Our Carbon Tracker app is a specially designed platform that enables users to accurately monitor their CO2 emissions, particularly focusing on transportation. Utilizing a structured methodology, the app estimates emissions based on various transportation modes. To get precise calculations, users input specific details. For example, to assess emissions from a car journey, you'll need to enter the journey's length, the vehicle's type (electric, diesel, or gasoline), and passenger count. The app then applies these inputs to its algorithms to provide an estimated carbon emission figure.

Carbon App
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Methodology:

This methodology was copied from the group Carbon Compass

  1. General formula

    To ensure precise carbon emission calculations for our users, the application utilizes a universal formula. This formula integrates emission factors, particularly focusing on transportation involving fossil fuels, to deliver accurate results.
    \[\text{CO}_{2}=d*\frac{ef}{p}\]
    In which: \[\text{CO}_2 \text{ = carbon emissions in grams} \] \[\text{d} \text{ = distance traveled in km} \] \[\text{ef} \text{ = emission factor in CO}_2 \text{/km} \] \[\text{d} \text{ = distance traveled in km} \]

  1. Formula for electrical transportation modes

    The application uses a carbon intensity of 31 gCO2/kWh; this is based on data from the past year (Electricity Maps, n.d.). But what is carbon intensity? Carbon intensity is used to evaluate the cleaness of the electricity produced and is thus expressed in grams of CO2 per kWh (National Grid Group, n.d.). Due to the different ways of producing electricity; think about nuclear, coal, wind, gas, etc. Together with the energy consumption, a variable based on the transportation mode, this is essentially the replacement of the emission factor which is used in the fossil fuel formula. Thus you could inherently say that:
    \[ \text{ef = 31 * ec} \]
    In which: \[\text{ef} \text{ = emission factor in CO}_2 \text{/km} \] \[\text{31} \text{ = dcarbon intensity in gCO}_2 \text{/kwh} \] \[\text{ec} \text{ = energy consumption in kWh} \text{/km} \]

  1. Car

    Based on information provided by the Statistic Central Bureau of Norway (SSB, 2016) and Electric Vehicle Database (EV Database, n.d.), we will use the following data:
    \[ \to \text{Petrol}: \text{156,47g} \text{CO}_{2}/\text{km} \] \[\to \text{Diesel}: \text{130g} \text{CO}_{2}/\text{km} \] \[\to \text{Energy consumption}: \text{0,199kwh/km} \] \[\circ \text{ 6.17g CO}_2 \text{/km}\]

  1. Ferry

    We found information on the carbon emissions of fuel oil ferries in which the number of passengers is already taken into account (Helle, 2022). For the E-ferry it took some more effort since the energy consumption needed to be calculated based on the information of E-ferry Ellen (E-ferry project, n.d.).
    \[ \to \text{Heavy Fuel Oil}: \text{170g} \text{CO}_{2}/\text{pkm} \] \[ \to \text{E-ferry}: \text{0.196 kWh} \text{/pkm} \] \[\circ \text{ 6.08g CO}_2 \text{/pkm}\]

  1. Train

    When looking up the carbon emissions for the train, they differed a bit per country. However, since the application is focussed on use in Bergen, it will use information from the 2022 annual report of Vy (“When Every Journey Counts,” 2022). It states that all of the trains Vy uses are electrical so the application will only provide this option.
    \[ \to \text{Electrical}: \text{10g} \text{CO}_{2}/\text{pkm} \]

  1. Airplane

    Since the grams of CO2/km match those provided by Future in our hands for an economy class flight (Helle, 2022) the application will calculate the carbon emissions based on the following:
    \[ \to \text{Kerosine}: \text{133g} \text{CO}_{2}/\text{pkm} \]

  1. Bus

    Bus transportation in Bergen is organized by both Skyss and Vy. Since Skyss does not provide any information about the climate footprint of their transportation, the application will use data provided by Vy (“When Every Journey Counts,” 2022). Their buses run on 3 different types of fuel; diesel, biodiesel and electrical.
    \[ \to \text{Diesel}: \text{27g} \text{CO}_{2}/\text{pkm} \] \[\to \text{Biodisel}: \text{14g} \text{CO}_{2}/\text{pkm} \] \[\to \text{Electrical}: \text{13g} \text{CO}_{2}/\text{pkm} \]

  1. Motorcycle

    Most motorcycles run on petrol, however there are some electrical motorcycle alternatives. For the carbon emissions produced by a petrol fueled motorcycle, the data will be based on information gathered by the SSB (SSB, 2016). For the electric motorcycle, calculations will be based on information and data gathered from a comparative study (Koossalapeerom et al., 2016).
    \[ \to \text{Petrol}: \text{85,2g} \text{CO}_{2}/\text{km} \] \[\to \text{Energy consumption}: \text{0,28 kwh/km} \] \[\circ \text{ 0.87g CO}_2 \text{/km}\]

  1. Walking and cycling

    Besides the transportation modes mentioned above, the application will also provide the option of registering walking and cycling. Both of these transportation modes do not produce any carbon emissions so no calculations are needed. Nevertheless, the app will consider the kilometers traveled by walking and cycling. This will be shown in the charts and tables.

Carbon App