FEED-BACK.COM E-ZINE
November / December 2009
Volume 12 Issue 6
Finding & Implementing "The Green"
*Note: Feed-back.com's E-zines have been replaced with Market Articles this year.*
In our daily lives, we often overlook or underemphasize the "green" components of our routine actions and choices. With curbside recycling pick-up, most of us don't even realize that our trash containers are not as full as they used to be. We may also be reducing driving miles without being conscious of doing so: Shopping on the way home from work, picking up a friend to attend an event using one car instead of two, etc.
Similarly, business offerings and technology applications that are developed or promoted for one purpose may also have "green" benefits. Two examples are highlighted below.
Telecommuting:
In July 2009, a Tandberg blog article offered some interesting telecommuting forecasts, citing a recently published Information Technology and Innovation Foundation report.[1] One projection suggests that U.S. telecommuting could increase from a current estimated level of between 4.0 and 5.0 million to 19.0 million by 2022. Videoconferencing is one of the technological advances driving the market. Tangible employer benefits include improved productivity and access to high quality employees through candidate pools that are not limited by geography. The Tandberg blog also cited environmental impacts: If half of the existing population of U.S. telecommuters did so 50% of the time, the savings would be 84 million metric tons of greenhouse gases.
Employees also consider telecommuting an important criterion for rating the best U.S. companies to work for. A commonly cited downside of telecommuting is the lack of a communal environment, which may isolate off-site workers. Videoconferencing is one solution that provides "face time" and social interaction.
For more information, visit: Tandberg Blog.
To estimate your commuting cost savings, visit: See Green Now.
An important factor for implementing telecommuting is broadband access. In November 2009, the Benton Foundation hosted a forum to discuss the National Broadband Plan. One of the recommendations promotes telecommuting as a viable way to reduce energy waste, which is rarely considered by municipalities in green land use and transit planning.
For more information, visit: Broadband Idea Scale or NVTC.
Telemedicine Technologies:
In October 2009, BroadbandConsensus.com's "Broadband Breakfast Club" series discussed the role of broadband and internet technologies in health care. Expert panelists included representatives from the Department of the Army, the Department of Veteran Affairs, and Kaiser Permanente, as well as one of the original pioneers in telemedicine.
Telehealth and telemedicine applications have been developed, federally funded, and implemented in academic and tertiary care centers throughout the United States since the early to mid 1990s. The idea is to enable access to high quality care using telecommunications technology. Two successful examples are:
- Prison telemedicine (e.g., doctor visits are conducted remotely by videoconferencing).
- Teleradiology (e.g., radiologists provide their reads from off-site locations, often from home)
Both applications provide services electronically over short or long distances, which reduce or eliminate conventional transportation (e.g. courier deliveries and driving inmates to off-site medical facilities). Widespread implementation, however, is still limited, despite studies that indicate cost-effectiveness and quality health outcomes. The health care industry has been slow to incorporate information technology, but the panelists point to a recent shift to coordinated health services as a viable model for the future. Progress may be slow. In commentary posted online after the meeting, one Breakfast Club presenter noted that while every attendant had broadband access at home, the vast majority had not yet communicated with a doctor via e-mail (the two exceptions were members of Kaiser Permanente).[2]
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[1] "Telecommuting on the Rise, Video Conferencing Helps Remote Workers Maintain Important Face-Time", July 6, 2009
[2] "Presentation (and a Conversation) about Telehealth at Broadband Breakfast", October 13, 2009.
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