Breaking Down 5 Misconceptions to Accelerate Green Development

Misconception 2: There is over-focusing on supply chain emissions, which are regarded as the largest cause of carbon emissions for network equipment. As Dr. Song described in his presentation, if you look at the entire life cycle of network equipment, only 2% of its carbon emissions are generated during manufacturing, while 80-95% are generated during usage. Dr. Song therefore proposed that the key to reducing ICT industry carbon emissions will be adopting innovative technologies to improve energy efficiency.

Misconception 2: There is over-focusing on supply chain emissions, which are regarded as the largest cause of carbon emissions for network equipment. As Dr. Song described in his presentation, if you look at the entire life cycle of network equipment, only 2% of its carbon emissions are generated during manufacturing, while 80-95% are generated during usage. Dr. Song therefore proposed that the key to reducing ICT industry carbon emissions will be adopting innovative technologies to improve energy efficiency.

Misconception 3: Green development is only about green energy. While the development of solar and wind power are important to green development in the ICT industry, huge gains can be achieved by systematically improving the energy efficiency of telecom networks. To this end, Huawei released a three-layer green solution at this summit to systematically improve network energy efficiency through "Green Site, Green Network, and Green Operation", helping carriers achieve "More Bits, Less Watts".

Misconception 4: Network energy efficiency is equal to the sum of energy efficiencies of its telecom equipment. The energy efficiency evaluation of a single equipment box is not enough to carry out comprehensive, scenario-based planning and construction decisions. Huawei recommended establishing a unified, standardized indicator system (NCI) to accurately evaluate and formulate energy-saving policies for entire networks by measuring the energy efficiency indicators of main communications equipment, site auxiliary equipment, transport networks, and data centers.

Misconception 5: Energy saving should not impact any network performance indicator. The truth is, there is trade-off between energy saving features and some network indicators. However, energy saving features can be adopted at the expense of peak rates and some other indicators, but without impacting actual user experience. In Germany, an intelligent shutdown solution has been deployed in shopping malls at midnight. Although it slightly reduces peak rates, it reduces site energy consumption by 10% without affecting user experience.

During his closing remarks, Dr. Song delivered five suggestions for green development in the ICT industry: "First, we should vigorously develop the ICT industry to enable green development in other industries. Second, we must pay more attention to carbon emissions of ICT infrastructure during usage rather than just during manufacturing. Third, the systematic solution of "Green Site, Green Network, and Green Operation" will help carriers continuously improve network capacity and reduce power consumption per bit, achieving "More Bits, Less Watts". Fourth, we must define a unified energy efficiency indicator system to identify the main problems of energy consumption. Fifth, watts are decided by user experience."

MWC22 Barcelona will run from February 28 to March 3 in Barcelona, Spain. Huawei will showcase its products and solutions at stand 1H50 in Fira Gran Via Hall 1. Together with global operators, industry professionals, and opinion leaders, we will dive into topics such as industry trends, GUIDE to the Future, and green development to envision the future of digital networks. For more information, please visit: https://carrier.huawei.com/en/events/mwc2022.

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