The environmental impact of new ways of working in the office : a life cycle assessment of the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions resulting from alternative ways of working in New Zealand

Abstract

Over the last century, 'traditional' office work has grown steadily in significance. More recently, the introduction of electronic office equipment into the workplace has brought about a series of dramatic changes both to the way business is done and to the setting in which business is transacted. The rapid pace of change, brought about largely by developments in information and communications technologies (ICTs), is now an ever present force that drives building owners, business managers, and office workers to rethink how workplaces are designed, managed, and used. As a result, the 'traditional' concept of the office is undergoing a remarkable change. Increasingly, ICTs are enabling more office functions to be freed from the location and time constraints of the traditional workplace (Aronoff and Kaplan, 1 995, pp. 21-22). Consequently, space use over time is changing and various forms. of 'new ways of working', such as teleworking, are growing in use. For some office workers the distinction between home and the workplace is becoming less defined. Because modern societies have a large amount of energy embodied in commercial buildings and the supporting infrastructure (roads and utility supplies) , such working practices could have a significant affect on energy use and the resulting pollution and resource depletion.