Google Phone Green App Tackles Carbon Footprints

Green Inc.:

While downloadable applications for the iPhone have enjoyed most of the spotlight since they began shipping, momentum is building for apps that run on the Google Android operating system, which drives the first retail Android device, T-Mobile's G1.

One application to catch my eye is Ecorio, a carbon footprint calculator that taps into the G1's GPS feature to track movement. Mode of travel choices include automobile, public transit and bicycle.

Once in motion, Ecorio determines how fast you're moving -- and if you're in a car, how efficiently. Vehicle make and model weigh in as well. Indicating that your ride of choice is a Prius, for instance, helps improve your overall rating more than choosing a Humvee.

Read the whole story: Green Inc.

Comments

[carticipate]

You can already go green with the iPhone by carticipating.

We developed the first ride share app on a location aware mobile platform and recently gave a talk on carticipation at the Silicon Valley iPhone Developers' Meetup in Palo Alto last week.

Here is the video for those interested, we recommend to select "high quality" mode, especially now since youtube just went wide screen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaphdB6Wafs

[Motes]

This sounds like a revenue source for carbonfund more than anything else. Telling you that you can offset your energy usage by sending money to carbonfund does not reverse the combustion process your engine just performed and sends the newly formed gas back into the pump from which you got it. The article should give an explicit critique of what carbonfund does prior to giving it free advertising.

[KillTheMessenger]

Cool but pretty useless because a Prius tells you how much gas you are using. So does every other car, IF you put a fuel efficiency display in. But for most cars manufacturers just don't want you to see real time how poorly the vehicle performs..­.