Everyday, most of us use some form of transportation to get to and from work.  Whether it’s using a car, bus, subway, plane, or train, most of us have commutes that use some form of energy.  An estimated 40 percent of American automobile use is associated with daily commuting.  While we want to think that getting on the subway to go to work is better for the environment, the bottom line is that subways too lead to environmental damage.  The electricity used to operate subways and trains often comes from coal-burning power plants, yet another source of CO2 and these subways were often built at great costs to the natural environment.

The bottom line is that no transportation is free and we have to completely reshape how we approach where we go each day.  For the future, it is imperative we link resident and business activities by rezoning and rebuilding cities and forcing people to live closer to work.  However, this will likely take many years to achieve.  In the interim, we need to use the technological solutions that we have, one of which I am using at this very moment - the computer.

I work for the government and I estimate that I could do approximately 95 percent of my current job without ever leaving my home.  While the agency I work for has a telecommuting policy, many frown upon the idea of working from home and it often carries the stigma of laziness or of people trying to get out of work.  The reality is that, when I work from home, I am far more productive than I am when in the office.  First, there are fewer distractions - no coworkers coming into my office to talk, no chats in the coffee room, no impromptu runs to Starbucks, no 2 hour lunches to "get away from the office."   When I’m working from home, I feel the need to work even harder, to prove to colleagues that I am indeed working.  In addition, I end up working longer hours when I’m home because there’s no need to rush home to let the dog out or do anything else.  The mental barrier of "the commute" is gone.  When I work from home, there’s no time spent preparing for my day.  I simply get up, walk the dog, and then walk right to my desk and start working. 

I assume that most people who work in an office are like me; most of their work is done on a computer using remote servers and document storage systems that can be accessed anywhere.  Throw in a phone, web cam, and fax machine (all relatively cheap and common devices) and just about anyone can work remotely.  In a city like DC, where the vast majority of people sitting on the beltway each day are office workers who could probably do their jobs just as easily from home, mandatory telecommuting would result in an astronomical reduction in traffic congestion and pollution.

Here are just a few obvious benefits to telecommuting, benefits that could be significant if a majority of office workers telecommuted:

1. Reduced consumption of road construction materials, automobile parts, and energy.  Energy would be saved in multiple areas.  Gasoline consumption would drop, as would energy consumption, as we would no longer have to use energy to operate huge office buildings (most of which are really inefficient).
2. Road maintenance would be greatly reduced.  Most of the road maintenance we require in the DC metro area comes from the wear-and-tear of heavy traffic.  For fiscal year 2007, Maryland’s state budget allocated $3,688,805,294 to transportation efforts, most of which was for the construction of new roads or expansion or existing roads or for maintenance.  This amount represented 12.72 percent of the entire state budget.   This money could be better spent providing health care or other needed services to residents.
3. Many wildlife areas that are currently being destroyed to building more roads could be saved if more people telecommuted.  With fewer people on the road each day, the need to build more roads would greatly decrease.  For example, the "Intercounty Connector" (ICC) project in the DC metro area, which has been on the book since 1950 and is unfortunately finally coming to fruition, will be an 18-mile, six-lane toll road to connect I-270.370 with I-95.  The project, estimated conservatively to cost $2.3 million, will destroy the headwaters of the Anacostia River, home to the last naturally spawning trout in Maryland.  The road will also slash through numerous parks, forests, and streams and will only add to our already worsening air pollution. 
4. With increased teleworking and use of remote workstations, families would no longer have to sacrifice time together because of the need to spend 3 or 4 hours a day commuting to and from work.  In addition, couples would no longer be in the position of giving up one partner’s career for the other.   With the use of remote workstations and telecommuting, people could live wherever they want and still allow both partners to pursue careers of their choice. 
5. Telecommuting or using remote work stations would also increase longevity in the work environment.  Currently, employers are spending millions of dollars each year on training and hiring.  Often, people leave jobs because their want to move to another part of the country, or their spouse wants to pursue a career elsewhere.  With telecommuting, people would be more likely to stay in their current position even when life is taking them to a different geographic location.
6. Time would be saved, not just on commuting but on all those other things that we spend time on each day in preparation for going to work.  Making lunches, ironing clothes, making ourselves look "presentable."  With telecommuting, "going to work" is as simple as throwing on a bathrobe and grabbing a cup of coffee from the kitchen.  This saved time would translate into higher productivity!
7. Telecommuting is freedom, pure and simple.  Employees could live where the wanted to, whether that’s in a city or in the country, and not have to worry about how where they live impacts what job they have. 
8. Reduced insurance costs would naturally result from increased telecommuting, as there would be fewer traffic and pedestrian accidents.  Most accidents I see on the road each day are during rush hour and undoubtedly the result of people being in a rush to get to work. 

I have yet to see many bad aspects of telecommuting.  In my experience, I am more productive when telecommuting and I find that I get my work done faster and it is of better quality because I am comfortable and better able to concentrate.  The benefits to teleworking or even working at remote workstations far outweigh the losses we might as a society see.   It provides a simple, easy-to-implement solution to our current environmental crisis and could even change the entire way we operate as a society.  As more services move to online, such as college courses, I truly believe that we as a society will change how we interact with one another on a daily basis.  There will of course be downsides, but I believe it will also make us more connected socially to the people in our immediate communities, mainly because we will spend more time in those communities and have more time to be a part of society rather than part of a traffic jam on 495.

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