Over the past two years of the pandemic
Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2024 4:16 am
Logan Hillen
May 25, 22 | 6 min read
Reading time: 5 minutes
humanity has faced grueling trials and heart-wrenching hardships, including the spread of the virus to lockdown periods and the tragic lives lost in recent years.
With the trials and tribulations that humanity faced... was there a silver lining?
Look at the skies over New Delhi, Mexico City, Wuhan, London, Madrid and more as their air became smog-free.
Look out over the waters of Venice, as the tajikistan email list sediment in the traffic-choked canals finally calms and clears.
During the lockdown, we saw a real-time case study of our impact on the environment. How we, as everyday commuters, energy users and air polluters, affect our planet… but also how we can help it.
While it depends on human nature, Harvard Business Review says that companies can take more steps through a WFH (Working from home) model to help nature. But first, let’s look at some of the statistics to better frame the environmental impacts.
Follow us on the Rock Content LinkedIn page
A look at resource depletion
Carbon and greenhouse gases
As a remote worker and telecommuter, it's obvious that making the morning and afternoon commute is practically non-existent. While you still have to drive to get errands done, not having to sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic for hours on end reduces the expense of not only time and money, but also your carbon footprint.
The logic may seem as easy as 1 + 1 = 2. No commuting + No moving vehicle = Less greenhouse gas emissions. But have you ever thought about expanding the actions of a single person to a global scale? Or even to your own country?
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a statement in 2017 saying that 29% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. came from transportation, with a large portion accounting for the typical family/personal automobile.
To further emphasize the point, Digital Nomad explains that remote workers avoid emitting 3.6 million tons of the same gas each year and that if they wanted to make the same offset, they would need to plant 91 million trees.
Fossil fuels
Along with greenhouse gas emissions that come into play with commuting, it is also worth noting the use of fossil fuels. Households and businesses not only use fossil fuels for electricity and heat, but also for transport.
In pre-pandemic times in 2018, Statista estimated that around 97.2 million barrels of gasoline were consumed PER DAY. Each barrel holds approximately 20 gallons, so multiply that out and think of the nightmare at the gas pump.
After reflecting on that number, do a little mental exercise with me. Close your eyes and consider if only half of the companies that could work remotely did so.
Reduced energy consumption
But if everyone worked from home, wouldn't we be using an exorbitant amount of electricity? The short answer: possibly, but it depends on the population.
In a case study showing the positive effects of using solar energy, Sun Power provided these statistics for a typical home:
The average US home uses about 900 kWh per month.
That's 30 kWh per day
or 1.25 kWh per hour.
This is just an average for US households, not taking into account the over- or under-using people inside or outside this country.
But how much electricity does a company use?
Forbes says that large companies, offices, factories, etc. can use 100kWh... every half hour.
While it is difficult to accurately measure how much electricity the global remote workforce uses in a day, comparing 1.25 kWh per hour of average household consumption to 100 kWh per half hour in businesses shows us that, ultimately, working from home will always be more beneficial.
City lights or starry nights?
Some may migrate to a larger city in hopes of having easier access to jobs. Others, on the other hand, may move to another area within the same city to reduce their commute time, trading the cost of gasoline for a higher rental cost.
May 25, 22 | 6 min read
Reading time: 5 minutes
humanity has faced grueling trials and heart-wrenching hardships, including the spread of the virus to lockdown periods and the tragic lives lost in recent years.
With the trials and tribulations that humanity faced... was there a silver lining?
Look at the skies over New Delhi, Mexico City, Wuhan, London, Madrid and more as their air became smog-free.
Look out over the waters of Venice, as the tajikistan email list sediment in the traffic-choked canals finally calms and clears.
During the lockdown, we saw a real-time case study of our impact on the environment. How we, as everyday commuters, energy users and air polluters, affect our planet… but also how we can help it.
While it depends on human nature, Harvard Business Review says that companies can take more steps through a WFH (Working from home) model to help nature. But first, let’s look at some of the statistics to better frame the environmental impacts.
Follow us on the Rock Content LinkedIn page
A look at resource depletion
Carbon and greenhouse gases
As a remote worker and telecommuter, it's obvious that making the morning and afternoon commute is practically non-existent. While you still have to drive to get errands done, not having to sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic for hours on end reduces the expense of not only time and money, but also your carbon footprint.
The logic may seem as easy as 1 + 1 = 2. No commuting + No moving vehicle = Less greenhouse gas emissions. But have you ever thought about expanding the actions of a single person to a global scale? Or even to your own country?
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a statement in 2017 saying that 29% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. came from transportation, with a large portion accounting for the typical family/personal automobile.
To further emphasize the point, Digital Nomad explains that remote workers avoid emitting 3.6 million tons of the same gas each year and that if they wanted to make the same offset, they would need to plant 91 million trees.
Fossil fuels
Along with greenhouse gas emissions that come into play with commuting, it is also worth noting the use of fossil fuels. Households and businesses not only use fossil fuels for electricity and heat, but also for transport.
In pre-pandemic times in 2018, Statista estimated that around 97.2 million barrels of gasoline were consumed PER DAY. Each barrel holds approximately 20 gallons, so multiply that out and think of the nightmare at the gas pump.
After reflecting on that number, do a little mental exercise with me. Close your eyes and consider if only half of the companies that could work remotely did so.
Reduced energy consumption
But if everyone worked from home, wouldn't we be using an exorbitant amount of electricity? The short answer: possibly, but it depends on the population.
In a case study showing the positive effects of using solar energy, Sun Power provided these statistics for a typical home:
The average US home uses about 900 kWh per month.
That's 30 kWh per day
or 1.25 kWh per hour.
This is just an average for US households, not taking into account the over- or under-using people inside or outside this country.
But how much electricity does a company use?
Forbes says that large companies, offices, factories, etc. can use 100kWh... every half hour.
While it is difficult to accurately measure how much electricity the global remote workforce uses in a day, comparing 1.25 kWh per hour of average household consumption to 100 kWh per half hour in businesses shows us that, ultimately, working from home will always be more beneficial.
City lights or starry nights?
Some may migrate to a larger city in hopes of having easier access to jobs. Others, on the other hand, may move to another area within the same city to reduce their commute time, trading the cost of gasoline for a higher rental cost.