A company called Carbon Diem has developed an application for Blackberries and some Nokia phones that enables the user to measure their carbon footprint in real time with the use of the phone’s GPS system. The system is able to measure the speed you are traveling (using the GPS) and make certain assumptions based on the information it’s gathering. For example, if the phone tracks that you’re traveling between 5 and 15 mph for 30 minutes it can probably make the assumption that you’re traveling by bike.  In the same vein, if you’re tracked going from 0-75 mph and stay there for an hour, the application would reason that you’re probably on a train.

The developers claim that it’s almost 100% accurate in identifying train and air travel while it’s less accurate (65%-75%) when guessing if people are traveling by bus. This information is then aggregated and stored for the user to track their carbon footprint and identify ways to minimize it in the future.

While it’s not perfect, this real time data collection is a pretty amazing step! Maybe someday the application will become so advanced that companies like Community Energy Inc. could offer real time carbon offsets based on the information that’s collected. It’s a pretty empowering thought!