July 29th, 2008 (3:00pm) Imran Ali 10 Comments
This month’s Economist, in an article called Home warriors, explores some fascinating issues around the implications of telecommuting and its implications on energy, policy and employment…not simply the availability of connectivity and email.
The writer argues that though technology and infrastructure has long been available, only now are the economic and commercial drivers unfolding that’s making teleworking an attractive default position for many employers, not just employees.
Here’s a few key items from the piece…
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June 11th, 2008 (9:00am) Imran Ali 7 Comments
WWD’s Mike Gunderloy recently commented on Sun Microsystem’s study of the impact of telecommuting on a worker’s carbon footprint. Coincidentally, on the same day policy changes in the UK may mean that telecommuting sees a sharp increase as the options for actual commuting rise in cost and narrow the ability of people to travel into urban centers.
Following the success of London’s congestion charge, launched in 2003, other UK cities such as Leeds, Cardiff, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol have begun to explore similar schemes. The UK government approved a congestion charging programme for Manchester - the country’s defacto second city - which would charge inbound morning commuters the equivalent of $4-6 and outbound evening commuters around $2. I guess that’s around a gallon of fuel each day by US standards!
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