Pittsburgh Innovates

Carnegie Mellon University researchers are developing a new tool that will help individuals more closely watch their carbon footprint grow—or shrink—over time.

The website, StepGreen.org, was created by Jennifer Mankoff, assistant professor at the Human Computer Interaction Institute. While the site is a work in progress, StepGreen.org is looking for users to log-in and help researchers fine-tune the technology, which they hope will be unique in the world of sustainable websites.

“Like many people, I’ve always tried to be as green as possible in my own personal life,” Mankoff explains. “As I began to understand how urgent it was, it came together in my head that there is a way to apply technology to engage a large number of people to work on the problem.”

What sets StepGreen apart from many similar, save-the-planet websites is a tracking system that invites feedback from users and integration with MySpace and Facebook.

Users may commit to a long list of green actions, from disabling a screensaver or air-drying dishes. Each action is assigned an annual cost savings figure, which is tracked over time. For example, setting a computer on hibernate can save $44 a year.

An icon of a polar bear floating on an ice cap grows and shrinks in size over time, registering an individual’s sustainability index. MySpace and Facebook will help to reach a wide audience.

“Research shows that a public commitment to environmental action increases the follow through,” Mankoff adds. “As people increase their actions to save energy, their icons mature or add features. There’s a sense of anticipation that grows as people become eager to see its end-stage.”