Is working from home more environmentally friendly than commuting? What should digital nomads watch out for to avoid high energy use?
As work styles diversify, more people choose to work remotely from home or become digital nomads. But are these options truly greener than commuting to the office every day?
Intuitively, the biggest advantage of remote work is the reduction in emissions from commuting. However, working from home also brings additional energy use — long hours on computers, air conditioning, and lighting. In contrast, offices share air-conditioning and lighting among many people, so the average energy use per person is often lower. Therefore, whether working from home is truly more sustainable hinges on whether the carbon-saving benefits of reduced commuting outweigh the increase in household energy consumption.
Australian study: flexible remote work clearly reduces carbon emissions
A study of an Australian company with 3,000 employees compared the environmental impacts of everyone commuting to the office versus a flexible remote-work arrangement (working from home 2–4 days per week). The study assumed 75% of employees commute by car. Results showed that flexible remote work can avoid 728 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year — about a 5% reduction compared with everyone working from the office.
Looking at three environmental indicators — resource consumption, air pollution, and human toxicity — the findings were:
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Air pollution: fell sharply by 41% due to reduced commuting.
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Human toxicity: increased by 17% if remote work raises overall electricity use and that electricity is largely generated from coal.
Overall, even if people run the air conditioner at home for up to nine hours, remote work still leads to greater carbon reductions than commuting to the office — particularly for those with long car commutes. For these commuters, switching to full or flexible remote work yields the most significant environmental benefits.
Digital nomads: pick the right location and boost energy efficiency
For digital nomads, the work pattern is similar to working from home, but you must additionally consider the energy mix of the places you stay. If the local grid relies heavily on renewables, the environmental footprint of electricity use will be smaller.
Regardless of whether you work remotely or in an office, using energy-efficient devices and improving overall energy efficiency will reduce consumption.
Can’t work remotely? Change your commute to cut emissions
If your job cannot be done remotely, changing how you commute is still an effective way to lower environmental impact:
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Walking or cycling (if distance allows) produce zero carbon emissions and are great for health.
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Metro/subway and buses have much lower emissions than driving.
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Carpooling is also an effective way to split emissions — for example, if four people share one car, the per-person emissions can even be lower than taking a bus.
Four daily habits that help — for both remote and office workers
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Turn off computers and screens when not in use, or enable power-saving sleep modes.
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Go paperless where possible, and use electronic business cards.
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Set printers to default double-sided printing and double-check before printing.
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Take the stairs instead of the elevator when possible to reduce elevator energy use.
Source: RE-THINK
Website: 環保大對決：遠距工作、數位遊牧會比進辦公室環保嗎？ - RE-THINK 重新思考
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