phone with you wherever you go. There's no need for user input at all.

The system uses GPS to track your travels and can even determine what transportation you're using depending on the speed you're going. Determining airplane and train travel has an almost 100 percent accuracy rate while determining bus travel has lower accuracy rate averaging from 65 to 75 percent. The percentages were derived from Carbon Diem's test runs on Nokia and BlackBerry phones.

"Individuals have an important role to play in tackling climate change - and technologies like the Carbon Diem could help people cut their carbon footprint," says Robin Webster, Friends of the Earth's climate campaigner.

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