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Broadband and Telecommuting: Helping the U.S. Environment and the Economy

December 2010

Joseph P. Fuhr,
Economics Widener University Chester, PA, USA, and The American Consumer Institute, Washington, D.C., USA.

Stephen Pociask,
The American Consumer Institute, Washington, D.C., USA.

ABSTRACT
This study examines how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. through the widespread delivery of broadband services and the expansion of telecommuting. Telecommuting can reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next 10 years by approximately 588.2 tons of which 247.7 million tons is due to less driving, 28.1 million tons is due to reduced office construction, and 312.4 million tons because of less energy usage by businesses. This paper explores these broadband services and their effects on the environment, specifically as a means to achieve better and cleaner energy use, while enhancing economic output, worker productivity and the standard of living of American consumers.

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Rural Broadband at a Glance, 2009 Edition
By Peter Stenberg and Sarah Low, editors
Economic Information Bulletin No. (EIB-47) 6 pp, February 2009
Published by the U. S. Department of Agriculture

Three-quarters of U.S. residents used the Internet to access information, education, and services in 2007. Broadband Internet access is becoming essential for both businesses and households; many compare its evolution to other technologies now considered common necessities—such as cars, electricity, televisions, microwave ovens, and cell phones. Although rural residents enjoy widespread access to the Internet, they are less likely to have high-speed, or broadband, Internet access than their urban counterparts. Circumstantial evidence suggests that the difference in access may lie in the higher cost and limited availability of broadband Internet in rural areas. As a result, rural residents depend more on Internet use outside of the home, in places like the library, school, and work, where broadband Internet access is available.

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