Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The impact of telecommuting on personal vehicle usage and environmental sustainability

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

An Erratum to this article was published on 10 March 2015

Abstract

To understand whether telecommuting could be part of the policy solutions for greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction in the transportation sector, this study uses instrumental variable Tobit models and data from 2001 and 2009 National Household Travel Surveys to explore whether telecommuting reduces or increases the daily work and non-work vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Our findings suggest telecommuters have more VMT for both daily work and non-work trips than non-telecommuters. Adding the findings that telecommuting has no impact on other non-working household member’s daily total (non-work) trips, we can possibly argue that households with telecommuter(s) tend to have higher daily total VMT. Our estimated marginal effect of telecommuting on worker’s daily total trips indicates that a telecommuter on average travels 38 vehicle miles more on a daily basis in 2001 and 45 vehicle miles more in 2009 compared with a non-telecommuter. These increases in VMT translate into a rather large increase in GHG emissions in the US equivalent to adding 7,248,845 cars in 2001 and 8,808,165 in 2009 to the road. Moreover, the difference of this marginal effect between 2001 and 2009 suggests the impact of telecommuting on worker’s daily total VMT had increased over time. With the emerging work arrangements to work from home, telecommuting has been welcomed in this changing environment, not only by individual workers and employers but also policymakers. But the outcomes seem to be opposite to what policy makers may have expected for GHG emission reductions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Note that “to/from work” trips include commuting trips, lunch trips, and other trips such as coffee breaks.

  2. We use the term “workers with a telecommuting option” to emphasize the fact that some telecommuters did not telecommute on the day of the trip diary.

  3. The first-stage regression results are provided in ESM.

  4. We have also tested Tobit models which include those 0 non-work trip VMT cases for non-workers, and the impact of telecommuting is still statistically insignificant.

  5. We also estimate the conditional marginal effects (conditional on being uncensored in the IV Tobit models and Tobit models). Our unconditional marginal effects, which take the censoring into account, are higher than the conditional marginal effects. This is because telecommuting not only increases the probability of having various work and non-work trips but also increases the VMT if that trip does happen.

References

  • Alam JB, Wadud Z, Polak JW (2013) Energy demand and economic consequences of transport policy. Int J Environ Sci Technol 10:1075–1082

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balker T (2005) The quiet success: telecommuting’s impact on transportation and beyond. Reason foundation. California, Los Angeles. http://reason.org/news/show/127673.html. Retrieved 9 Jun 2013

  • Bound J, Jaeger DA, Baker RM (1995) Problems with instrumental variables estimation when the correlation between the instruments and the endogenous explanatory variable is weak. J Am Stat Assoc 90(430):443–450

  • Buliung RN (2007) Broadband technology and metropolitan sustainability: an interpretive review. Report available from the University of Toronto focus on research. http://focus.library.utoronto.ca/works/11764. Retrieved 9 Jun 2013

  • Coroama VC, Hilty LM, Birtel M (2012) Effects of internet-based multiple-site conferences on greenhouse gas emissions. Telemat Inform 29(4):362–374

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cox W (2009) Improving quality of life through telecommuting. The informational Technology and Innovation Foundation, Washington DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Cuenot F, Fulton K, Staub J (2012) The prospect for modal shifts in passenger transport worldwide and impacts on energy use and CO2. Energy Policy 41:98–106

  • EPA (2011a) Inventory of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and sinks: 1990–2009 (April 2011). USEPA #430-R-11-005. http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/downloads11/GHG-Fast-Facts-2009.pdf. Retrieved 23 Nov 2011

  • EPA (2011b) Office of transportation and air quality. EPA-420-F-11-04, December 2011. Questions and answers: greenhouse gas emissions from a typical passenger vehicle. http://www.epa.gov/otaq/climate/documents/20f11041.pdf. Retrieved 8 Jun 2013

  • EPA (2013) Light-duty automotive technology, carbon dioxide emissions, and fuel economy trends: 1975 through 2012. Appendix A database details and calculation methods (March 2013). http://www.epa.gov/fueleconomy/fetrends/1975-2012/420r13001-appx-a.pdf. Retrieved 12 Feb 2014

  • Fox M (1995) Transport planning and the human activity approach. J Transp Geogr 3(2):105–116

  • Fragkias M, Lobo J, Strumsky D, Seto KC (2013) Does size matter? Scaling of CO2 emissions and U.S. urban areas. PLoS One 8(6):e64727. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0064727

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fuhr JP, Pociask S (2011) Broadband and telecommuting: helping the U.S. environment and the economy. Low Carbon Econ 2:41–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greene WH (1997) Econometric analysis, 3rd edn. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

  • Hall AR, Rudebusch GD, Wilcox DW (1996) Judging instrument relevance in instrumental variables estimation. International Economic Review 37(2):283–298

  • Holden E, Linnerud K (2011) Troublesome leisure travel: the contradictions of three sustainable transport policies. Urban Stud 48(14):3087–3106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horvath A (2010) Environmental analyses of telework: what we know, and what we do not know and why? In: Paper presented at the 2010 IEEE international symposium on sustainable systems and technology 17–19 May 2010; Arlington, VA

