It's Easy Being Green: Save Money, Save Emissions—Work from Home

The commuter lifestyle is on its way out, and it’s taking some 26 billion pounds of carbon dioxide pollution with it. Telecommuting, or working from home, is a practice that could be the answer to ever-increasing gasoline prices and help the environment at the same time. If employees who could telecommute did so at least two days a week, their fuel consumption and cost would decrease by 40 percent—and that’s just one of the benefits.

Telecommuting is a work arrangement that allows for flexibility in hours and location. It provides more time with family members, and replaces productivity time that is normally lost in commutes. Technology plays a part as well; virtual private networks and videoconferencing are shrinking the gap between the workplace and home.

Many U.S. workers have been forced to move away from city centers in pursuit of a more affordable house and lifestyle, but they now face extraordinarily high transportation costs. Nearly half of all commuters travel more than 20 miles round trip to and from work every day, and with the average price of gas at more than $4 per gallon, it can cost hundreds of dollars to commute every week.

In addition, traffic congestion continues to worsen in American cities of every size. Not only do commuters spend 4.2 billion hours in traffic each year, this idling wastes 2.9 billion gallons of fuel—enough to fill 58 fully loaded supertankers.

Click here to read the full Center for American Progress article.