Integrating work into life helps reduce residential greenhouse gas emissions

Hongyue Wu; Yunfeng Chen; Yuan Chang

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.119974

Integrating work into life helps reduce residential greenhouse gas emissions

J Environ Manage. 2024 Feb:351:119974. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.119974. Epub 2023 Dec 30.

Authors

Hongyue Wu¹, Yunfeng Chen², Yuan Chang³

Affiliations

¹ Construction Automation, Robotics, and Ergonomics (CARE) Lab, School of Construction Management Technology (SCMT), Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
² Construction Automation, Robotics, and Ergonomics (CARE) Lab, School of Construction Management Technology (SCMT), Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA. Electronic address: chen428@purdue.edu.
³ School of Management Science and Engineering, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, 100081, China. Electronic address: yuan.chang@cufe.edu.cn.

PMID: 38160548
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.119974

Abstract

Work from home (WFH) creates work-life integration by moving work into traditional life at home, but its influence on residential greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions remains unclear. In this study, an activity-based bottom-up model was developed to analyze the time-use patterns (activity durations and timeline of a typical day) of participants under WFH and traditional home life and to quantify their residential GHG emissions. Under WFH, participants generated an average of 9.03 kg CO₂e/person/day, primarily attributed to space heating and cooling, cooking, grooming, work, and watching TV and movies. Notably, the GHG footprints varied across groups (8.08-9.93 kg CO₂e/person/day) due to different work and household responsibilities and leisure time and varied with climate region (4.99-10.63 kg CO₂e/person/day) because of emission factors of electricity, space heating and cooling, and cooking. Compared with traditional life at home (10.06 kg CO₂e/person/day), WFH participants spent less time on almost all major activities (especially sleeping and watching TV and movies) to focus on work, enabling an 11.34% (1.02 kg CO₂e/person/day) mitigation of GHG emissions. The reductions also varied by group and climate region, mainly associated with laundry, cooking, and watching TV and movies. Opportunities to reduce GHG emissions under WFH lie in targeting key activities, balancing the time spent on various activities, and developing group- and spatial-specific strategies. This study provides a systematic and high-resolution estimation of residential GHG emissions under WFH and traditional home life, with a complete system boundary, activity-specific considerations, and countrywide understanding. The findings reveal the environmental impact of work-life integration from the residential perspective and can aid residents and policymakers in utilizing decarbonization opportunities to advance low-carbon living under WFH.

Keywords: Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; Residential energy consumption; Time-use pattern; Work from home (WFH).

MeSH terms

Animals
Carbon / analysis
Greenhouse Effect
Greenhouse Gases* / analysis
Humans

Substances

Greenhouse Gases
Carbon