Remote working exploded in popularity during 2020 for obvious reasons. People left offices and started working from home – and many still do to this day. There are lots of debates and questions surrounding remote work, but one aspect is particularly intriguing.
We’re interested in the idea of remote work being better for the environment than traditional office work. Can it be a more eco-friendly approach to daily work, and if so, how?
Remote work reduces travel
Did you know that transport accounts for around a quarter of CO2 emissions? And this doesn’t include air transportation – it only looks at road transportation. It’s a big problem that mainly revolves around people commuting to and from work. Lots of people take public transport (which is more eco-friendly) but some workers aren’t in a position to do this. Maybe there aren’t any good public transport links nearby or it’s more convenient to drive to work.
In any case, remote work can put an end to this problem. People can work from home, completely negating the need to commute anywhere. Imagine a world where the roads were free every morning and evening. It would be perfect, leaving more room for cyclists or people who wish to commute other ways. It would also open the roads for buses and other forms of public transport, improving that for people in certain communities too.
The lack of a morning and evening commute can greatly reduce carbon emissions and help us reverse some of the terrible damage done to our environment.
Remote work can cut down on office waste
Surveys have shown that the average office worker generates about 2 pounds of office waste per day. For one worker, that’s 10 pounds of waste a week, multiplied by however many people are in the office. To make matters worse, offices are notoriously bad at overpurchasing office supplies. They could have loads of paper left over or materials that don’t get used and end up being thrown away.
Remote working directly deals with this issue. When people work from home, they use the supplies around them. An individual is less likely to buy too much of something than a business. You’ll buy what you need, and make sure you use it.
You could also talk about recycling here too. It’s much easier for someone to recycle things at home compared to work. Indeed, many offices don’t have proper recycling bins. This is because all the waste from every office in a building is combined and put in massive dumpsters outside. There are too many opportunities for recycling contamination, which is why most buildings don’t bother. At home, you’re in control of waste disposal and can ensure everything that can be recycled is recycled.
Reducing waste is clearly good for the planet. It stops landfills from getting piled up which will cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. It’s crazy how much better waste management is when people work from home instead of in an office environment.
Remote working can lower energy consumption
As a remote worker, you only need a handful of things to work from home. You’ll have a laptop/computer, software like Microsoft 365 loaded onto that device, and maybe a headset to handle calls. You won’t really need anything else – apart from possibly a printer if required.
All of this stuff combined will not consume a lot of energy. Particularly if you’re smart and use a laptop, meaning you can spend a few hours per day without having your main device plugged into the mains. In an office setting, there are usually loads of computers in a room. Plus, you have other office equipment like shredders, copiers, etc. To add to this, there’s loads of lighting, a bigger heating/cooling system, and so on.
It all adds up to mean the energy bills are absurdly high. So much electricity is consumed, yet you can slash this dramatically if people work from home. It takes less energy for individuals to work than it does to run an entire office.
With that in mind – and taking the other points into account – remote working can be far better for the environment. Reducing daily commute loads can have a profound impact on our planet. If multiple businesses in a city switched to remote working, you’d see a massive reduction in carbon emissions. Less energy would be produced too – and the amount of waste would also drop dramatically.
So, if you run a business and want to lower your carbon footprint, perhaps it’s time to opt for a switch to remote working.
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