A few weeks spent in confinement has provided many of us with a chance to reflect. Many will be desperate for life to get back to normal, but, equally, many will be keen for fundamental change to take place.
With economic slowdown, of course, comes a reduction in emissions. Evidence from China already indicates a marked slump in NO2 emissions in larger urban areas. This is a positive side-effect, and it’s important that we see it as something to aspire to.
But we put the economy on lockdown indefinitely, however great the environmental benefits may be. So, when the time comes for us to resume our daily lives, what changes might we make to reduce our environmental impact?
The most obvious candidate for change is travel. So what modes of transport might we substitute when we finally go back to work?
Not Travelling
Before the crisis struck, telecommuting might have been seen as a bit of an untested luxury. But now that millions of businesses have been forced to make a switch to working from home, the benefits and drawbacks are more widely-appreciated, and the procedures might be in place to allow for it to continue in the longer-term.
Walking
If your workplace is within walking distance, then there’s really no excuse not to walk to it. Walking produces zero emissions, and it’ll allow you to get some low-intensity daily exercise in.
Cycling
The same virtues apply to cycling. You’ll need to invest in a little bit of equipment, and learn to use the road safely – but it’ll allow you to get to and from work without producing the faintest hint of air pollution.
Trains
While trains might be thoroughly mechanised, they have the beating of cars when it comes to carbon emissions. A car with a single passenger might produce 171g of CO2 per km travelled, while a train passenger produces just 41g. Plus, since trains are more direct, they travel fewer miles overall. Thus, travelling from Brighton to Bedford by car might produce more than 34kg of airborne carbon, but the same journey by train will produce just 8.2kg.
The largest benefits here are to be felt when many passengers board a single train, as this splits the emissions cost in more directions.
Carpooling
The same logic applies to cramming multiple passengers into a single car. By carpooling, you’ll cut your emissions roughly by the number of people who’ll be in the car. So, if four commuters decide to set up a carpooling rota, there will naturally be three less vehicles clogging up the roads. Employers might incentivise this behaviour through special schemes. Of course, these savings can be undermined when the journey is lengthened by the time taken picking everyone up – so you’ll need to plan sensibly and come up with a workable day-to-day solution.
