mobGAS finds your carbon footprint on the go

By SmartPlanet on 03 December 2007, 5:02pm

Next time you’re bored on the bus and have read all those free newspapers shoved in the luggage rack, why not use the time to find how how green you are? With a mobile application just launched by the European Commission, users can calculate their carbon footprint on the go.

Available in 21 languages, mobGAS was developed at the Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC). The Java-based application takes the user's data on activities such as cooking, transport, lighting and appliance use, and calculates their carbon footprint in terms of the three major greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.

The calculations can then be fed into the website so you can compare your footprint with national and world averages. The application even includes an animation to represent your contribution to the Kyoto Protocol target.

According to a Commission statement released on Friday, mobile phones are the ideal way to present an application such as mobGAS, because they are carried around all day long and encourage data entry during "quieter moments" (congestion, we think they mean) such as on bus journeys.

We've downloaded mobGAS onto our N80 to give it a spin, so expect a Smart verdict very soon.