NREL OpenPATH, developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, is a powerful tool for tracking your travel modes and measuring the energy consumption and emissions associated with your journeys. Whether you're driving a car, taking a bus, cycling, or walking, the app (available at https://nrel.gov/openpath) provides detailed insights into your travel behavior.

This app is more than just a personal tracker; it empowers communities to understand their travel patterns, experiment with sustainable options, and evaluate the effectiveness of these changes. The insights gained can significantly influence transportation policies and planning, paving the way for more sustainable and accessible urban environments.

For individual users, NREL OpenPATH offers a clear picture of the environmental impact of their travel choices. On a broader scale, the app aggregates data to provide community-level insights into mode shares, trip frequencies, and carbon footprints, which are accessible through a public dashboard.

Utilizing a smartphone app connected to a server, NREL OpenPATH continuously collects and analyzes data. Its open-source framework ensures transparency in data handling and allows customization for specific programs or studies. Upon installation, the app does not immediately collect or transmit data. Participation in data collection requires consent, which you can give by clicking a link or scanning a QR code to join a study or program. If you're not part of a partnered community but wish to track your personal carbon footprint, you can participate in NREL's open-access study, where your data may serve as a control group for other experiments.

At its core, NREL OpenPATH functions as an automatically sensed travel diary, leveraging background location and accelerometer data. You can further enrich this diary by adding semantic labels as requested by program administrators or researchers.

It's important to note that continuous GPS use in the background can significantly reduce your device's battery life. To mitigate this, the app intelligently deactivates GPS when you're stationary, minimizing battery drain to approximately 5% for up to 3 hours of daily travel.

What's New in the Latest Version 1.9.1

Last updated on Oct 15, 2024

- Make push notifications optional, catering to programs that do not require them.