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THE VIRTUAL WATER COOLER:
INTERNET COULD CUT OFFICE DEMAND
Smart Companies Are Using Internet Technology to Cut Energy-Intensive Space by Mobilizing Employees
The Center for Energy & Climate Solutions believes savings in office space could reach as high as 2 billion square feet in 2007, resulting in electricity savings of 35 billion kilowatts and eliminating 21 million metric tons of global warming pollution. Two companies in particular are leading the way toward a new generation of more efficient office design - AT&T and IBM:
Aiming to cut costs, AT&T started assigning office space to its highly mobile workers only when they are actually in the office. First employed at a facility in Morristown, New Jersey, the system works like a hotel: Using laptops, employees log in remotely to reserve work or meeting space. Once there, they wheel personal file cabinets to temporary workstations. The arrangement reduced square footage of the Morristown Division 40 percent, saving more than $450,000 per year. AT&T plans to have a quarter of its workforce - 34,000 people - operating under this arrangement by 2003, eliminating 11 million square feet of office space. The Center for Energy & Climate Solutions estimates AT&T will save 200 million kilowatt hours of electricity and 350 million cubic feet of natural gas per year.
IBM launched a major alternative-workplace initiative for its North American sales and service organization in the mid-1990s, hoping to cut travel time and eliminate offices that were sitting empty most of the time. More than 12,500 workers have given up their traditional workspaces, and 13,000 more are capable of mobile operation. Real estate savings from 1992 to 1997 totaled $1 billion. The initiative was part of a company-wide efficiency program that has helped IBM reduce its energy needs an amazing 4 percent per year throughout the 1990s.
Consolidating corporate workspace is one of two major trends that could drastically curtail the need for office space. The second is an Internet-fostered boom in home offices and home-based businesses, made possible by workers increasing capacity to stay wired, no matter where they are.
Already, the International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates the number of home offices is growing by about three million a year. They predict the number of home offices linked to the Internet will grow from 12 million in 1997 to 30 million in 2002. Home offices use much less energy than commercial space. Home offices use far less energy per square foot than commercial space. They also reduce automobile travel. The marginal energy increase of operating an office at home is substantially offset by the fact that houses use most of their energy whether someone is there or not.
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