GSMA: European mobile operators lead in renewable energy

Global mobile operators are making strong progress in maximising the use of renewable energy in their networks, according to new figures from GSMA.

However, a survey indicates that access to an additional 64 terawatt-hours (TWh) of renewable electricity – roughly equivalent to Austria’s annual energy usage – will be required by operators globally by 2030, as they seek to decarbonise their energy supplies. These requirements were detailed in the recent GSMA Access to Renewable Energy Policy Paper.

The new analysis released by the GSMA today, using data from 33 operators, covering 86 countries and approximately 50% of global mobile connections, shows tangible results, with renewable electricity use increasing across the mobile sector:

1. European networks are leading globally, purchasing on average 71% renewable energy.
2. Mobile networks in 41 of the 86 countries surveyed use more than 75% renewable energy
3. Mobile networks in 29 of the 86 countries use less than 25% renewable energy
4. 32% of renewable used by operators is procured through power purchase agreements with energy generators
5. 63% is achieved via renewable energy certificates from electricity markets
6. 4% results from self-generation of renewable electricity

The figures show that operators in Europe and North America have been able to both access and scale up the amount of renewable electricity used to power their networks in recent years. In contrast, accessing renewable electricity is still a challenge in many countries, shown by lower market-based regional figures across Africa, the Middle East, Asia and South America.

John Giusti, Chief Regulatory Officer at the GSMA, said: “Operators are making meaningful progress in the use of renewables to power communications networks. However, given the scale of demand, the GSMA calls for greater collaboration between the private and public sector to expand the renewable energy infrastructure needed to hit our net zero ambitions. This will require reducing regulatory barriers, supporting market-based mechanisms to access renewable electricity and incentivising investment in new renewable power generation.”

https://www.gsma.com/betterfuture/resources/mobile-industry-position-paper-access-to-renewable-energy

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OCP: Smarter chassis designs for sustainable data centers

Inspur showcased four Open Compute Project (OCP) certified systems at #OCPSummit2022 with a focus on data center sustainability, such as utilizing renewable energy, recycling, thermal reuse, and the use of liquid-cooling technologies to reduce water consumption.

Here are highlights from Alan Chang, VP, Technical Operations, Inspur.

https://youtu.be/uYvtbDN440w

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OCP adopts Data Center Sustainability as top-level project

The OCP Foundation has adopted Sustainability as a new top-level project and as the 5th Tenet to ensure that all work efforts across all OCP Projects have a focus on sustainability.

OCP’s Sustainability top-level project will set reporting targets, monitor and plan compliance with external regulations and best practices, develop high level sustainability KPIs that go beyond traditional data center measures such as power usage effectiveness (PUE), and assemble sustainability technology and process roadmaps for the larger OCP Community to follow under the OCP’s new Sustainability Tenet.

Sustainability efforts carried out across the OCP will focus on technology specific implementations of the directions set by its new OCP Sustainability Project. 

Currently within the OCP there are sustainability efforts in cooling environments involving increasing thermal management efficiency with liquid based cooling technologies such as immersion and cold plate cooling and heat re-use. Beyond thermal optimizations, data center facilities efforts are working to optimize carbon associated from operations and data center facilities construction, and the manufacturing of IT equipment. 

Designing for circularity is also an important focus to positively control the lifecycle of IT physical infrastructure. For example, firmware needs to be open to promote reuse and improve long term sustainability. OCP hardware specifications will continue to evolve to enable products to remain in use for as long as possible, and design for circularity to enable infrastructure within the data center to be repurposed, and ultimately enable component and material recovery when decommissioned.

