CANADA: Google cash for carbon footprint calculator

"I'm Feeling Lucky," the button says on Google's ubiquitous search engine page. And it's what five young Canadian engineers in training are probably saying after receiving US$275,000 from Google Inc. for a software application idea that calculates a traveller's carbon footprint.

Google's Android Developer Challenge awarded the cash prize to a team of two masters students from the University of Toronto and three recent University of Waterloo engineering graduates. The contest, which distributed US$10 million to 10 winning teams, had put a call out for applications that would run on Google's new mobile operating system, part of smart phone packages available this fall.

The five Canadians, calling themselves Ecorio, had holed themselves up for six months in the living room of team member Jeff Kao's parents, designing the application entitled Eco2go.

Eco2go calculates a person's carbon footprint and environmental impact by tracking the user's daily movements. The application also shows the user how to reduce personal carbon emissions by, for example, using public transport instead of driving.

"We developed the idea for our application after we realised that many car owners are concerned about climate change, but they don't know how to connect their daily actions with their impact on the planet", explained another team member, Gary Pong, in an interview with Waterloo's engineering newspaper.

"Our application is designed to inspire people to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle by enabling them to accurately measure their carbon footprint and empowering them to make educated lifestyle choices."

More than 1,700 applications have been sent to Google from around the world.

philip.fine@uw-news.com