Critical situation for ICT energy saving and carbon reduction

The 24th United Nations Conference on Climate Change was held on December 2018 in Katowice, Poland. It was reported that global carbon emissions increased by 1.6% in 2017 and that it will increase by 2.7% in 2018. The global community is facing a growing climate change challenge.

Focusing on the ICT industry, energy consumption is set to increase explosively with the rapid expansion of mobile Internet and cloud computing. The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts that by 2020, the ICT industry will account for more than 14% of global energy consumption, and that number will increase by 4–5% per year. Research shows that if no action is taken, by 2020 the ICT industry’s CO2 emissions will be double the amount in 2007.

Green ICT action is ongoing

Energy conservation and emission reduction topics have attracted global operators’ attention. For network construction investment reduction, reducing OPEX and converting energy infrastructure from a cost center to a profit center is particularly important.

Operators have set themselves clear energy saving and emission reduction targets for 2020: Telefonica aims to reduce its energy per traffic unit by 50%, reduce carbon emissions by 30% and achieve €90 million in savings from energy efficiency over 5 years when compared with 2015; France Telecom has made a goal of reducing its carbon emissions by 20% compared to 2006; and British Telecom even went one step further in setting a goal of reducing carbon emissions by 80% compared to 1996.

As a leading ICT solution provider, Huawei is dedicated to reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions in the ICT industry for s smart and sustainable world. According to the Huawei Global Industry Vision 2025 report, by 2025 the average annual carbon emissions per connection in the global ICT industry are expected to fall to 15 kg, down by 80% from 75 kg in 2015, through continuous innovation in energy-saving technologies for ICT and infrastructure. Integrating electronic and electrical technology, digital technology, communications technology, and IoT technology, Huawei provides its Green Energy Solution to improve network energy efficiency, increase O&M efficiency, reduce energy consumption, and ensure network security and reliability. To date, it has been deployed in more than 170 countries around the world and helped more than 100 operators to achieve green practices.

Aimed at emerging markets, Huawei Green Energy Solution adopts hybrid power such as solar and batteries to supply power to remote areas where power is inaccessible or unstable. Compared with traditional diesel generators, it provides stable power in a green and smart manner, at lower costs, and helps communities achieve digital connectivity. Huawei Green Energy Solution was presented the “Best Sustainable Power Solution” award at the 21st AfricaCom.

In central Chile, Telefonica applied Huawei Green Energy Solution for rural coverage to solve challenges including a lack of mains electricity and the high level of maintenance required for traditional diesel generators. Using self-adaptation and self-optimization technology to increase the use of solar power, Telefonica was able to make full use of Chile’s abundant solar energy resources to reduce carbon emissions and lower operating expense (OPEX). In November 2017, Telefonica presented the “Best Energy Efficiency Solution” award to Huawei at the 8th Global Workshop on Energy and Climate Change held by Telefonica.

In Ethiopia, Huawei Green Energy Solution are helping operator save 12 million litres of fuel annually at around 1600 sites, reducing carbon emissions by 9 million kilograms. In Ghana, the hybrid power based wireless solution reduces the payback period to just three years and an operator in Ghana has incorporated the solution as part of its “connect the unconnected” development strategy, which will benefit 600,000 people.

5G is now. The number of global sites is set to increase dramatically and network power consumption will double. To this end, Huawei launched the industry’s first full-range 5G Power solution during the 2018 Global Energy Efficiency Summit, enriching its Green Energy Solution portfolio. All end-to-end equipment at power, site, network, and service levels will synergize and use smart Li-ion battery solutions for peak shaving, effectively reducing electricity costs. At the same time, the SmartSite management system can manage PAV (Power Availability Value) and SEE (Site Energy Efficiency) to maximize operators’ TVO (Total Value of Ownership). Huawei 5G Power Solution has already been deployed by more than 10 operators in China, Canada, Europe and etc.

AI enables a greener future

As a new general-purpose technology, AI is set to change every industry and organization, including operators’ networks. For energy conservation and emission reduction, Huawei believes that AI will double energy efficiency and Green Energy Solution will achieve ‘zero bit, zero watt’ in the future where network traffic determines energy consumption. In equipment rooms and base stations, each system has dozens of parameters that can be controlled. AI can be trained to generate cooling, environment, and service load models to optimize those parameters for lighting, temperature, generators, solar power, and batteries for maximum efficiency.

At the equipment level, dynamic energy delivery can be based on service loads. When there’s no traffic, methods such as timeslot shutoff, RF deep sleep, and carrier frequency shutoff can reduce power consumption, enabling dynamic energy-saving management for data center servers and other equipment. At the network level, accurate service load prediction models can optimize all network traffic for optimal energy efficiency.