"The OCP community has a responsibility to contribute towards reducing the environmental impact of the industry, and drive conversations within their influence to impact technologies deployed in the data centers. The tenets of the OCP foster openness that enables mainstream delivery of the most efficient designs for scalable computing and uniquely positions OCP to be an effective agent for climate action. Adding a mandate for sustainability looking at transparency, circularity, and embodied carbon in IT equipment, silicon and data center facilities will add significant weight to our ability to help the industry minimize its impact on the environment," said George Tchaparian, CEO Open Compute Project Foundation.

https://www.opencompute.org/blog/open-compute-project-foundation-announces-sustainability-as-a-5th-tenet-and-a-top-level-project

https://youtu.be/WXJ60JGaLDE

Alexander Rakov, Sustainability Leader - C&SP, Schneider Electric, talks about how the OCP community is driving innovation that could achieve huge gains in sustainable performance. #OCPSUMMIT2022

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Orange outlines energy saving plan in France

Orange outlined the following energy to reduce electricity consumption in France:

• During peak consumption, Orange will cut 5 to 10% of its instantaneous electricity consumption for one hour per day. Switching to electric battery for several thousand fixed network installations will help save up to 20 MW, i.e. the instantaneous consumption of a medium-sized city with 40,000 inhabitants. These energy efficiency measures will have no negative impact on users. 
• The temperature in offices is now set at 19°C. On days when there are few visitors, Orange proposes closing some quieter work spaces to reduce their electricity and heating consumption.
• Since September 1, 2022, window lighting at all Orange stores in France is switched off 30 minutes after closing at the latest.
• During peak consumption, SMS will be sent to Orange employees and customers to raise awareness of environmentally-friendly actions, like switching off their boxes when not in use; switching to Wi-Fi at home, or enabling standby mode for their Livebox and TV set-top box. Extended standby mode on the Livebox 6 can reduce energy consumption by 95%.
• As a signatory of the Ecowatt charter, Orange will also display an electricity status report on the Orange TV home page, allowing every TV viewer to see the amount of electricity available in France.

Christel Heydemann, Orange CEO, explains: “In an uncertain geopolitical and economic context, we share the French government's concerns and we have developed a concrete plan to support the national energy saving initiative. By offering to cut consumption at several thousand technical sites for one hour, we will reduce our instantaneous power requirements by up to 10%, without impacting the service offered to users. But I must point out that networks are crucial for an effective society. We must work together to avoid load shedding measures this winter”.

https://www.orange.com/en/newsroom

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U.S. DoE offers $42 million for data center cooling innovation

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is offering up to $42 million in funding for the development of high-performance energy efficient cooling solutions for data centers. 

Data centers account for approximately 2% of total U.S. electricity production while data center cooling can account for up to 40% of data center energy usage overall. 

DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) will fund projects that seek to reduce the amount of energy data centers use for cooling to lower the operational carbon footprint associated with powering and cooling data centers. This funding will support President Biden’s goals to reach net zero carbon emissions economy-wide by no later than 2050.  

ARPA-E's Cooling Operations Optimized for Leaps in Energy, Reliable and Carbon Hyperefficiency for Information Processing Systems (COOLERCHIPS) funding program aims to develop highly efficient and reliable cooling systems that will enable a new class of efficient power-dense computational systems, data centers and modular systems. The program will prioritize four technical categories for cooling system innovation opportunities:  

• Energy-efficient cooling solutions for next generation high power density servers
• High power density modular data centers that can be operated anywhere efficiently
• Software and modeling tool development to design and optimize data centers’ energy use, CO2 footprint, reliability, and cost, simultaneously
• Facilities and best practices for efficient evaluation and demonstration of transformational technologies developed under the program. 

“Extreme weather events, like the soaring temperatures much of the country experienced this summer, also impact data centers which connect critical computing and network infrastructure and must be kept at certain temperatures to remain operational,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “Creating solutions to cool data centers efficiently and reduce the associated carbon emissions supports the technological breakthroughs needed to fight climate change and secure our clean energy future.” 

https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-announces-42-million-develop-high-performance-cooling-systems-data-centers

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Elisa to recapture waste heat from a data centre in Helsinki

Elisa is working with its utility provider to recapture waste heat produced in its data centre in Helsiki for use in community heating.

According to the agreement, waste heat recovered in the cooling process of Elisa’s modern data centre in Pasila is transferred for heating homes and business premises in the area. At best, the waste heat collected from the data centre can replace the annual heat demand of up to a thousand one-bedroom flats.

