NREL OpenPATH

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Open Platform for Agile Trip Heuristics (NREL OpenPATH, https://nrel.gov/openpath) is a powerful tool that allows individuals to track their travel modes, including car, bus, bike, and walking, while also measuring the associated energy use and carbon emissions. This innovative app not only helps users understand the environmental impact of their travel choices but also fosters a deeper community engagement by providing insights into travel patterns and sustainability options.

NREL OpenPATH empowers communities to experiment with different travel options, assess their sustainability, and use the results to inform transportation policy and urban planning. By doing so, it contributes to the development of more sustainable and accessible cities. The app provides personalized feedback to users on their travel choices and their environmental impact, and it also aggregates community-level data on mode shares, trip frequencies, and carbon footprints, which is accessible via a public dashboard.

The app's functionality is supported by continuous data collection and analysis through a smartphone application, backed by a server and automated data processing systems. Its open-source nature ensures transparency in data collection and analysis, and it can be tailored for specific programs or studies. Upon first installation, the app does not collect or transmit data. Data collection only begins after you consent to join a study or program by clicking a link or scanning a QR code. If you are not part of a partner community or program, you can still participate in the NREL-run open-access study to quantify your individual carbon footprint, and your data might be used as a control in experiments conducted by NREL's partners.

At its core, NREL OpenPATH functions as an automatically sensed travel diary, utilizing background sensed location and accelerometer data. Users have the option to add semantic labels to their travel diaries as requested by program administrators or researchers. It's important to note that continuous use of GPS in the background can significantly reduce battery life. To mitigate this, the app automatically deactivates GPS when you are stationary, resulting in approximately a 5% battery drain for up to 3 hours of travel per day.

What's New in the Latest Version 1.9.1

Last updated on Oct 15, 2024

- Make push notifications optional since there are some programs that don't need them