California Air Resources Board

Principal Investigator/Author: Fynnwin Prager

Contractor: California State University Dominguez Hills Foundation (CSUDH)

Sub-contractor: University of California, Irvine, University of Kentucky, Del Amo Action Committee

Contract Number: 23STC017

Project Status: Active

Relevant CARB programs: Sustainable Communities & Climate Protection Program

Topic areas: Telecommuting & Remote Services, Sustainable Community Strategies (SCS)

Research Summary:

As part of the Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act (SB 375), metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) in California are considering telecommuting and remote services, including e-learning, online shopping, and telemedicine, as elements of their sustainable communities strategies (SCS) that can reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The objective of this project is three-fold: a) to examine the impact of telecommuting and remote services on travel behavior, travel patterns (commute and non-commute), GHG emissions, and land use in California; b) to develop a methodology to estimate the impacts of telecommuting within an SCS, including data sources and recommendations on the future forecast at the regional level; and c) to develop regional telecommuting metrics to enable MPOs and CARB staff to produce updates to inform the Senate Bill 150 progress report to the Legislature on sustainable communities implementation. In addition, the recommendations from this study will inform CARB's policy on evaluating a telecommuting strategy to reduce VMT and GHG emissions under the SB 375 program.

Keywords: telecommuting, remote services, vehicle miles traveled (VMT), greenhouse gas (GHG), metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs)