3.9 Million Americans Telecommute, Helping Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Many people today enjoy the benefits of telecommuting, but they never thought they were helping our environment at the same time. According to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the estimated 3.9 million telecommuters in the United States contributed to the goal of reducing energy usage and greenhouse gases.

CEA conducted a study of telecommuters and the effect on the environment. The study, titled "The Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Impact of Telecommuting and e-Commerce", used workers that telecommute at least one day per week, some telecom muted full time. They compared the energy usage of telecommuters with those of traditional methods.

According to CEA, the energy savings is the equivalent of the amount used by 1 million US households every year. By working from home, telecommuters do not use the amount of gasoline as a person working in the office. This also results in a reduction of COS emissions by not driving their vehicle to work.

Take into consideration a one-way commute of 22 miles. A person working in an office would travel 220 miles a week or over 11,000 a year, just going to work every day. According to CEA this is equal to about 320 gallons of gasoline and 4.5 to 6 tons of CO2 emissions.

In the CEA study, they found that just one day of working from home is equal to 12 hours of a normal household's energy usage; not including the couple of gallons of gasoline and reduced CO2 emissions. "This report demonstrates that consumer electronics are part of a climate change solution, as the use of electronics is preventing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing fossil fuel consumptions," said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CEA.

The power companies today have been under a lot of pressure to reduce fossil fuel usage. One of the answers may lay with the corporations and businesses that use the energy everyday. If businesses and companies would look into ways of using telecommuters to do some of their tasks, they will help reduce the energy usage in our country. Technology today should be used to its fullest potential and everyone will benefit from it.