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4.2 Mobile base-station generators In developing countries, a significant proportion (approximately 30 per cent) of emissions from a mobile TSP’s carbon footprint comes from the use of diesel (or other fossil fuel powered) generators. These are commonly used where there is no connection to the electricity grid. One example of an efficient diesel generator achieves 38 per cent efficiency at full load and 27 per cent efficiency at half load 120 . However, combined-cycle turbines as are now used in the electricity generation industry are in the 50 per cent to 60 per cent thermal efficiency range 121 . It will therefore be more energy efficient to use grid electricity unless a local non-fossil fuel feedstock, micro-hydro or solar power can be provided. Developing countries are leading the way in turning waste biomass into energy 122 and this technology could be used to supply legacy generators using internal combustion (IC) engines. Methane, petroleum, wood gas and biodiesel are examples of fuels which have been used successfully in internal combustion engines. Biofuels have the potential to become carbon neutral and so reduce GHG emissions significantly, although this is heavily dependent on the farming, processing and transport methods. A promising source of feedstock for future biodiesel production is algae, and this could be considered for Ghana. An obstacle preventing widespread mass production of algae for biofuel production has been the equipment and structures needed to begin growing algae in large quantities. Open-pond systems for the most part have been given up for the cultivation of algae with high-oil content, as contamination by other organisms blown in by the air is a problem. A closed system (not exposed to open air) avoids this but the problem then is finding a cheap source of sterile CO2. Several experimenters have found that CO2 emitted from a power station promotes algae growth, which therefore has the two-fold benefit of helping to scrub CO2 from power generation while producing biodiesel at the same time. Biodiesel may also be produced from coconut oil 123 . This has the advantage of being readily available in Ghana and could be retrofitted to existing base-station diesel generators. More work is needed to establish the best choice of feedstock and whether sufficient land can be allocated to growth of this without reducing food supply. Suggested action: The EPA, Energy Commission, or other appropriate agency in Ghana should consider paving the way for the deployment of biodiesel technology in Ghana. This could be used as a substitute for fossil fuel in mobile telecommunications base stations. The danger that the balance of land use will be moved from food production towards production of biodiesel can be avoided by using alternative feed-stocks such as the production of algae, and these should be explored. A further technology being widely adopted in other African countries is ‘micro-hydro’ or micro scale hydropower. This can offer a higher power output than solar photovoltaic (PV) at lower cost. Studies in Kenya 124 have shown that hydro stations in the pico range (less than 5kW) can supply electricity to households at a fraction of the cost compared with solar PV. They are also less vulnerable to changes in water availability than large-scale hydropower as they only use part of the water in rivers. The potential for the exploitation of micro-hydro in Ghana should be assessed. 64
Figure 8. Tungu-Kabiri 18kW crossflow turbine. 4.3 Mobile infrastructure sharing Mobile networks can be made more energy efficient through sharing of resources between competing mobile service providers. Network sharing can significantly reduce costs, increase capacity and lower the network’s environmental impact. There are two levels of infrastructure sharing: passive and active. Passive sharing involves components such as the tower mast or pylons, cables, physical site or rooftop, shelter cabinets, power supply, air conditioning, alarm systems, etc. Active sharing includes antennas, antenna systems, backhaul transmission systems, and BTS equipment. Passive sharing at BTS sites is becoming increasingly common and reduces the environmental footprint of mobile networks by cutting the number of BTS sites required by each company to provide overall coverage. Network infrastructure can be shared between: • TSPs • Technologies, e.g. LTE, UMTS and GSM • Multiple radio frequency (RF) modules for capacity upgrades and can occur at different levels: • Location only • Sharing the electricity supply • Mast (Tower) • Antenna system • BTS (cell site) • Signal Examples of these are described below. Figure 9 shows a base station with multiple TSPs using the same mast but with separate antenna systems. Figure 10 shows multiple TSPs using a shared antenna system as well as a shared mast and electricity supply: 65
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Shutterstock ® Flavio Cucchietti
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Table of contents Information and c
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Page 4.9 Facility sharing to save c
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Towards a better environment: The M
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Towards a better environment: An IT
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Introduction Climate change has bec
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Assembly’s resolution 65/151, whi
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Acknowledgements The text of this p
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1. Situating climate change in the
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designing and implementing strategi
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Box 4. The Nairobi Work Programme (
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As identified during the Symposium
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and 3.5G subscriptions. Fixed-phone
Page 30 and 31: The data reflected in Tables 2 and
Page 32 and 33: network to connect the regional adm
Page 34 and 35: Box 10. Climate change projections
Page 36 and 37: Box 11. Examples of UNFCCC parties
Page 38 and 39: integrated into the plans of the re
Page 40 and 41: While the actions undertaken by Gha
Page 42 and 43: Figure 3. Relation between ICTs and
Page 44 and 45: In response to this increasing need
Page 46 and 47: c) Sectoral and community levels IC
Page 48 and 49: In terms of ICT and climate change
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Page 52 and 53: (4) Feedback and learning (5) Insti
Page 54 and 55: disaster strikes the "wired" teleco
Page 56 and 57: c) Supporting inclusive and partici
Page 59 and 60: Climate change mitigation and Infor
Page 61 and 62: Executive summary Greenhouse gas (G
Page 63 and 64: 1. Introduction 1.1 The challenge G
Page 65 and 66: Internet access is the second ICT s
Page 67 and 68: Figure 4. Trend in total GHG emissi
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Page 73 and 74: included. The ratio of emissions ca
Page 75 and 76: • Smart grids - which would be of
Page 77 and 78: Remote health monitoring enables in
Page 79: electricity grid and would decrease
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Page 85 and 86: conversion to biochar. A typical wo
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Page 89 and 90: The trend to watching TV on laptops
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Page 93 and 94: 5.5 What energy efficiency metric s
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Page 97 and 98: 6.3.3 Example from Brazil Brazil is
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Page 103 and 104: Glossary 2.5G 2G with GPRS providin
Page 105 and 106: Annex: How GHG emissions in the ICT
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Page 109 and 110: Overall report conclusions Developi
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