Building a Sustainable Mobile Future
Critical steps for the global ecosystem to ensure energy-efficient mobile networks
This century, few issues have dominated our collective consciousness as much as climate change and environmental sustainability. However, it is only recently that modern industry has recognized its responsibility to solve this incredibly complex global use continues to put a strain on multiple industries, driving up costs and imposing constraints on growth that can potentially be avoided. For most major economies, even the switch from incandescent to LED lighting can save the economy billions of dollars in reduced costs (Development Research Center of the State Council; World Bank, 2022), so there is a significant business incentive to seek energy reductions across the board. The wireless industry is no different, with multiple groups, companies, and governments quickly realizing that the wireless industry has its own role to play in building a more sustainable .
As an industry, mobile devices and services are most definitely consuming significant energy resources. The information/communications/technology market has steadily consumed more and more electricity, with more growth in sight.
Info/Comm/Tech projected energy usage as a percentage of total electricity is notable! 1. Lorincz, Josip, Antonio Capone, and Jinsong Wu. "Greener, energy-efficient and sustainable networks: state-of-the-art and new trends" Sensors, (2019): 4864.
In broad strokes, the mobile industry can address sustainability concerns by enabling new use cases, embracing new strategies, and making sustainability a core element of future wireless development.
Enabling New Use Cases
5G is already being deployed in use cases around the world that are reducing energy needs and increasing efficiency and productivity for multiple industries. Energy management in smart buildings is already a clear application seeing results in several markets. Singapore has deployed 5G for energy management across numerous smart buildings and is seeing excellent results (Energy and AI, January 2022).
The manufacturing industry is actively evaluating 5G to enable Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). A recent study by ABB found that 94% of key decision-makers across 12 industrial segments agree that IIoT can improve overall energy efficiency. Moreover, 72% are looking to increase spending on this technology due to its impact on sustainability. Energy management, waste management, extending equipment life, and emissions monitoring and control are just a few of the environmental benefits that 5G helps to enable.
These IoT benefits also extend themselves to the Agriculture industry as well, as 5G-enabled IoT sensors can contribute to sustainable food production practices. Collectively known as precision agriculture, these wireless-enabled systems collect and analyze data on moisture, sunlight, air quality, and other factors that influence crop production and yield. Moreover, 5G wireless tools help reduce the use of pesticides and fertilizers by informing farmers to dispense them solely where necessary, not across entire fields.
Embracing New Strategies
Beyond helping other industries reduce their own environmental impact, the mobile ecosystem needs to take steps to mitigate the effects of its own practices as they relate to sustainability. In many cases, it is simply a matter of leadership taking a role in directing the industry’s development. For example, an obvious choice can be made to prioritize using environmentally sound renewable energy sources for data centers and other installations requiring significant energy. Complementing this choice might be the development of more ecological sophisticated battery-based energy storage to augment our renewable energy sources with an uninterruptable power supply. Likewise, our industry can take serious steps in reducing our water consumption and cooling requirements, an area in which Intel has already made strides.
Other potential strategies could include reducing RAN energy consumption, reducing the industry’s overall land use footprint, and creating a circular economy to reduce e-waste, something the industry generates in large quantities.
Energy Efficiency and Sustainability as Part of Wireless Development
Aside from the use cases that mobile technologies enable, the global ecosystem is taking steps across multiple standards groups – the very organizations that define wireless technologies for the industry – to make sustainable practices a critical element in the development of future mobile networks. Some clear examples of these organizations include:
- 3GPP – Perhaps first and foremost, the organization responsible for defining wireless cellular standards is focusing on energy efficiency, starting with 5G. Rel18, which will see commercial deployment in 2023, brings new capabilities for energy savings to 5G mobile networks.
- IOWN Global Forum – This group’s focus is to address the most significant challenges and opportunities in the development of new communications and network infrastructure on which the future can be built. This group has actively built sustainable goals into its development cycle. It aims to lower power consumption by an ambitious 100x while simultaneously achieving higher transmission rates and a 200x reduction in end-to-end latency by 2030.
- The Next G Alliance – This organization’s Green G working group is studying the use of renewable and ambient energy as a means to help multiple industries reduce their environmental footprint and energy spend.
- NGMN – The group’s Green Future Network Project is set to mitigate the environmental impact of network for the ICT market, thus reducing costs.
There are myriad other organizations also building sustainable practices into their planning for 6G and other future network technologies. It’s clear the mobile industry is beginning to take the threat of overconsumption seriously.
Just as importantly, we at Intel are committed to leading the charge for sustainable networks across the industry. Intel is leveraging its manufacturing expertise, unique position within the technology ecosystem, and the wide range of technology we enable to bring others together to accelerate action on key global challenges to save and enrich lives. Our efforts in this arena are reflected in our RISE strategy, with sustainability a key pillar of this program. Intel has pledged to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions in our global operations by 2040. What’s more, Intel has raised $1.25B in funding to specifically target our sustainability goals, including green buildings, energy efficiency, circular economy and waste management, greenhouse gas emissions reductions, water stewardship, and renewable electricity.
These goals will not be easily achieved. It will require dedication, sacrifice, and broad cross-industry collaboration. But as a wise person once said, focus on what you can control. At the very least we have the opportunity to create new approaches, helping to address the impacts of this complex trend.
Asha Keddy has 25+ years of experience at Intel as a patent-holding engineer and technology futurist building enterprise systems and defining policies that transform working and living environments. Ms. Keddy continues to serve as a pivotal force at Intel in the creation of the multi-trillion dollar 5G market opportunity. In this role, she has executed incubation efforts, product development, industry forums, standards creation, ecosystem enablement, and policy governance.
Building on her experience as Intel’s 5G exec sponsor, she currently serves as Corporate Vice President and General Manager for Intel’s Next Generation Systems & Standards business unit. Keddy leads global efforts to build the next generation of distributed intelligence and advanced connectivity including 6G, the latest class of Wi-Fi technology, and more, thus empowering the creation of transformative and sustainable opportunities beyond Intel’s current playbook.
Keddy is a highly networked industry thought leader, and a global spokesperson providing insights to government agencies, the media, analysts, academia, and investors. She has served as a representative before Congress and international government agencies including testimonies to the senate on 5G. Keddy helped establish Intel as a leader within key wireless, industrial and edge standards bodies, and multiple industry fora, such as the 3GPP, IEEE, Wi-Fi Alliance, ETSI and Open-RAN. Keddy is a founder and advisor to Innovative Optical Wireless Network (IOWN GF) and has served or serves as long time director on the board of directors of Wi-Fi Alliance, 5G Americas, and CTIA. In April 2022, she joined Smith Micro Software (SMSI)’s as an independent Board Director.
Keddy holds a Master of Science in Computer Science from Clemson University and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from the University of Mumbai. She is an alumna of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business as part of the Intel Executive Accelerator Program. She is an avid advocate for women and minorities in technology. Residing in Portland, Oregon, Asha is an avid enthusiast for sustainability and the great outdoors. She enjoys kayaking, hiking, and spending time in nature with her family.