Green Communications, Green Networking and Green Spectrum

Nowadays, the whole world of telecommunications and information communities is facing a more and more serious challenge, namely on one side the transmitted multimedia-rich data are exploding at an astonishing speed and on the other side the total energy consumption by the communication and networking devices and the relevant global CO2 emission are increasing terribly. It has been pointed out that "currently 3% of the world-wide energy is consumed by the ICT (Information & Communications Technology) infrastructure that causes about 2% of the world-wide CO2 emissions, which is comparable to the world-wide CO2 emissions by airplanes or one quarter of the world-wide CO2 emissions by cars" [1]. According to the recent research report of Ericsson [2], energy costs account for as much as half of a mobile operator’s operating expenses. Therefore, telecommunications applications can have a direct, tangible impact on lowering greenhouse gas emissions, power consumption, and achieve efficient recycling of equipment waste. Moreover, to find radio networking solutions that can greatly improve energy-efficiency as well as resource-efficiency (Green Communications) is not only benefit for the global environment but also makes commercial sense for telecommunication operators supporting sustainable and profitable business. Within the framework of “Green Communications”, a number of paradigm-shifting technical approaches can be expected, including but not limited to energy-efficient network architecture & protocols, energy-efficient wireless transmission techniques (e.g., reduced transmission power & reduced radiation), cross-layer optimization methods, and opportunistic spectrum sharing without causing harmful interference pollution (i.e. Green Spectrum).

Reference:

• 1. 1st International Workshop on Green Wireless 2008 (W-GREEN), Lapland, Finland, September 2008, http://www.cwc.oulu.fi/workshops/W-Green2008.pdf.

  2. Ericsson Press Release, June 2008, http://www.ericsson.com/ericsson/press/facts_figures/doc/energy_efficiency.pdf.

Relevant external links:

• 1. IEEE ICC 2009 Panel "Green Communications", http://www.ieee-icc.org/2009/panels.html.

  2. IEEE ICC 2009 Workshop GreenComm’09 (First International Workshop on Green Communications), http://www.greencomm09.org/home.html.

  3. 2nd International Workshop on Green Communications, in conjunction with the

  4. IEEE Global Communications Conference (IEEE GLOBECOM 2009), http://www.green-communications.net/globecom09/home.html

  5. 1st International Workshop on Green Wireless 2008 (W-GREEN), Lapland, Finland, September 2008, http://www.cwc.oulu.fi/workshops/W-Green2008.pdf.

  6. Prof. David J. C. MacKay, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK,  http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/mackay/.

  7. The Third International Workshop on Wireless Community Networks (COMNETS 2008, August 28, 2008, http://www.comnets.org/index.htm), Keynote Speech: "Cognitive Radio for Green Communications and Green Spectrum", www.comnets.org/downloads/Keynote.pdf.

Background Information: European Commission Press Release (Reference:  IP/09/393    Date:  12/03/2009)

"Commission pushes ICT use for a greener Europe -  As part of its effort to combat climate change and drive economic recovery, the European Commission today called on Member States and industry to use information and communications technologies (ICT) to improve energy efficiency. These technologies are expected to reduce total carbon emissions in Europe by up to 15% by 2020. ICT can not only improve monitoring and management of energy use in factories, offices and in public spaces but above all help make people more aware of how they use energy. With smart metering in their homes, for example, consumers have been found to reduce their energy consumption by as much as 10%..."