Green telecommunications infrastructure
| Topic | Contribution of telecommunications infrastructure to the reduction of CO2 emissions |
| Brief description | The ICT sector is responsible for 2% of overall CO2 emissions and for approximately 10% of worldwide power consumption. As part of the ICT sector, the telecommunications industry can make a significant contribution to reducing its own CO2 emissions. Experts see potential savings in the use of energy-efficient equipment, the conversion to optical fiber in fixed-link communications, and in the further development of protocols. |
| Callenges | Realizing even higher bandwidths using infrastructure which produces lower CO2 emissions |
| Measures | - Use of energy-efficient routers and other network components - Transition from electronic to optical components - Hybrid models with packet and line-based protocols |
| Studies | The Climate Group, GESI: SMART 2020: Enabling the low carbon economy in the information age, 2009 WWF, Ericsson: A Five-Step-Plan For a Low Carbon Urban Development, 2009 ETNO: Energy Task Team Report, 2008 T-Systems: White Paper Green ICT, 2008 JISC: Low Carbon Computing: a view to 2050 and beyond, November 2009 EU: Code of Conduct on Energy Consumption of Broadband Equipment, November 18, 2008 |
| Organizations | The Climate Group, GESI, WWF, Ericsson, ETNO, T-Systems, JISC, EU |