Google launches carbon calculator in the UK

Google has launched a new green initiative that aims to help people calculate, track and reduce their carbon footprint and compare it to other parts of the country. The Google Carbon Calculator launches today.

The service aims to help people to develop a personalised action plan to reduce their carbon footprint, which will be recorded on the Google UK Carbon Footprint Map.

A Carbon Footprint tab can be added to users’s iGoogle homepage and will also offer up to date information on climate change, including a new feed, user generated content from BSkyB and discussions groups. The map will be updated with statistics about how many people are taking part and the total carbon saved.

Ed Parsons, Geospatial technologist at Google, says: “We want to help people find the information they are looking for as quickly as possible and that’s why we have launched this project. People in the UK can find out their carbon footprint and what they can do to reduce it.”

Google worked with the Government and a range organisations and companies including the Energy Savings Trust, Act on Co2 and BSkyB to develop the scheme.