The energy and greenhouse gas emission impacts of telecommuting in the U.S.

We analyze the energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions impacts of telecommuting (TC) in the U.S. from a life-cycle perspective. Our assessment evaluates how TC alters transportation, residential building, and commercial building energy consumption patterns and related equivalent CO₂ (CO_2,e) emissions. We estimate that the 4 million U.S. workers who telecommute an average of one or more day per week reduce primary energy consumption by an amount equal to 0.13 to 0.18 percent and 0.16 to 0.23 percent of U.S. annual primary energy consumption and net CO_2,e emissions, respectively. In addition, TC decreases U.S. gasoline consumption by about 0.8 percent of U.S. light-duty vehicle gasoline consumption.