“In Finland, people regard recycling and the use of renewable materials as one of the most important indicators of sustainable business practice. Recycling is also sensible in the use of energy. Investing in both energy self-sufficiency and in technology that promotes energy efficiency is more important than ever. The cooperation with Elisa offers an excellent opportunity to increase the amount of recycled heat for our customers by utilising our energy platform,” explains Henrietta Lahti, Business Lead, Datacenter and Waste Heat Solutions at Helen, the Finnish utility provider.

“Elisa’s mission is a sustainable future through digitalisation, and we are strongly committed to sustainable development in all our activities. In cooperation with Helen, energy efficiency in our Pasila data centre will improve so that it will become environmentally positive, i.e. the data centre actually reduces global emissions. That way we can offer our customers digital services that are produced in an even more sustainable way than before,” says Sami Rajamäki, Elisa’s Vice President, Network Services.

https://elisa.com/corporate/news-room/press-releases/helen-and-elisa-to-heat-homes-in-helsinki-with-waste-heat-from-a-data-centre/31135227527634/

Nokia and Elisa achieve over 2 Gbps 5G uplink speeds on mmWave

Tuesday, June 21, 2022  5G, Elisa, Finland, Nokia  

Nokia, Elisa, and Qualcomm Technologies achieved arecord-breaking 5G uplink speeds of 2.1 Gbps. The live demonstration at the Nokia Arena in Tampere in Finland featured Nokia's AirScale base station in 26 GHz mmWave spectrum over Elisa’s commercial 5G network. The network was connected to a 5G device powered by a Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF System featuring fourth-generation Qualcomm® QTM545 mmWave antenna modules. Additionally, Nokia deployed...

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Nokia and Elisa test first 1 terabit clear-channel interface

Wednesday, January 27, 2021  Elisa, Finland, Nokia, Terabit  

Elisa, a network operator serving Finland and Estonia, has tested the first 1 Tbps clear-channel interface across its commercial infrastructure.Elisa upgraded some of its Nokia 7950 Extensible Routing System (XRS) nodes with 1T interfaces powered by Nokia’s FP4 chipset, the industry’s first terabit capable routing silicon. The new FP4 terabit linecard supports two 1T ports and demonstrated deployment readiness by carrying live traffic on Elisa’s...

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Telefónica validates its net-zero ambitions

Telefónica claims to be the first telco in the world to obtain validation from the Science Based Targets (SBTi) initiative, according to the new ‘Net-Zero Standard’, of its net zero environmental targets, both in the short, medium and long term. 

Telefónica's Net-Zero targets include:

• a committment to achieving net zero Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions across the value chain by 2040, which means an effective reduction of at least 90% of all its emissions (direct and indirect) and neutralising the remaining emissions (less than 10%) through high quality carbon credits.
• an intermediate target of reducing absolute GHG emissions in Scope 1 and 2 by 80% and 56% in Scope 3 (value chain) by 2030.

The company says it has already decreased all its emissions by more than 40% (70% for Scope 1+2 since 2015 and 27% for Scope 3 since 2016).

“Protecting the environment is a top priority for Telefónica, which is why we are working to curb climate change and reverse biodiversity loss. The fact that our emissions reduction targets are validated by SBTi according to the new ‘Net-Zero Standard’ demonstrates the company’s commitment to leading the energy and digital transition as they go hand in hand to build a greener future for all,” said Elena Valderrábano, Global Chief Sustainability (ESG) Officer.

https://www.telefonica.com/en/communication-room/telefonicafirst-telco-in-the-world-with-net-zero-targets-validated-by-sbti/

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Microsoft's data center UPS batteries to provide backup for Irish grid

Microsoft believes the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) batteries used in its hyperscale data centers could provide backup power to the public electrical grid. 

The UPS in Microsoft’s Dublin data center in Ireland will be the first to enable real-time interaction with the electric power grid. This will help grid operators provide uninterrupted service when demand exceeds the supply generated elsewhere on the grid by wind, solar and other sources.

