Arcadia, a technology company that makes accessing clean energy as a renter and homeowner easy, today announces a new program for workplaces to relieve teleworking costs for employees while offsetting individual and corporate carbon emissions. This new initiative comes at a time when millions of businesses have been forced to work remotely permanently, or for an extended period of time as a result of office closures from covid-19.
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With more people working from home full-time to help slow the spread of coronavirus, millions of American employees are using more electricity at home. Recent data we pulled across the country shows a 10-15% increase in usage is expected this summer and emissions that were normally specific to the workplace have now been divided across employee homes. This trend is unlikely to slow down any time soon, with three in five U.S. workers preferring to continue to work remotely as much as possible. With one third of Americans currently working from home, commuting to and from the office has gone down significantly. As fewer people drive or take public transportation to work, companies can reallocate those benefits and start to look at how to subsidize utility bills as a new form of employee benefit.
“Most employees are working from home right now, and some will not be returning to the office post covid-19,” said Alexa Minerva, Senior Director of Partnerships at Arcadia. “As home energy consumption increases, we’re eager to start working with businesses on getting their employees access to clean energy that alleviates much of the burden, and at the same time reduces their carbon footprint. As our lifestyles with home energy change, so should employee benefits.”
How it works:
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Arcadia connects workplaces in any state with 100% clean energy for their employee’s homes at no cost, and companies can choose to subsidize monthly bills for their team through the platform.
Employees have access to their own Arcadia account for their home, which takes 3 minutes to set up, streamlines utility bill payments and comes with impact tracking and a monthly impact report.
Businesses have access to sustainability reports that can be used to offset their scope 3 emissions reporting.
Companies committed to emissions or sustainability goals need creative new ways to deliver on their commitments as office energy use falls and business travel declines. Arcadia offers a way for employers to meet these goals while leveraging the work from home environment. Offsetting employees’ home energy is the most important new carbon emissions category all companies should be looking at.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Arcadia on this new initiative,” said Alan Zang, Senior VP, Finance & Operations at CustomerFirst Renewables. “Getting the program up and running is incredibly easy and enables us to empower our employees that are no longer in the office, while also staying on track with internal goals to reduce carbon emissions and aligning perfectly with our mission as an independent energy advisor to accelerate the expansion of renewable energy use.”
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