Energy that renews!

Over the years, I have increasingly considered energy as the driving force behind telecommunications and ICT, much like water plays this role in human metabolism. Without water, the transport of nutrients, oxygen, and minerals cannot occur at the cellular level. Without energy, the transport of signaling, data packets, and interfaces does not exist in telecommunications networks.

Due to this characteristic, energy is an inseparable element of the core operations of service providers, manufacturers, and the agenda of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), gaining prominence in strategy and actions directed towards the environment. A study by the BCG Group indicated that energy consumption in telecommunications is a cost component that can consume up to 40% of the OpEx of telecommunications networks, significant in operations of any size. The pursuit of greater energy efficiency in networks proves to be a factor of economic productivity, potentially even directing investments in technology and R&D.

The sector has also achieved its environmental awareness, beyond the indicated economic aspect, promoting actions with positive impact on energy efficiency that address climate change, given the direct correlation between the amount of energy consumed and the emission of Greenhouse Gases (GHG). According to the GHG Protocol (an international standardizing entity on the subject), electricity consumption is the source of 40% of global emissions.

Net Zero commitments, that is, reducing up to residual compensation the GHG emissions resulting from services provided, combined with investments in the energy transition to a low-carbon matrix, whether through distributed or self-generation, using renewable sources, have become prevalent over the past 5 years. Currently, 30% of the electricity consumed on the planet comes from renewable energy sources (hydro, wind, solar, or biomass), and in this regard, we can applaud that Brazil reached the impressive mark of 87% production from renewable sources by the end of 2022, according to data from the Our World in Data website. This mark is extremely positive considering that, in the last 50 years, per capita energy consumption in the country has grown more than 4 times.

For the sector, the efficiency effort in the coming years should mainly result from the implementation of 5G standalone networks, which is progressing rapidly along with the 3.5GHz band release process coordinated by EAF throughout the country. This concern led the ITU, at the end of 2022, to launch Recommendation ITU-T L.1390, specifically on energy efficiency in 5G networks. The recommendation suggests the use of artificial intelligence to mitigate the impact on consumption through the dynamic allocation of elements and the bandwidth used, including partially or fully turning off elements, along with off-peak traffic management between 3G, 4G, and 5G networks to choose the most suitable for instantaneous demand.

Currently, all sectors of the economy are required to take regeneration actions to curb global warming, such as Net Positive commitments. This brings the possibility of the sector being the technological driver of the necessary business transformations on a global scale, congregating good sustainable business opportunities. But that is a topic for another article!

By Marcio Lino, originally published in Teletime News on October 22nd, 2023