Transition to Clean Energy

The clean energy revolution promised by treaties like the Kyoto Protocol isn't coming fast enough.  One of the ways the Kyoto Protocol sought to reduce greenhouse emissions was by having countries offer incentives to produce affordable, environmentally friendly vehicles.  Companies like Tesla in the U.S. are making a lot of electric cars, but they are still too expensive for the average middle-class person to buy.  They are getting cheaper; it’s just happening too slowly to see much improvement. 

To speed things up, a paradigm shift in society is in order.  Thanks to the Internet, business is easier than it's ever been, and many of our services can be done at home.  Most office jobs could theoretically be done at home with viable connections.  I can think of no better alternative to reduce greenhouse emissions than a radical transition in moving work and school from institutions to home-based operations, at least among metropolitan cities.  Companies need to be given more incentives by governments to let their employees work from home.  Likewise, there should be more online teaching programs at all grade levels to cut back on all the mass transit required for educational purposes.  These two strategies would save tremendous time and energy by eliminating commutes and cutting down on fossil fuel emissions.  While true that it would only apply to office jobs in the non-manufacturing sector, it would still make a big difference.  The rush hours in big cities would entirely disappear without all the sedans, buses and SUVS clogging up the roadways.  A further benefit is that it would make school cancellations due to inclement weather obsolete. 

An unfortunate side effect would be the further devaluation of social activity, something we’ve already seen with the mass shift to computer and cell phone use.  Parents would have to find new ways to get their children involved in the community.  Some younger students would also need to be cared for at home, or at a babysitter’s, leading to a meaningless allocation of transit from school to daycare.  However, I believe this relatively small allocation would still help reduce pollution and save time for the average person.