"We have this battery asset in the datacenter that is just sitting there,” said Christian Belady, distinguished engineer and vice president of Microsoft’s datacenter advanced development group. "Why don’t we offer it to the grid and come up with a dynamic way of managing it as a dual-purpose asset and thus drive more efficiency and asset utilization? That’s what drove this win-win situation."

https://news.microsoft.com/innovation-stories/ireland-wind-farm-datacenter-ups/

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Sabey Data Centers commits to Net Zero carbon emissions

Sabey Data Centers has committed to reach net-zero carbon emissions by or before 2029 across its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. 

The Science-Based Target Initiative (SBTi), a global body that aligns enterprise emission reduction efforts with climate science, last year validated Sabey’s target and methods to achieve a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Significantly, the company is now increasing and accelerating its commitment to a 100% reduction one year earlier.

Scope 1 focuses on direct emissions from operations, and Scope 2 includes indirect emissions from purchased electricity that powers its resilient data center infrastructure. Sabey will adopt industry-leading technology and techniques that align with its business objectives to meet its ambitious, portfolio-wide carbon emissions target.

“Sabey is an industry leader in energy-efficient solutions and low-cost, renewable power,” says John Sasser, Chief Technology Officer at Sabey Data Centers. “Unveiling our ambitious goal of net-zero emissions by or before 2029 aligns with our consistent, recognized record of sustainability.”

http://www.sabeydatacenters.com

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II‐VI signs renewable energy contracts in Asia

II‐VI has signed renewable energy contracts for powering multiple sites throughout Asia with 100% renewable electricity. These new agreements represent 35 GWh of renewable electricity per year, thereby avoiding an additional 18,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually. The agreement covers II-VI sites in India, the Philippines, Vietnam, China, and Japan.

The company notes that it has now entered into renewable electricity contracts for over 40 sites around the world, including over 35 sites that now cover 100% of their annual electricity usage with renewable sources.

“II-VI now purchases approximately 38% of our electricity from renewable sources,” said Tim Challingsworth, Chief Sustainability Officer. “This announcement is an important next step in fulfilling our commitment to steadily reduce our carbon footprint position around the globe.”

https://ii-vi.com/news/ii-vi-incorporated-significantly-reduces-its-global-carbon-footprint-with-renewable-energy-contracts-in-asia/

• In April 2022, II-VI announced that nine of its U.S. sites will now cover 100% of their annual electricity usage with renewable sources. 
• In January 2022, that its largest plant in China would be powered with 100% renewable electricity sources within four years.
• In October 2021, it announced that it was powering all of its facilities in Europe with 100% renewable electricity sources.

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Intel commits to Net-Zero emissions in global operations by 2040

Intel pledged to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in its global operations by 2040, to increase the energy efficiency and lower the carbon footprint of Intel products and platforms with specific goals, and to work with customers and industry partners to create solutions that lower the greenhouse gas footprint of the entire technology ecosystem.

To realize this ambitious goal, Intel has set the following interim milestones for 2030:

• Achieve 100% renewable electricity use across its global operations.
• Invest approximately $300 million in energy conservation at its facilities to achieve 4 billion cumulative kilowatt hours of energy savings.
• Build new factories and facilities to meet U.S. Green Building Council LEED program standards, including recently announced investments in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
• Launch a cross-industry R&D initiative to identify greener chemicals with lower global warming potential and to develop new abatement equipment.

“The impact of climate change is an urgent global threat. Protecting our planet demands immediate action and fresh thinking about how the world operates. As one of the world's leading semiconductor design and manufacturing companies, Intel is in a unique position to make a difference not only in our own operations, but in a way that makes it easier for customers, partners and our whole value chain to take meaningful action too,” states Pat Gelsinger, Intel chief executive officer.

https://www.intc.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1539/intel-commits-to-net-zero-greenhouse-gas-emissions-in-its

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Comcast signs 250 MW solar agreement

Comcast agreed to purchase 250 megawatts (MW) of solar electricity from Constellation that will power approximately 12 percent of its U.S. operations and the vast majority of its Mid-Atlantic operations with clean, renewable energy.

