A high fibre (to the home) diet produces less gas:

Stuart Corner
Monday, 17 March 2008 10:05

Opinion and Analysis

The study concluded "For the first 15 years of a given network implementation, greenhouse gas emission savings per user are of 330kg approximately or the equivalent of a car travelling 2000kms. For the other 15 years beyond, the savings are 780kg or the equivalent of a car travelling 4650kms due to the fact that the network is depreciated and only part of the infrastructure needs to be renewed...If further physical barriers are reduced (ducts access in particular), and a full range of services are developing, contributions will be far bigger."

Although the study was based on European inputs, the committee says it could be extended to other geographies, or to specific local deployments. And it is clear that the range of applications considered is very limited: it is highly likely that many more will emerge, all of which will substitute for greenhouse gas producing alternatives that require people to move from A to B.

Since the council exists to promote FTTH, the study did not examine the wider question of whether better environmental outcomes could be achieved by deploying a much less resource intensive FTTN network and balancing this against the more limited range of applications that its lower bandwidth would support.

There has been no suggestion that the 'green credentials' of different responses to the Australian Government's upcoming next generation broadband RFP will be a major factor in the decision. However given the increasing emphasis being placed on measures to ameliorate climate change, perhaps significant emphasis should, and will be placed on these criteria.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported today , 17 March, that "The minister for climate change, Penny Wong, warns the Government's plan to cut greenhouse gases will produce the biggest shake-up to the economy in decades, and she has promised to set out by July how households and businesses will be hit."  It noted also that "the United Nations [has] published an alarming report showing the world's glaciers are melting at a record rate under the impact of climate change, threatening millions of people with water shortages."

Perhaps the greenhouse impacts of the proposed network should be the number one decision parameter!

A PowerPoint presentation on the FTTH Council's report it can be found on the council web site here .