Design, Development and Evaluation of a Context-Aware Mobile Application for Carbon Footprint Tracking in Zambia

This paper presents the design, development, and evaluation of EcoTrack, an Android-based carbon footprint tracking application specifically tailored for the Zambian context. The application addresses critical gaps in existing environmental monitoring tools by focusing on locally relevant emission sources, particularly biomass fuels, and implementing offline-first architecture suitable for connectivity-constrained environments. Developed using Java and the Room Persistence Library, EcoTrack employs a Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) architecture to ensure robust performance and maintainability. The Application’s calculation engine integrates International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) standards for fossil fuels with United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) factors for biomass fuels. Rigorous testing across 150 scenarios demonstrated calculation accuracies of 98.2% for petrol (95% CI: 97.8-98.6%), 97.9% for diesel (95% CI: 97.4-98.4%), and 96.5% for charcoal (95% CI: 95.8-97.2%). User studies with 30 Zambian participants yielded a System Usability Scale (SUS) score of 82.5 (excellent range) and 94% task completion rate. Notably, 96% of users confirmed the relevance of charcoal tracking, addressing a significant omission in existing global solutions. The research demonstrates that context-aware mobile applications can effectively bridge the gap between global environmental standards and local user needs in developing regions, providing a replicable model for similar applications across sub-Saharan Africa.