Collaborate to reduce the production of carbon dioxide

Gary Griffiths argues in his column "Harnessing the Internet to Boost Conservation Efforts" at GreenerComputing how collaborative web applications (SaaS) can enable organizations to "conserve energy and operate more efficiently by increasing organizational efficiencies, reducing the need for in-person meetings and decreasing the amount of technology infrastructure needed to maintain productivity." He illustrates with an example:

"...by eliminating the need to make four round trip flights between New York City and Chicago for two co-workers, a business can save 3.19 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. Not taking these four trips also reclaims 26 hours of travel time and approximately $1400 in airfare. Furthermore, giving employees the option of telecommuting, even one day a week, can reduce carbon dioxide production by a considerable amount. One driver making a forty mile round-trip commute once a week at 24 MPG can prevent the production of three-quarters of a ton of carbon dioxide by working from home."

Almost a year ago, my fellow blogger Anders Bännstrand shared his frustration over the fact that we still are not using available technology to communicate and collaborate instead of traveling (Are We Finally Ready For Ecomeetings?):

"I believe that one important reason why we meet in person is due to the fact that we are not trained to communicate certain matters in any other way than eye to eye. Another reason could of course be that people like to get away from the daily routines and in the same time earn bonus points for their private travel…"

All of us who blog about the potential benefits of collaboration technologies could (and should!) help to bring this major benefit of collaboration technologies up to the surface and make it the primary driver for adoption of collaboration technologies and new ways of working in the tail of Web 2.0. We all have a responsibility to save the earth from overheating.