The software upgrade that could cut CO2 by a million tonnes a year

Stuart Corner
Sunday, 16 December 2007 11:44

Business IT - Technology

Vodafone Germany has become the first Ericsson cellular infrastructure customer to implement a software upgrade in its base stations that shuts down parts of the base station to reduce power consumption when network traffic is low. Ericsson says that this upgrade can reduce base-station power consumption by up to 20 percent, that it is compatible with every one of the one million Ericsson GSM base station installed since 1995 and that if it were deployed in each of them it could result in a reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions of around one million tonnes a year.

Vodafone Germany will install the software upgrade across its base stations by the end of 2007 as part of to cut energy consumption in its mobile networks.

Ericsson's BTS Power Savings feature (formerly named BTS Standby) is the latest in a series of energy optimisation innovations that Ericsson, along with other cellular infrastructure manufacturers, has introduced. In 2006, Ericsson claimed to have reduced the power consumption of its latest generation of WCDMA base stations by 35 percent and to have pioneered the introduction of alternative energies, such as biofuel and solar power for mobile base stations. Earlier this year the company published a white paper: "Sustainable Energy Use in Mobile Communications ."

Last month rival cellular infrastructure manufacturer, Nokia Siemens Networks, introduced a lower power consumption base station , saying its overall aim was to minimise energy requirements of its product by designing them for low power consumption, by intelligent network and site design, by reducing the size of products for more efficient transportation and installation, by using intelligent software, increased service life of the products and sophisticated take-back and recycling services./