ROUTING UNDER CONSIDERATION OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY

A communication network includes a plurality of network elements-communicating nodes-that are enabled to request the establishment of connections-flows-among each other, and a plurality of network elements-switches (3)-that support the routing of the flows. The network further includes elements for intercepting requests for flow establishment, at least one calculation module configured to preselect for each flow a set of possible network paths that are compliant with the flow's performance requirements and/or quality constraints, wherein each path includes a specific set of switches the flow has to traverse, and at least one selection module configured to apply a selection algorithm that analyzes the load of switches that are contained in any network path of the preselected set of network paths for determining a single network path from the preselected set of network paths that is most suitable in terms of energy efficiency.