The role of e-mail in increasing our carbon footprint

Digital technologies are part of our daily lives, and they have a carbon footprint. This paper explores the effect of sending e-mails for business purposes, a supposedly green means of communication, in two workplaces, home and office. Quantitative data of the e-mailing activities of staff was collected and the CO2e calculated. The survey included the perceptions of the uses of the cost in terms of CO2e. Based on the data collected, e-mail is an integral part of modern communication within an organisation. A statistically significantly higher percentage of e-mails were sent/received in the office (p < 0.001) and the percentage of long e-mails with attachments/images is statistically significantly higher in the office than from home (p = 0.0194). The number of standard e-mails is statistically significantly higher in the office than from a cubicle within an office (p = 0.020). E-mail seems to be a relatively eco-oriented business and private channel, but the results of this study indicate that it results in the emission of CO2e.