Interesting to see that DB do the system you mention Rolf, I didn’t know that – I believe that the National Express Group are either about to, or have just launched something very similar in the UK. It will be interesting to see how everything shakes out in this area in the next couple of years. I tend to agree with Zac in that although I think most people now ‘get’ climate change, and understand how much of what they do makes an impact, they want to be able to help themselves – and that being dictated to, ‘put on cabron diets’ or given ‘carbon allowances’ is likely to be met with much unpopularity, and perhaps even prove counter productive. That’s what struck me about being so nice about CarbonHero – I could see someone like my dad ‘getting’ it, and becoming quite obsessed with it, in a way which didn’t intrude into his life in a ‘big brother’ style, but made him think about jumping into the car to drive a mile down the road to the paper shop.

At Andreas, lets stay in touch.

First off I’m a very firm believer in “every little helps”. Lots of little differences can soon add up to a big difference. Remember Richard Pryor in Superman III, creaming of fractions of cents into millions. Despite the comedy example, I think its a serious proposition.
Secondly my research has shown that people tend not to like being told too much what to do, they like to find (re)solutions themselves(its much more satisfying), even if they dont realise there being guided. Sounds like a certain way of handling sexual sterotypes )
Anyhow… thirdly using an example of a concerned motivated environmentalist, I sought to try and get a quantity and quality of data that could be likened to them keeping a diary of their every movement(literally-how did i travel).
And then I sought to use a platform as large as I could find to facilitate this service.

So, CarbonHero calculates your carbon footprint based on your travel choices. The flash widget(the sensor) is in fact detecting the users speed and location and bluetooths it to your mobile(the brains). This then through the already designed and working software, uses algorithms and a special database to try and figure out what mode of transport you might have just used. The mobile also doubles as my User Interface and communicates a range of values and graphics as you go about your business. Not only that you can compare today with yesterday, last week, even the month. Even your efficiency is given, i.e. miles/carbon kg.

So unless you dont own a mobile and dont leave your house with a set of keys, CarbonHero should pretty much work. Even if you dont have a mobile, a stand alone device could easily be developed.

It’ll even know if you’ve taken a plane(as well as the bus, tube, train, car and walking). And as a keen cyclist my hardest part was the pattern recognition of a cyclist vs. car vs. walking, but that too has been resolved for now. Currently optimising the software further and looking for sponsorship and right partners to bring to market. FoE and RSA already expressed big interest.

The response at the show from general public and pros was nothing short of life enhancing.

Thanks Rolf for the spot with DB system, shame they’re on strike…radical way of cutting down on emissions no doubt! Do they really think they can get 30%pay hikes?!

Looking forward to your comments

PS.Love this site and movementdesign too…big respect.