carbon footprint tool is an Android winner

Jeff Kao was supposed to go to law school this fall, until a phone call from Google Inc. prompted him to put those plans on hold.

On Thursday, the University of Waterloo graduate found out the cellphone application he and his four friends spent more than six months designing in his parents' living room was one of 10 winners of Google's Android Developer Challenge.

That means their program, Ecorio, will be one of the first applications capable of running on Google's new mobile operating system, Android, when smart phones equipped with the software go on sale this fall.

They're feeling lucky – Google has called in Globe and Mail, September 2, 2008

The program

allows the user to accurately calculate their travel carbon footprint. Given awareness of their travel carbon footprint, the user can take action in three ways: Reduce, Inspire, and Offset.

...

Android's background GPS capability allows accurate always-on tracking of the user's travel carbon footprint, and suggests carpool and transit options.

Ecorio - Android Gallery