The agreement will support construction of the Blue Sky Solar Project, currently being developed by Scout Clean Energy in Illinois, creating local jobs and bringing additional clean electricity to the U.S. power grid.

“Sourcing clean, renewable energy is the top priority for meeting our goal to be carbon neutral by 2035,” said Peter Kiriacoulacos, Executive Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer at Comcast. “This marks the first of many major green investments that are already underway or on the immediate horizon which demonstrate our commitment to sustainable, responsible business.”

Comcast will source 250 MW of carbon-free solar electricity from the 300 MW Blue Sky project – a majority share of the project’s total output. Blue Sky is one of the largest solar projects approved to date in the PJM power grid, which spans the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region and portions of the Midwest, and Comcast is currently the sole customer. The agreement will allow Comcast to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions associated with its energy use by nearly 360,000 metric tons annually – equivalent to avoiding the emissions from more than 65,000 homes’ electricity use for a year.

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AT&T commits to 155 MW of solar power from Vitol

AT&T confirmed two virtual power purchase agreements for approximately 80 MW and 75 MW from Vitol to support new solar projects in Maryland and Pennslyvania. The projects are expected to be fully operational in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

AT&T said these new deals with Vitol bring its total renewable portfolio to more than 1.7 gigawatts of capacity. AT&T previously purchased 500 megawatts of solar power in Texas in 2019.

https://about.att.com/story/2022/commitment-to-sourcing-renewable-energy.html

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Verizon fully allocates third $1 billion green bond

Verizon has fully allocated nearly $1 billion of net proceeds from its third green bond, which was issued in September 2021, to renewable energy purchase agreements (REPAs).  These projects are for an aggregate of approximately 910 megawatts (MW) of new renewable energy generating capacity across seven states, of which about 51 percent is wind energy generating capacity and 49 percent is solar energy generating capacity.

“The $3 billion in green bonds that we have issued to date are helping position us to achieve our goal of net zero emissions in our operations by 2035,” said Matt Ellis, Verizon’s executive vice president and chief financial officer. “Renewable energy and energy efficiency are the foundation of our net zero strategy. We are proud to do our part to green the U.S. energy grid and make strides toward achieving our ambitious corporate climate goals.”

https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-fully-allocates-third-1-billion-green-bond

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T-Mobile US achieves 100% renewable energy

T-Mobile US announced that it now source 100% of its total electricity usage with renewable energy.  The 100% threshold was achieved by the end of 2021. 

The 100% renewable energy target was first announced in 2018. T-Mobile met its RE100 goal through a combination of renewable energy investments, including eight virtual power agreements, 19 retail agreements, one Green Direct program, and unbundled Renewable Energy Certificates that support projects across the country. As a result, the company has invested in enough wind and solar power annually to account for every unit of electricity consumed. The nine large wind and solar farm projects alone (which include the virtual power agreements and Green Direct program) are contracted to provide T-Mobile with approximately 3.4 million MWh of clean energy annually—enough to provide electricity to over 313,000 homes per year.

T-Mobile also supports 37 community solar projects, which represent greening local energy grids with more than 2.1 million MWh over 25 years for Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York and Oregon.

“T-Mobile put a stake in the ground as the first telecom to commit to going all in on renewable energy by the end of 2021, and now we’re the first to hit this milestone years ahead of others,” said Mike Sievert, T-Mobile CEO. “This was no easy task, but we set a goal and we achieved it. Today, thanks to amazing efforts from a team who was unwavering in our commitment to reduce our impact on the planet, the Un-carrier is powering America’s largest, fastest and most reliable 5G network with 100% clean electricity.”

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BT sets 2030 net zero target for its own operations

BT Group is bringing forward its net zero target from 2045 to 2030 for its own operational emissions and 2040 for its supply chain and customer emissions.

