EC launches mobile carbon tracking

The European Commission (EC) has launched a mobile app that allows people to work out the impact their daily activities have on climate change.

The mobGAS software is free to download to a mobile phone and allows people to input daily activities that could produce the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.

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These include cooking, transport, lighting and use of electronic appliances. These are entered into the mobGAS app, which then calculates individual emissions.

As lifestyle and consumer choices are key factors in generating emissions the EC is aiming to make people more aware of the implications of their choices.

A diary of emissions on a daily, weekly or even annual basis can be registered on the mobGAS website so people can compare their total with national and global averages.

The mobile app also has an animation that shows the user's contribution to the Kyoto Protocol targets.

Speaking to silicon.com, James Governor, principal analyst at Greenmonk, an environmental technology community, said: "I think anything that gives people better awareness of [the impact] behaviour might have on the environment is a good thing."

He added: "But one of the things I would say on the flipside is the last thing the world needs is another carbon calculator. There are so many of these things that it would make sense to start aggregating and bringing them together."

The app is available in 21 different languages and was developed at the EC's joint Research Centre.

mobGASS is available from today free of charge and can be downloaded here.