SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING ACTIONS TO REDUCE A CARBON FOOTPRINT

• US 20140114867A1
• Filed: 02/12/2008
• Published: 04/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services GmbH (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Volkmann, Curt, Abood, David J.
• Application Number:
  US12/029,949
• Publication Number:
  US 20140114867A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/308
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/30 Administration of product recycling or disposal
• CPC Class Codes: Y02W 90/00 Enabling technologies or technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions mitigation

Abstract

A system is described for aiding a user in reducing a carbon footprint. The system includes a processor to process inputted energy use information, where the energy use information is specific to the user. The processor determines an outputted emission data in accordance with the inputted energy use information. A screenshot displays the outputted emission data, wherein the emission data includes a custom action for reducing the carbon footprint.

Claims

1. A method for reducing a carbon footprint of a user, comprising:

inputting, into a service provider, energy use information specific to the user;

processing the energy use information in the service provider to determine a plurality of specific actions for the user to perform to reduce the carbon footprint of the user;

outputting emission data in accordance with the processed energy use information, wherein outputting the emission data includes displaying, to the user, a list of the plurality of specific actions for reducing the carbon footprint of the user;

determining whether the plurality of specific actions comprise automatable actions;

facilitating, in the service provider, the automatic performance of the automatable actions for the user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the energy use information comprises gas information, electricity information, home energy information and vehicle information.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the output emission data is dependent on a time of day.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the output emission data is dependent on a geographical location of the user.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the output emission data is dependent on a supplier of electricity to the user.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the emission data is output as a bar graph of total carbon dioxide emissions over time.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the bar of the bar graph is separated into sources of carbon dioxide.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the sources include propane, electricity, natural gas, heating oil, coal and vehicles.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the bar graph includes an indicator of where to focus actions for carbon footprint reductions.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the indicator comprises a symbol located on the bar of the bar graph.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein facilitating, in the service provider, the automatic performance of the automatable actions for the user comprises:

interacting with a utility network control system corresponding to the user; and

automatically configuring the utility network control system to implement the automatable actions.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein outputting emission data in accordance with the processed energy use information comprises:

prioritizing the list of plurality of specific actions for reducing the carbon footprint of the user based on a relative impact on the carbon footprint of the user; and

presenting the prioritized plurality of specific actions to the user in a user interface.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein outputting emission data in accordance with the processed energy use information comprises:

performing trend analysis on the energy use information specific to the user to determine historical emissions data of the user; and

displaying the historical emissions data of the user.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the energy use information comprises:

determining a rating for the user based on an amount of emissions generated by the user and compared to an average emission data of other users within a geographic area.

11. A system for aiding a user in reducing a carbon footprint, the system comprising:

a processor configured to process inputted energy use information, wherein the energy use information is specific to the user, the processor to determine a plurality of specific actions for the user to perform to reduce the carbon footprint of the user;

a screenshot to display the outputted emission data, wherein the screenshot includes a list of custom actions for reducing the carbon footprint,

wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether the plurality of specific actions comprise automatable actions, and to facilitate the automatic performance of the automatable actions for the user.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the screenshot displays the emission data as a bar graph of total carbon dioxide emissions over time.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the bar of the bar graph is separated into sources of carbon dioxide.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the sources include propane, electricity, natural gas, heating oil, coal and vehicles.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein the bar graph includes an indicator of where to focus actions for carbon footprint reductions.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the indicator comprises a symbol located on the bar of the bar graph.

17. The system of claim 11 wherein the screenshot displays a graph that illustrates the carbon footprint of the user over a time period versus a baseline.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the graph illustrates the carbon footprint for vehicle, natural gas and electricity usage.

19. The system of claim 11 wherein the screenshot displays alert for high carbon time periods.

20. The system of claim 11 wherein the screenshot displays awards for reducing the carbon footprint over time by a determined amount.

21. The system of claim 11 wherein the screenshot displays a sliding bar graph that indicates a carbon footprint of the user versus an average carbon footprint.

22. The system of claim 11 wherein the energy use information comprises gas information, electricity information, home energy information and vehicle information.

23. The system of claim 11 wherein the output emission data is dependent on a time of day.

24. The system of claim 11 wherein the output emission data is dependent on a geographical location.

25. The system of claim 11 wherein the output emission data is dependent on a supplier of electricity to the user.

27. The method of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to facilitate the automatic performance of the automatable actions for the user by:

interacting with a utility network control system corresponding to the user; and

automatically configuring the utility network control system to implement the automatable actions.