NREL OpenPATH: A Smart Tool for Tracking Travel and Reducing Your Carbon Footprint

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Open Platform for Agile Trip Heuristics (NREL OpenPATH, https://nrel.gov/openpath) offers a convenient way to monitor your transportation methods (car, bus, bike, walking, etc.) and assess their environmental impact. This app empowers users to understand their travel habits, explore greener alternatives, and evaluate the effects of those changes. The resulting data contributes to improved transportation policies and the creation of more sustainable, accessible urban environments.

OpenPATH provides personalized feedback on individual travel choices and offers aggregated community data (mode shares, trip frequency, carbon footprints) via a public dashboard. This is achieved through continuous data collection and analysis using a smartphone app, a server, and automated data processing. The open-source nature ensures transparency and adaptability for various research projects or programs.

Data collection begins only after consent is given. Users can join a specific study or program, or participate in NREL's open-access study to track their personal carbon footprint. Aggregated data from individual users may serve as a control group for partner-led experiments.

At its core, OpenPATH functions as an automated travel diary, leveraging background location and accelerometer data. Users can add descriptive labels as needed by program administrators or researchers.

To conserve battery life, GPS functionality automatically shuts off when the user is stationary. This optimization results in approximately a 5% battery drain for up to three hours of daily travel.

Version 1.9.1 Update (October 15, 2024)

Key improvement: Push notifications are now optional, catering to programs that don't require them.