People who work from home all the time "reduce emissions by 54%" compared to those who work in an office. These are the results of a study by Cornell University and Microsoft published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Employees in the United States who worked from home all the time are projected to reduce their emissions by 54% compared to office workers, while employees who had 1 day of remote work per week did not reduce their emissions as dramatically, reducing their emissions by only 2%. This is because the energy savings from not being in the office were offset by factors such as an increase in the number of non-road trips made while working from home.
Working remotely two to four days a week reduced individual emissions by 29% compared to on-site employees.
The main reasons for the reduction in emissions by remote workers were less energy use in the office, as well as lower emissions from daily commuting.
The broader benefits of reduced emissions from working from home include reduced traffic congestion during peak hours, which likely improves fuel economy. However the authors warn that working from home must be carefully planned to ensure that the emissions reduction benefits are realized.
The study found that remote workers have an increased number of non-work-related trips, driving and flying more. The personal residences of remote workers are not always optimized for decarbonization in terms of renewable energy use and efficiency of appliances, and there are some economies of scale. For example, a small home printer is likely to be less energy efficient than an office printer.
While the study's findings do not apply to workers in many industries - a bus driver, for example, cannot work from home - it does provide guidance on how employers with office-based workers can reduce their company's emissions.
The information was prepared based on the materials of the publication https://www.theguardian.com/
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