I worry about how much it increases my environmental footprint. I have an entire house of climate control being used for the sake of one person. I have lights in the house being used for one person. Sure I don’t commute by car, but I’m willing to bet commercial HVAC systems are more efficient per person and commercial lighting systems are more efficient per person and all of the other things that go into an office are more efficient per person when they’re being shared by 100+ other people.

I haven’t done any math on it, but it’s something I do worry about.

This depends on a number of factors, including where you live and how long your commute is.

In California electricity is increasingly generated by renewables (~25% in 2016) with the goal of hitting 50% by 2030, which looks achievable. We actually have a surplus of renewables during the late afternoon that can cause power prices to go negative. Between this and conservation measures like insulation the impact of home energy use does not look that high. It's also getting better over time.

The big problem in California is transportation, which is still petroleum-based autos. You don't commute by car but many people do. Knocking that out is one of the best things you can do to combat global warming. For example my commute, which is about 50 miles generates between 60 and 80 pounds of C02 daily assuming 3-4 gallons. That's assuming a fuel-efficient car. (Fortunately I only do it a couple of days a week.) At some point the car will be electric but mass replacement of the fleet is still a long way off.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_California

Turn off your central and get a window unit and a desk fan for your home office. I don't run central most of the time because it's expensive.

You could always cool of the way God intended, sweat your ass off. :)

It sounds like most of what you're worried about could be mitigated pretty simply.

Use a smaller heater, solar panels, LED globes etc.

I mostly work from my home, which is self-sufficient for water (rain tanks) and heating (firewood), produces its own electricity (solar), has its own septic, produces some of our fruit and veggies and all of our eggs, with virtually no food waste that is not fed to the animals and low amount of landfill waste (you really think about it when you take it to the tip yourself). I occasionally commute to the local coffee shop by bicycle, or drive to the beach, and work digital-nomad style on mobile internet.

Then I jump on a plane to my employer's office every few weeks.

I wonder how that stacks up?

Depending on how far you going (size of the aircraft and its occupancy) it is like driving all the way to your employer in a car that gets 2.4L/100Km [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_economy_in_aircraft#1.2C0...

Well that is way better mileage than my car gets so at least I know I'm getting there in the most efficient way.

Train!

Environmental arguments are silly when living near the office will likely use public transport and remote workers are usually out in the countryside so will likely use 2 cars extensively compared to a city worker using public transport 100% of the time.