BT said it has already has reduced the carbon emissions intensity of its operations by 57% since 2016 and has reduced supply chain emissions by 19% over the same timeframe.

In 2020, the company announced that it had completed the switch to 100% renewable electricity worldwide and pledged to transition the majority of its 33,000 strong commercial fleet to electric or zero carbon emissions vehicles by 2030.

https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-group-accelerates-net-zero-targets-and-launches-campaign-to-get-the-nation-talking-about-climate-change/

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AT&T Connected Climate Initiative sets an ambitious target

AT&T has set a target of helping businesses to eliminate 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2035.

AT&T said it will work with Microsoft, Equinix, Duke Energy, research universities, and a range of other organizations to deliver broadband-enabled climate solutions at global scale. 

The company says smart IoT and edge-computing technologies for the manufacturing, agriculture and commercial sectors can contribute to emission reductions.

“As businesses embrace climate change as a priority, our connectivity solutions can help them make progress to reach their goals,” said Anne Chow, CEO, AT&T Business. “AT&T has a track record of delivering sustainability results within our own large-scale operations and for our business customers across industries. The time is now to expand our impact by developing and deploying more capabilities and solutions that enable companies to reduce their environmental footprint. This is a collective imperative across all business that also benefits the planet and society as a whole.”

https://www.business.att.com/products/business-sustainability.html

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Vantage Data Centers commits to Net Zero Carbon emissions

Vantage Data Centers has committed to achieve net zero carbon emissions globally by 2030. 

Vantage said its goal specifically targets reductions for emissions that the company directly controls, Scope 1 and 2 emissions, as well as reductions that it can guide or influence throughout its supply chain. Vantage is creating interim reduction targets that are in alignment with the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi) methodology, which defines and promotes emissions reduction in line with climate science.

“As major consumers of power and land, data center operators have an undeniable responsibility to aggressively reduce emissions and lessen environmental impacts wherever possible. This is why we’ve set our target at net zero rather than carbon neutral,” explained Justin Thomas, chief technology officer, Vantage Data Centers. “Our goal is to be a sustainability leader, and we are setting interim reduction goals that touch every part of our business.”

http://www.vantage-dc.com/features/sustainability

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Deutsche Telekom tests solar powered base stations with Ericsson

Deutsche Telekom and Ericsson are testing the use of solar energy for mobile broadband sites. 

The first site is in a German village about 100 miles north of Munich. The Ericsson Power System is handling maximum power point tracking (MPP) as well as the necessary voltage conversion.  The solution also includes integration of the solar solutions into the same management system that also controls the Radio Access Network (RAN).

The tests, carried out in the second half of 2020, showed that solar energy is able to contribute to more than two-thirds of the site's total power during peak hours. Depending on the solar irradiation and technology configuration, larger shares, including up to fully autonomous power supply, where are also observed. This is thanks to the energy-efficient radio equipment.

Leif Heitzer, Senior Vice President Technology Guidance & Economics at Deutsche Telekom, says: “Autonomous power supply for mobile sites not only reduces our CO2 emissions, but also shall help enabling network expansion in locations, where development costs were previously not economical.”

Heather Johnson, Vice President for Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility, Ericsson, says: “Ericsson is a driving force for global climate action and this project is another example for how a network-level approach can be deployed sustainably for mobile networks. We welcome this partnership with Deutsche Telekom and we continue to be committed to supporting our customers, manage their network energy consumption and related carbon emissions.”

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Amazon commits to 50% capacity of offshore wind project in the Netherlands

Amazon announced its largest single renewable energy project yet -- a new offshore wind project in the Netherlands backed by the Crosswind Consortium, a joint venture between energy companies Shell and Eneco.

The Amazon-Shell HKN Offshore Wind Project, which is scheduled for operation by 2024, promises an overall capacity of 759 megawatts (MW). Amazon is purchasing over 50 percent of that capacity, a total of 380 MW, to power its operations in Europe. 

https://blog.aboutamazon.eu/sustainability/amazon-announces-its-largest-single-renewable-energy-project-yet

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