  • IEA (2008) Energy and technology perspectives 2008: scenarios and strategies in 2050. International energy agency, Organization for Economic Co-operation and the Development (OECD); Paris, France

  • Jones CM, Kammen DM (2011) Quantifying carbon footprint reduction opportunities for U.S. households and communities. Environ Sci Technol 45:4088–4095

  • Kate L, Harnish T (2011) The state of telework in the U.S.; how individuals business and government benefit. Telework Research Network, San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • Khan A (2010) Telecommuting as a strategy for reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in multi-nucleated urban regions. In: 12th WCTR 11–15 July; Lisbon, Portugal

  • Kitou E, Horvath A (2003a) Energy related emission from telework. Environ Sci Technol 37(16):3467–3475

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kitou E, Horvath A (2003b) Transportation choices and air pollution effects of telework. J Infrastruct Syst 12(2):121–134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kitou E, Horvath A (2008) External air pollution costs of telework. Int J Life Cycle Manag 13(2):155–165

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liao CH, Chang CL, Su CY, Chiueh PT (2013) Correlation between land-use change and greenhouse gas emissions in urban areas. Int J Environ Sci Technol 10:1275–1286

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Markus M, Andrey J, Johnson LC (2006) The sustainability of telework: an ecological-footprinting approach. Sustain Sci Pract Policy 2(1):3–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Marletta P, Pasquini A, Stacey G, Vicario L (2004) The environmental impact of ISTs, E-living project report

  • Matthews HS, Williams E (2005) Telework adoption and energy use in building and transport sectors in the United States and Japan. J Infrastruct Syst 11(1):21–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCollum D, Yang C (2009) Achieving deep reductions in US transport greenhouse gas emissions: scenario analysis and policy implications. Energy Policy 37:5580–5596

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson P (2004) Emissions trading with telecommuting credits: regulatory background an institutional barriers. Resources for the future, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson D, Niles J (2000) Observations on the causes of nonwork travel growth. In: Transportation research board paper. No. 00-1242, 79th annual meeting, Jan 9–13, Washington, DC

  • New York Times (2011) Carmakers back strict new rules for gas mileage. By Bill Vlasic Published: 28 July 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/business/carmakers-back-strict-new-rules-for-gasmileage.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved 23 Nov 2011

  • Roth KW, Rhodes T, Ponnum R (2008) The energy and greenhouse gas emission impacts of telecommuting in the U.S. proceedings from the 2008 IEEE international symposium on electronics and the environment, pp 1–6

  • Santos G, Behrendt H, Teytelboym A (2010) Part II: Policy instruments for sustainable road transport. Res Transp Econ 28:46–91

  • Shafizadeh KR, Niemeier DA, Mokhtarian PL, Salomon I (2007) Cost and benefits of home-based telecommuting: a Monte Carlo simulation model incorporating telecommuter, employer, and public sector perspectives. J Infrastruct Syst 13(1):12–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shea J (1997) Instrument relevance in multivariate linear models: a simple measure. Rev Econ Stat 79:348–352

  • Srinivasan S, Ferreira J (2002) Travel behavior at the household level: understanding linkages with residential choice. Transp Res Part D: Transp Environ 7(3):225–242

  • Staiger D, Stock JH (1997) Instrumental variables regression with weak instruments. Econom 65(3):557–586

  • Steve W, Bishins A, Kooshian C (2009) Cost-effective GHG reductions through smart growth and improved transportation choices: an economic case for investment of cap-and-trade revenues. Center for Clear Air Policy, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Strathman JG, Dueker KJ, Davis JS (1994) Effects of household structure and selected travel characteristics on trip chaining. Transp 21:23–45

  • Tang W, Mokhtarian PL, Handy S (2011) The impact of the residential built environment on work at home adoption and frequency: an example from Northern California. J Transp Land Use 4(3):3–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Tayyaran MR, Khan AM (2003) The effects of telecommuting and intelligent transportation systems on urban development. J Urban Technol 10(2):87–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Urban Land Institute (2009) Moving cooler: an analysis of transportation strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Urban Land Institute, Washington

  • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2012) Labor force statistics from the current population survey data, 2009 annual average-house data-tables form employment and earnings. In: Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population, 1940s to date. http://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_aa2009.htm. Retrieved 24 July 2012

  • Zhu P (2011) Telecommuting, travel behavior and residential location choice: can telecommuting be an effective policy to reduce travel demand? Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Southern California

  • Zhu P (2012) Are telecommuting and personal travel complements or substitutes? Ann Reg Sci 48(2):619–639

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu P (2013) Telecommuting, household commute and location choice. Urban Stud. doi:10.1177/0042098012474520

Download references

Acknowledgments

We want to thank the editor and reviewers for their comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Community and Regional Planning, Boise State University, 1910 University Drive, Boise, ID, 83725-1935, USA

    P. Zhu & S. G. Mason

Authors
  1. P. Zhu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. S. G. Mason
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to P. Zhu.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 106 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhu, P., Mason, S.G. The impact of telecommuting on personal vehicle usage and environmental sustainability. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 11, 2185–2200 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-014-0556-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-014-0556-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation