Work from home

My partner and I work from home now, and we love it!

Engineering is a job that is 100% perfect for working from home. Every part of it is done remotely, and all the tasks are quantifiable. Meetings involve team members from all over the country, so they were held online before the pandemic. There was no reason to ask employees to come into the office. Once the pandemic forced my employer to try allowing remote work, they quickly realized it made their operations more efficient and authorized all of the PV designers and engineers to work from home indefinitely. They could let go of some of the office space they had rented downtown and save money. And the employees, including me, no longer had to commute.

Working from home has certainly saved carbon emissions for me. If I had been required to drive to the downtown Denver offices of my new employer, I'd be using more than a gallon of gasoline a day, even driving an efficient PHEV. That means I'm saving 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide each year by not commuting. The laptop and two external monitors I use at home are the same equipment I would have been using at the office, but at home, they are powered by off-grid PV, which saves carbon emissions. I don't need any lighting at home, while the office is artificially lit, so that's an advantage for telecommuting. And none of the other energy expenditures of my home changed at all.

Not only has working from home been a more climate-friendly lifestyle for me, but it has also allowed me to exercise more regularly. I've gained muscle mass and feel much sturdier mentally and physically. Being able to set my own hours instead of rushing every morning to arrive at school on time has dramatically reduced my life's stress.

Now if I travel by car, it is by choice. I consolidate my errands into one trip to town a weekend for supplies and use 100% electricity, hardly putting any gas in my car.