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itGreen teLeCoMis it socially beneficial?By N.k. Mathurwhat is Green telecom?all of us would like to stay close to nature, see greeneryaround us, feel freshness pervading our neighborhood.and how nice it would be to help nature comecloser to us. the telecom sector, or the iCt sector as awhole, should naturally play a role since iCt-dependentappliances are very close to us in our households aswell as in the workplace. this is where ‘green’ telecomsteps in. it implies that starting from the building to theequipment, machinery and the end product, not forgettingthe ancillaries, everything should be as ‘green’ asis feasible through our present state of knowledge. wecan be sure of one more aspect: our capabilities will certainlykeep on evolving and improving. it should also beappreciated at the outset that telecommunication andrelated industries play a vital role in two main streamsof our activity – in introducing carbon-reduction technologiesand in monitoring global warming. thus, wesee that telecom and the environment are interdependentand can work to assist each other.on the international Frontthe international telecommunication union (itu)has been emphasizing the need for the introductionof eco-friendly elements in all telecom and iCt-relatedequipment and services. a recent symposium on iCtsand climate change in Quito, ecuador, in july 2009, recommendedthat global efforts to combat climate changewould facilitate economic and social growth and alsothat the iCt sector must limit its own carbon footprint.it naturally follows that the increased use of ‘green’construction materials, renewable energy coupled with‘green’ purchasing policies and methodologies can providetangible assistance towards achieving the objectiveof ‘green telecom.’it is therefore necessary to call upon public and privateentities at the national as well as international levelto include in their activities and projects the analysisand study of the impact that telecommunications andiCts have on climate change.establishing ‘Green’ telecom systemsgoing by itu reports, the iCt sector contributes 2-2.5percent of the total global warming effects. these figureswould be much more important for countries likeindia and China where the iCt sector is becoming an integralpart of the economic development and, moreover,its growth is unprecedented.in india, as in many other neighboring countries, thetelecom networks are expanding in a phenomenal manner.urban and rural teledensity of 100 percent and 30percent respectively has been achieved in india with over500 million subscribers; the government is taking actionon several fronts to further increase the teledensityand penetration of broadband. it is expected that indiawill have 900 million mobile and 40 million broadbandsubscribers by the year 2012. similar action is afoot inmany other neighboring countries, correspondingly resultingin the exponential growth of telecom networksin the region.a holistic view shows that development and managementof green telecom systems should aim at makingthe following components green or as green as possiblewith today’s and tomorrow’s technologies:- materials and substances- operational cycle- waste disposal- r&d activitiesMaterials and substanceslet us look at building materials. the ‘green buildings’movement has already been going on for the pastfew years with the objective of some components beingdesigned as ‘net zero’ structures. the same philosophyis being adopted for telecom components with a specialemphasis being placed on achieving low heat dissipation.the trend is towards designing systems that do not needmuch cooling, air conditioning or heating and can operateat ambient temperatures. also, heating and coolingsystems are being designed to run on eco-friendly energysources. lighting has also undergone a sea change,with the arrival of CFl, liquid crystals and leds, whichconsume 1/10 of the energy of conventional systems.the energy Frontlet us look at the energy front, which is emerging as36 | A-P BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY REPORT | APRIL 2010AP-11 copy.indd 363/25/10 8:30:29 AM