Development of 'Carbon Hero' nears completion
A new device that can calculate the carbon emissions produced by daily travel is entering its final stages of development.
The Carbon Hero uses GPS technology to analyze movements, which are then downloaded onto a mobile phone or computer where the exact carbon footprint is calculated.
Industrial Design Engineering graduate Andreas Zachariah said: “In an age where consumers are making purchasing decisions based on their environmental impact, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t make the same choice about transport, be it public or private, on a daily basis.
“Online methods for calculating personal carbon footprints fall down on the fact that they rely on the user to estimate usage. Carbon Hero uses sophisticated sensors to pinpoint usage, thus giving a much more accurate assessment of the user’s impact on the environment.”
Winner of the BSI sustainability award last year, the Carbon Hero is being configured for multiple mobile software platforms.
Oxford graduate student Nick Burch, a partner in the project, said: “We are now in a closed beta-testing phase verifying that all works well, fixing problems and improving the application.
“It is a live and kicking application working on mobile cellular phones; it has already been tested on the Nokia platform and now we are moving to Blackberry.”
Director of environmental sustainability group Doors of Perception and informal advisor to Zachariah, John Thackara, said that the next six months would be used to "iron out the bugs," but that the product will be made available within the year.
“Carbon Hero has the potential to radically change the way we understand the carbon impact of our travel.
“The big problem at the moment is that we are all vaguely aware that we travel on airplanes too much, vaguely aware that the planet cannot sustain, either individually or collectively, the flow of people and products around the world.
“But it’s a level of vagueness and ease rather than of precise numbers. What Carbon Hero does is to give you as an individual and also an aggregate form, a precise picture about what the costs of your activity are.”
Sponsored by ESA’s Technology Transfer Programme, the Carbon Hero is looking to secure deals with large corporations aiming to acquire green credentials.
It is hoped that the technology will produce more widespread awareness of carbon emissions amongst individuals and corporations. Corporations could then potentially give incentives to staff to reduce their carbon footprint.
Thackara said: “What happens when you get tight numbers, in a world where numbers are important, is you can say 'well we actually travel 50 per cent less or 30 per cent less' and that is a much bigger difference in behaviour, and a bigger impact on the environment than people are readily aware of.”
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