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Nokia has been one of the more environment-friendly companies in the mobile industry, and it looks like they are working hard to keep that reputation. Earlier last week, courtesy WomWorld, we were invited to a Q&A session with a couple people from the PEIR program and Nokia. Here’s what we learnt.
What is PEIR ?
The PEIR concept is basically developed by Nokia Research Center Palo Alto and UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles).
PEIR is actually an acronym for “Personal Environmental Impact Report” and is a new “tool” that can be used to measure users’ impact on the environment, directly from their mobile phones, having certain software that uses the multitude of sensors packed in today’s mobile devices. The software is capable of collecting speed and location information that is correlated with Geographic Information System data. This way, an individual’s environmental exposure and impact can then be visualized online, using GPS, your phone Camera, and anything else that can help.
To understand the PEIR concept better, the UCLA has uploaded a video on YouTube, which you can also check out below:
PEIR is being used by the Go Green Foundation & Climate Counts in an on-going program in San Francisco, to show how mobile phones can make it easy for users to make choices that would leave a smaller carbon footprint on our planet. to demonstrate how mobile phones and applications can provide actionable data to motivate teens to make choices that leave a smaller carbon footprint.
Unfortunately when we asked at the Q&A, they let us know that for now, PEIR is only limited to San Francisco, but they are slowly going to open up to different areas and countries in the future. That, i would love to see happen soon.
Getting back to the Q&A, we were part of a bunch of other bloggers who were also invited to the event. We were joined PEIR Team consisting of Jeff Burke and Mark Hansen from UCLA, Martin Gutierrez from the Go Green Foundation and John Shen from Nokia Labs.
We basically learnt that there is a PIER application, that currently runs on S60 3rd Edition devices (D’oh no 5th Edition support yet). We talked about a possible integration of PEIR tech with the Nokia SportsTracker app, and how that would work. We also found out that Nokia partnered with Lonely Planet to showcase the impact of projects (like PEIR) on consumers. Apparently in September, a website will be set up with more info about these projects, so you’ll find out a lot more info about it then.
I’ve always been a bit of an environmentally conscious person. Maybe it was growing up, watching “Captain Planet and the Planeteers” on TV when I was a kid. Although you probably wont see me hugging any trees. With that in mind, I’m personally happy to see Nokia take the environmentally friendly initiative and contribute to projects like these.
If you live in the San Francisco area, and are interested in taking part in the PIER beta, you can send over an Email to peir-info[at]cens.ucla.edu, and tell them we sent ya along.
Remember y’all, every bit helps !
Clinton is currently based in New Delhi, India and is executive editor for UnleashThePhones. He is responsible for all editorial decisions, and covers all forms of Mobile and mobile-related accessories.
Cj is addicted to caffeine, social media, and technology. Always up for a good conversation, you can reach him through the contact form, his website, on Google Plus 
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