As we move from 4G to 5G to 6G, there’s a lot of talk about making “green” base stations that consume less power. Researchers are starting to talk about setting goals for 6G to consume 10-100X lower power than 5G. I agree, there’s no reason to be wasteful, and we should minimize the power consumed in our mobile networks. But this article is about the bigger picture. Let’s look a little more closely at what the 5G or 6G network is doing.
First of all, our mobile networks are used heavily today in connecting people that otherwise would be driving cars or flying planes to visit with each other. Almost two miserable years of COVID have transformed the way that business is conducted worldwide. During 2020, global carbon emissions dropped by 6.4%, and the American economy cut its emissions by 13%.
It’s a fact that global GDP dropped in 2020. (Some economists estimate a drop of about 3.5%). While the mobile network could not prevent a small drop, it did prevent the global economy from dropping by 10% or even more. So, if you’re in the telecom business, reach back and pat yourself on the back. You saved millions of people from losing their job.
In 2021, economists and climate scientists expect both GDP and carbon emissions to grow substantially over 2020. Trucks and planes are moving again. But will we really return to the same kind of business travel that we engaged in before 2020? I am doubtful. In my opinion, at least 80 million people worldwide will not return to commuting every day. Similarly, millions of business trips will now be replaced by Zoom meetings.
Here’s a second point: Mobile technology will be a vital part of automation over the next 50 years. Huge carbon savings will result from placing sensors on everything under the sun.
Consider the oil workers that drive across West Texas simply to see whether the tank is full. Consider the energy saved when packages are delivered by solar-charged drones instead of big gasoline-powered trucks. Nobody has a way to calculate the benefits for the environment here, but it’s clear to me that sending radio waves and photons in a fiber will be much better for the environment than sending humans to perform routine and mundane tasks.
The power consumption of billions of IoT devices should be considered as well. So far, the tradeoffs are working in favor of total energy savings. A farmer that uses 100 kWh of energy to charge the batteries on his moisture sensors can save at least ten times that amount of energy in his diesel truck, driving around to check the moisture manually. And the moisture sensors can be solar-charging, making them even greener.
Will the energy load for billions of devices get out of control someday? Maybe, if we imagine a future with tens of billions of devices that don’t save time and energy for people. But I trust the basic principles of economics to prevent useless IoT devices from getting deployed widely.
As we prepare for 6G, we should be careful in how we set our goals. Let’s not focus on power reduction as the primary goal... as every GB of data sent across the network saves carbon emissions in the rest of the global economy.
In fact, I propose that we should allow more carbon emissions, to achieve maximum performance in powerful 5G and 6G networks.
Why? That’s the best way to slash the tremendous carbon emissions in the other 99% of the economy. Government regulators and standards bodies: Please don’t take the short-sighted view that imposing limits on 6G power consumption will help our planet.
Happily, this is one case where good economics matches well with good environmental policy. The mobile industry will create value and make profits when it enables automation and oceans of bandwidth. And as we improve connections, we will reduce our impact on the planet at the same time.
Joe Madden is principal analyst at Mobile Experts, a network of market and technology experts that analyze wireless markets.
"Industry Voices" are opinion columns written by outside contributors—often industry experts or analysts—who are invited to the conversation by FierceWireless staff. They do not represent the opinions of FierceWireless.