E-learning and sustainability. How can we learn with benefits to the world?

Reduction in CO2 emissions

Compared to face-to-face education, online education offers a significant reduction in CO2 emissions to the atmosphere due to the low usage of equipment and materials, the creation of which also involves the release of harmful substances.

In a nutshell, you can do everything using your laptop from google-docs to online notes. In addition, LMS is a great example not only because of its positive effect on ecology but also on your time and storage space saving. You don’t need to create tons of files or buy software for conducting surveys. Finally, you can share this educational material many times, which also saves a big amount of paper.

As part of a sustainable teaching and learning project at the Open University, researchers from the Digital Innovation Group found that deploying an online learning model resulted in a reduction in carbon emissions of almost 90% compared to face-to-face teaching.

Reducing emissions by using fewer and fewer vehicles

Not choosing the subway or a bus in the rush hour not only saves your mental health but also decreases emissions in the atmosphere. The more traffic there is, the more pollution in densely populated areas is produced.

According to the research, e-learning could lead to emission reduction connected with transport by 89%. In fact, if you transfer courses for 20 employees into an online format, you could reduce emissions of CO2 by 1200 tons.

In addition, you can save money. For example, after switching to online education world bank Crédit Agricole saves 200 000 – 300 000 $ on transport spending.

Reducing the cost of operating premises and saving energy

The refusal of single premises for employees is another great opportunity to become more sustainable since large public buildings consume huge amounts of electricity and heat.

The research, conducted by Stockholm Environment Institute, calculated that people who switched to studies online reduced their carbon footprint from 90 kg to 4 kg per course.

Reducing deforestation by digitizing materials

You do not need paper if your materials are in an online format. It helps decrease deforestation, which leads to cleaner air.

According to the research about deforestation: every year in the USA from 55 to 100 billion trees are cut down to meet the demand for paper. At the same time to produce 1 ton of paper you need 24 trees. However, only half of this paper (53%) is recycled and the other half just ends up in landfills. And you can just save them by switching to an online format.

The paper industry not only consumes huge amounts of natural resources but also requires a significant amount of energy for production as well as recycling, so the transition to digital media, in view of the waste-free method of using materials, is considered more sustainable than waste paper recycling.

Opportunities for people and globalization

You want to ask how it is connected with sustainability? Here is the answer.

The ubiquity of smart devices and the rapid spread of high-speed telecommunications networks worldwide are gradually lowering the barriers to education, and opening up new opportunities for more people. Not only those who have to work in the office under the contract can be hired, but also those who can carry out their work remotely, thereby expanding the circle of employees and the capacity of the company.\