Planning energy-efficient and eco-sustainable telecommunications networks

Global warming and escalating energy costs have provided the impetus for a worldwide movement to reduce energy consumption and the associated environmental impacts arising from carbon emissions. Telecommunications providers are contributing to this effort by assessing the impacts of their products and offering telepresence and enhanced data services to their customers to reduce the need for travel and shipping. While greater use of services like these results in lower worldwide energy needs, higher energy usage by the telecommunications providers themselves will occur unless they make changes to their operations environment. There are many ways to reduce the energy usage and environmental impact of telecommunications networks. Choosing the most appropriate direction requires planning. Developing an optimal energy reduction plan requires an understanding of the current network, future service offerings, and the technology roadmap, along with numerous additional data to support the analysis. The complexity of the planning process led Bell Labs to develop the Telecom Power Estimator. This paper describes energy usage in telecommunications networks, identifies possible network changes to reduce energy usage, evaluates the potential of alternative (solar and wind) energy use in telecommunications, and discusses the business case (including government incentives) for implementing environmental impact reductions - all in support of the eco-sustainability planning process. The Telecom Power Estimator will also be introduced, along with a discussion of how it is used to develop a holistic, cost-effective energy efficiency and eco-sustainability plan for a telecommunications network operator.