Integrated Analysis of Commuters’ Energy Consumption

There are strong interactions between energy consumption at home, in the office, and in the traffic system. For example, workers can telecommute, saving the energy at the office and in the transport system, but on the other hand increasing energy consumption at home. As an alternative measure, making working hours less flexible and thus forcing everybody to be at the workplace at the same time reduces the energy consumption of the office building. Both measures in addition have traffic congestion consequences. This paper discusses these policies based on a simple analytical model as well as based on a simulation model which includes a sophisticated simulation of the transport system

A systematic review of the energy and climate impacts of teleworking

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) increasingly enable employees to work from home and other locations (‘teleworking’). This study explores the extent to which teleworking reduces the need to travel to work and the consequent impacts on economy-wide energy consumption. Methods/Design: The paper provides a systematic review of the current state of knowledge of the energy impacts of teleworking. This includes the energy savings from reduced commuter travel and the indirect impacts on energy consumption associated with changes in non-work travel and home energy consumption. The aim is to identify the conditions under which teleworking leads to a net reduction in economy-wide energy consumption, and the circumstances where benefits may be outweighed by unintended impacts. The paper synthesises the results of 39 empirical studies, identified through a comprehensive search of 9,000 published articles. Review results/Synthesis: Twenty six of the 39 studies suggest that teleworking reduces energy use, and only eight studies suggest that teleworking increases, or has a neutral impact on energy use. However, differences in the methodology, scope and assumptions of the different studies make it difficult to estimate ‘average’ energy savings. The main source of savings is the reduced distance travelled for commuting, potentially with an additional contribution from lower office energy consumption. However, the more rigorous studies that include a wider range of impacts (e.g. non-work travel or home energy use) generally find smaller savings. Discussion: Despite the generally positive verdict on teleworking as an energy-saving practice, there are numerous uncertainties and ambiguities about its actual or potential benefits. These relate to the extent to which teleworking may lead to unpredictable increases in non-work travel and home energy use that may outweigh the gains from reduced work travel. The available evidence suggests that economy-wide energy savings are typically modest, and in many circumstances could be negative or non-existent

Development and application of the Demands for Population Health Interventions (Depth) framework for categorising the agentic demands of population health interventions

Background: The ‘agentic demand’ of population health interventions (PHIs) refers to the capacity, resources and freedom to act that interventions demand of their recipients to benefit, which have a socio-economical pattern. Highly agentic interventions, e.g. information campaigns, rely on recipients noticing and responding to the intervention and thus might affect intervention effectiveness and equity. The absence of an adequate framework to classify agentic demands limits the fields’ ability to systematically explore these associations. Methods: We systematically developed the Demands for Population Health Interventions (Depth) framework using an iterative approach: (1) Developing the Depth framework by systematically identifying examples of PHIs aiming to promote healthier diets and physical activity, coding of intervention actors and actions and synthesising the data to develop the framework; (2) Testing the Depth framework in online workshops with academic and policy experts and a quantitative reliability assessment. We applied the final framework in a proof-of-concept review, extracting studies from three existing equity focused systematic reviews on framework category, overall effectiveness and differential socioeconomic effects and visualised the findings in Harvest Plots. Results: The Depth framework identifies three constructs influencing agentic demand: exposure - initial contact with intervention (2 levels), mechanism of action - how the intervention enables or discourages behaviour (5 levels), and engagement - recipient response (2 levels). When combined, these constructs form a matrix of twenty possible classifications. In the proof-of-concept review, we classified all components of 31 interventions according to the Depth framework. Intervention components were concentrated in a small number of Depth classifications; Depth classification appeared to be related to intervention equity but not effectiveness. Conclusions: This framework holds potential for future research, policy and practice, facilitating the design, selection and evaluation of interventions and evidence synthesis

The impact of teleworking on domestic energy use and carbon emissions: an assessment for England

Despite decades of research on the environmental impacts of teleworking, most studies have neglected building-related energy use and emissions. Even fewer studies have explored the relative influence of different variables on those emissions. This study therefore explores the building-related emissions from teleworking in England using data from the UK Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) database over the period 2008 to 2022. We use a building energy model to estimate the additional emissions associated with different patterns of teleworking, including variations in heated area and internal temperature. We combine our results with a separate set of estimates of the transport-related emissions. We also employ global sensitivity analysis to identify the relative importance of different variables. We find that English teleworkers have significantly higher emissions than non-teleworkers. Considering both transport and domestic building emissions, working from home 3-5 days/week leads to 3% less to 17% more carbon emissions than conventional work patterns depending on the heating area, heating system heating time and required temperature. We find that heating area has the biggest influence on building emissions, followed by the number of heating hours, wall insulation and the efficiency performance and carbon intensity of the heating system

Analyse systémique des enjeux du télétravail dans la communauté métropolitaine de Montréal

Avec l’arrivée soudaine d’un confinement au début de la pandémie de la maladie à coronavirus 2019, les organisations ont dû s'adapter rapidement pour être en mesure de continuer leurs activités. Le télétravail a représenté une option adéquate. Plusieurs employés y ont d’ailleurs pris gout, mais plusieurs questionnements se soulèvent, d’une perspective socioéconomique et environnementale. C’est dans cette perspective que s’inscrit cet essai. Ce dernier a pour objectif principal d’analyser de façon systémique les enjeux du télétravail dans la communauté métropolitaine de Montréal selon les sphères du développement durable. Plus précisément, une mise en contexte présente le concept de télétravail et le cadre dans lequel il s’insère, en plus d’un portrait de la situation de ce mode de travail au Québec et, plus particulièrement, dans la communauté métropolitaine de Montréal. Bien que le télétravail ait représenté une solution intéressante en temps de pandémie, il convient d’être attentif aux enjeux socioéconomiques et environnementaux qui gravitent autour de celui-ci. C’est dans cette perspective que de nombreux enjeux sont soulevés et détaillés dans cet essai. Une compréhension de ces enjeux permet ensuite d’accomplir une analyse des forces, faiblesses, opportunités et menaces de ce nouveau phénomène, puis de soulever les enjeux auxquels une attention plus importante doit être accordée. Basées sur cette analyse, des pistes d’action variées et à divers niveaux sont proposées, afin de pallier certaines lacunes liées au télétravail ou afin de saisir les opportunités disponibles. Les recommandations s’adressant principalement aux employés et aux employeurs se déclinent ainsi : formation et sensibilisation sur divers enjeux, adoption de mesures de réduction de l’empreinte environnementale du numérique, conditions optimales pour diminuer l’isolement des télétravailleurs et pour assurer une bonne productivité, en plus d’options pour diminuer le cout du télétravail. Puis, quelques propositions sont suggérées pour les instances publiques, comme la mise en place d’un cadre juridique clair, l’élargissement de l’accès à Internet haute vitesse, des réflexions entourant l’arrivée de nouveaux habitants pour certaines municipalités en banlieue, en plus du fait de prendre des décisions trop hâtives concernant un nouveau phénomène