Ok, I promise this will be my last green technology post for a while.
The Arizona Republic published an article today entitled “13 states to auto industry: Get green“.
In my opinion this article – and the pressues the states are putting on auto manufacturers totally miss the point. The best way increase efficiency as measured by total carbon footprint… is to encourage the businesses in your state to adopt work from home policies which elimiate:
- Commute time/pollution/congestion.
- Some percentage of the massive fossil fuel consumption used for the building and maintaining of roads and highways.
- The amount of “conditioned space” maintained in the state.
- Conditioned space is the amount of space that is heated, cooled, lit, etc – all of which increase the total carbon footprint.
While politically it is safer to pressure auto manufacturers practically the best means available to states is funding infrastructure improvements that will allow for WFH technologies to proliferate and creating incentives for employers to adopt WFH friendly policies.