Telecommuting can cut automobile emissions and road congestion.
The environmental benefits of telecommuting are derived primarily from the reduction of single-occupancy vehicles traveling during peak commuting times. It is, therefore, useful to explore the significant economic and environmental costs of cars to make an argument for the advantages of telecommuting. The Federal Highway Administration estimates that most of this travel is done without car-pooling. The Environmental Costs Six of the seven pollutants for which the Environmental Protection Agency has developed health standards come from automobiles. For both carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides, automobiles are the number one source of air emissions.