The greenest building is no building at all, companies like Sun Microsystems have discovered. At Sun more than 50% of workers telecommute at least part of the time, saving dollars, gas, and emissions.

Telecommuting is gaining ground even among begrudging managers as the costs of commuting rise. Telecommuting (also called telework) offers many types of business benefits. Telecommuting is more and more realistic when jobs involve independent, personal work. Collaborations and teamwork are still possible, made easier by conference calls, web meeting and technological office tools. Workers recover cash, some thousands of dollars a year, save the environment from the emissions of their commute and office building, and gain back valuable time that would otherwise have been spent driving. At Sun, office equipment was twice as energy intensive as at-home equivalents. The same workers’ carbon footprints was decreased by 98% when commuting was curtailed.

Workers want to telecommute. Recent polls indicated that almost everyone polled wanted to telecommute, over 95% thought their jobs were feasible to do from home, and half would be willing to take a pay cut to telecommute.

Gas prices are only fueling the move toward telework, though the movement has been stifled by management unfamiliar with employees that telecommute. Cindy Auten, of the Telework Exchange, stated to reporters that "What we [have] found was that as managers become exposed to telework, their approval of the operating practice improves significantly.…agencies must educate and train management on telework drivers and benefits." Managers’ jobs involve regulating workflow, which initially seems like it may be a harder task from afar. Yet in most office jobs, communication is via email anyway, even when everyone is in the same room. Further, studies show a correlation between autonomy, responsibility, trust and worker satisfaction. Rather than reducing productivity and promoting laziness, telecommuting can offer the flexibility that workers crave in their current positions. While it may be difficult for the micromanagers among us to let go, it can often result in better organizations.

Companies can also save money through telecommuting. Not only are reimbursing the costs of commuting on the rise, organizations can save cash by reducing the size of their buildings and on-site staff. When workers telecommute, less money is spent on peripherals, office supplies and utilities.

For Americans that spend nearly twelve days per year commuting and over two thousand dollars on average in gas, these concerns are huge for practial and environmental reasons. The case for telecommuting gets stronger everyday, and is gradually being reinforced by legislative support.