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| WSP encourages home-working to cut out commute Research from global environmental consultancy, WSP Environmental, shows that companies hoping to cut their carbon emissions should encourage home-working, but only in summer when home heating is off - over the year as a whole, it's more carbon efficient at present to work from an office rather than at home. WSP Environmental's research shows that a typical office worker in the UK is responsible for 1.68 tonnes of carbon per year – from travel and in the energy consumed while at work. In contrast, an average homeworker accounts for around 2.38 tonnes per year – nearly 30% more than working from the office. In summer, working from home is the best option from a carbon perspective since the heating is off and, more importantly, few homes in the UK have air conditioning. Air conditioning typically accounts for around 30% of a typical office's energy bills. Companies who encourage both homeworking and are striving to be low carbon should look at their staff's home heating. Upgrading home heating controls so homeworkers can just heat their office not the whole house produces the best carbon profile overall. WSP Environmental calculates that this approach would produce just 0.9 tonnes of carbon per year. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Construction News :: home page |