Design Centred Approach in ICT To Conserve Energy

I am currently researching on an initiative for my Telecom Class. Its called the Green Touch. Green Touch is a consortium of companies and educational institutions that seeks to improve the energy efficiency of ICT networks by a factor of 1000. Carnegie Mellon University is a part of this initiative. The exponential growth in wireless and mobile telecommunications has led to widespread connectivity across the globe, even in the remotest villages of Africa. However there is an environmental cost associated with this unprecedented expansion. "The global network and technology required to run it produce 250 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, roughly the same as is produced yearly by 50 million automobiles (20 percent of all the autos in the U.S.), according to Green Touch" (Scientific American). Green Touch therefore seeks to redesign networks to decrease the carbon footprint of the ICT Industry.

When we talk about design centred approach in innovation, Green Touch has developed a prototype Large Scale Antenna to minimize the amount of power required to send a signal across the air in wireless systems. The Large Scale Antenna uses multiple antennas to minimize the amount of power required to transmit a signal across the wireless channel. The proof of concept proposes that the power consmption is significantly reduced as the number of antennas are increased. " For example, an antenna array comprising 100 elements would transmit only one percent of the energy transmitted by a single antenna, for the same quality of service."(CNET)

Multiple Antennas were previously utilized for capacity gains but now they can also significantly reduce power consumption. The basic concept is "focusing" a narrow radio beam through multiple antennas instead of using one antenna to disperse the signal over the whole channel which comparatively consumes more power over a wider area.

I have shared this piece to demonstrate how simple design restructuring can fuel such immense social gains. Global Warming effects are already visible in the form of steady melting of glaciers and floods. Therefore its imperative that we do whatever it takes to reduce our overall carbon footprint. This technology is nascent, however once developed can have wide ranging impact on the global environment.

Some of the questions that come to mind are:

1. What sort of investment would be required to set up an infrastructure for Large Scale Antennas?
2. Would low income governments be willing to invest in this infrastructure?
3. What sort of government policies would be required to facilitate such large scale investment?

Links

• http://www.greentouch.org/
• http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/020111-advanced-antennas-virtual-modems-to.html
• http://it.tmcnet.com/news/2011/02/03/5289356.htm
• http://www.greentouch.org/uploads/documents/pres_gregory_wright.pdf
• http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=green-touch-launch