Report describes emerging green wireless infrastructure

Last March I spoke with technical marketing manager Darren McCarthy at Tektronix about the greening of communications, which, he said, is not about edible phones but rather low-power infrastructure that can serve the coming wave of cell-phone users who live on less that $2 per day. Building energy-efficient infrastructure, he said, will require exact measurements of the linear and nonlinear performance of power amplifiers and other components. And the measurements will have to be made at the power levels and impedances that matter—not the ideal 50-Ω environment found in labs.

Now, In-Stat has come out with a report titled "Green Base Stations: Renewable Energy Becomes a Reality in Cellular Infrastructure" that attaches some facts and figures to the emerging green wireless infrastructure. In-Stat says that within the last few years, the number of worldwide cellular base stations has increased from hundreds of thousands to many millions, creating pollution from the power required to run them.

Base stations on an electric grid aren’t the real problem, In-Stat reports, a contention I might take issue with. But certainly, In-Stat is correct in saying that as cellular spreads to billions of people in emerging countries, off-grid diesel-powered base stations would become a much more serious problem.

"While diesel pollution is an environmental issue, what bothers operators the most is the cost of powering and securing the generators," says Allen Nogee, In-Stat analyst. "Diesel fuel has to be trucked to remote sites, and theft of diesel fuel and equipment can cost operators millions of dollars. The solution is for operators to at least partially power remote base stations with wind turbines, solar panels, or both. This is truly a case where it pays to be green."

Here is some data from the $3495 report:

•    By 2014, over 230,000 cellular base stations in developing countries will be solar-powered or wind-powered.
•    The number of off-grid base stations is growing at 30% per year.
•    Off-grid base stations are primarily located in Africa, South Asia (including India), South America, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

The report provides forecasts of deployed solar- and wind-powered base stations through 2014; analyzes green base station technology, including costs and benefits; and describes recent green base-station technology developments by Huawei, NEC, Nokia Siemens, Ericsson, and Alcatel-Lucent.