It’s not easy being green — unless you use broadband, that is. A new study from the American Consumer Institute, “Broadband Services: Economic and Environmental Benefits” shows that the use of broadband will lead to a reduction of as much as one billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions over 10 years.

And all through using broadband services in four simple ways:

Go paperless. Electronic communications cut the demand for first-class mail and newspapers, saving trees, conserving energy and reducing water pollution and greenhouse gases. For example, shifting newspaper subscriptions to online media over the next decade will save 57 million tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Call it in. Broadband supports high-speed videoconferencing and teleconferencing. As more workers e-conference, they’ll travel less, reducing fuel usage and carbon emissions. If just 10 percent of business air travel is replaced by e-conferences over the next 10 years, we could see a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of nearly 200 million tons.

Work at home. We know telecommuting saves billions of gallons of gas, with no sacrifice in worker productivity thanks to broadband. That translates into a reduction of about 250 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Plus we could remove an additional 28 million tons of gas emissions due to reduced office construction, and another 312 million tons because of reduced energy use by businesses.

Shop online. B2B and B2C electronic commerce could reduce greenhouse gases by more than 200 million tons. The increased e-commerce would mean a corresponding decrease in square footage needed for commercial, retail and wholesale facilities and thus reduced energy those facilities would use to operate.

The ACI study provides compelling proof that broadband is green. So if you’re wondering “What can I do?” to benefit the environment, the answer is simple: get broadband, get online and get creative!

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