As an AnswerConnect employee, or client, you did something remarkable today. You helped save 282 gallons of gasoline. You cut down on the amount of pollutants released into the air. You lessened our country’s dependence on a nonrenewable resource. Take a moment to give yourself a pat on the back.
The daily commute is a necessary evil in most workers’ lives. At least five days a week, millions of Americans start and end their work day by traveling between home and work, averaging 29 miles round trip.1 While some commuters choose public transit, car pooling, bicycling or walking to work, the truth is 75% of commuters drive to work alone,2 contributing to the 380,000,000 gallons of gas burned daily within the United States.3
Three-hundred eighty million gallons is a mind-boggling number, especially considering that burning just one gallon of gas produces 19 pounds of carbon dioxide,3 a major contributor to climate change. Add in carcinogenic hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, ozone and other pollutants harmful to individual health, plant life and air quality alike, and suddenly the daily commute costs more than just dollars.
But we’ve found commuting isn’t a necessary evil. The concept of one central location to which all workers flock is not the end-all and be-all of work models. Smarter technology has made working online—from home—a feasible, even preferable option to commuting. Using shared networks, collaborative software and other online/cloud-based tools, we’re able to employ 272 workers from home, keeping them off the road, and saving 102,826 gallons of gasoline annually.
That number isn’t huge compared to 380 million, but we’re just one office. One single office saves 102,826 gallons of gas annually simply by using cloud-based tools (many of which are free or comparatively inexpensive) and a progressive culture to make remote work possible.
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1. http://www.ridetowork.org/transportation-fact-sheet
2. http://www.slideshare.net/marcus.bowman.slides/us-commuting-statistical-analysis
3. http://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=gasoline_environment
