NREL OpenPATH: Track Your Travel, Measure Your Impact
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Open Platform for Agile Trip Heuristics (NREL OpenPATH, https://nrel.gov/openpath) lets you monitor your transportation choices—car, bus, bike, walking, and more—and calculate their energy consumption and carbon emissions.
This app helps communities understand their travel habits, explore sustainable alternatives, and assess the outcomes. The data gathered informs effective transportation policies and urban planning, contributing to the creation of more sustainable and accessible cities.
OpenPATH provides personalized feedback on your travel choices and offers aggregated, community-wide data on travel modes, trip frequency, and carbon footprints through a public dashboard.
OpenPATH uses continuous data collection and analysis via a smartphone app, a server, and automated data processing. Its open design ensures transparent data handling and allows customization for specific projects or research.
Initially, the app doesn't collect or transmit data. Joining a study or program (via a link or QR code) requires consent to data collection and storage before the app activates. If you're not involved in a partnered program but want to track your personal carbon footprint, you can join NREL's open-access study. Your anonymized data might serve as a control group for partner experiments.
At its heart, the app functions as an automated travel diary, utilizing background location and accelerometer data. You can add details as needed by program administrators or researchers.
To conserve battery life, GPS tracking automatically switches off when you're stationary. This reduces battery drain considerably, resulting in approximately 5% battery usage for up to three hours of daily travel.
What's New in Version 1.9.1
Last updated October 15, 2024
- Push notifications are now optional, accommodating programs that don't require them.
