Abstract
There has been a significant increase on the level of concern regarding
climate warming and environmental sustainability issues; and the industry are
under increasing pressure from customers, shareholders and proposed
legislative changes to improve their environmental credentials. Likewise, the
environmental impact of
Information and Communications Technologies (CIT) under the banner of
“Green ICT” has started being discussed by academia, media,
industry and government. Currently, 3 %-4% of the world-wide energy is
consumed by the ICT infrastructure (approximately, 1.5%-2% by wireless), which
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). If this energy consumption is doubled every five years,
serious problems may arise. Therefore, lowering energy consumption of wireless
radio systems is demanding greater attention.
The industry already takes this issue seriously, and the Alliance for
Telecommunications Industry Solutions committed to the rapid development of
global, market-driven standards for the information, entertainment and
communications industry, has just published three standards used to determine
telecommunication equipment' s energy efficiency. The standards introduce the
Telecommunications Energy Efficiency Ratio, or “TEER,” as a
measure of network-element efficiency. The standards provide a comprehensive
methodology for measuring and reporting energy consumption, and uniformly
quantify a network component' s ratio of “work performed” to energy
consumed.
This report analyzes the specifics of green wireless Information and
Communications Technologies. These technologies make possible many
enhancements in the industry and in our everyday life; examples include:
- Intelligent Transportation Systems - ITS
- Office and Industrial Automation
- Wireless Sensor Networks - WSN.
Due to their proliferation and applications extensions, it is very important
to keep wireless ICT green, i.e., to utilize technologies that allow low power
consumption; as well as to use power harvesting.
Three wireless technologies are analyzed from this prospective:
- Ultra Wideband - UWB
- ZigBee, and
- Bluetooth.
The report addresses applications, marketing and technological specifics of
these standards. All three technologies are known by their very low power
consumption; ZigBee very soon will be equipped by a “green”
profile, making harvesting of power available. Bluetooth SIG provided Ultra
Low Power profile; and UWB is in the winning position when a large bandwidth
is required by users - this technology is the most attractive from green
perspectives in large bandwidth applications. The report also researches a
power harvesting industry and shows that power harvesting has already
attracted many manufacturers - the report is analyzing portfolios of these
manufacturers and discusses various harvesting methods.
The report shows that wireless ICT deployment must follow a simple rule: a
balance between “green” dollars and introduction of additional
pollutants (by ICT manufacturing, powering and so on) must be always
considered. So far, as it has been shown by the industry, utilization of
wireless ICT can significantly reduce maintenance and staffing expenses (which
are the largest burden on service providers). Also, some applications (such as
ITS) made wireless ICT an important and necessary part of their functioning.
Target Audience
This report is important to a wide population of researches, technical and
sales staff involved in the developing of “green” wireless
services and products. It is recommended for both service providers and
vendors that are working with related technologies. The report also helps to
understand issues associated with relationship between “green” ICT
and other technologies.
Research Methodology
Considerable research was done using the Internet. Information from various
Web sites was studied and analyzed. Evaluation of publicly available marketing
and technical publications was conducted. Telephone conversations and
interviews were held with industry analysts, technical experts and executives.
In addition to these interviews and primary research, secondary sources were
used to develop a more complete mosaic of the market landscape, including
industry and trade publications, conferences and seminars.
The overriding objective throughout the work has been to provide valid and
relevant information. This has led to a continual review and update of the
information content.
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