BT signs up to EC code aimed at cutting broadband power consumption

Dave Bailey, Computing, Thursday 30 September 2010 at 10:19:00

EC estimates broadband kit accounts for about 15 per cent of the ICT sector's
overall energy consumption

BT has signed up to an
European Commission (EC) Joint
Research Centre (JRC) code that commits it to reducing the power consumption
of its broadband ICT infrastructure.

EC figures show that broadband equipment accounts for around 15 per cent of
the ICT sector's overall energy consumption, about 47 terawatt hours (TWh) for
the European Union (EU) in 2010.

Speaking at the
ICT
2010 ? Digitally Driven event this week, EU Commissioner M�ire
Geoghegan-Quinn said: "The success of these codes of conduct [one covering
broadband, another for datacentres] shows the industry's recognition that
innovation to boost energy efficiency is a commercial, economic and
environmental priority."

EC Digital Agenda VP Neelie Kroes agreed, saying: "implementing these two
codes of conduct will significantly reduce the EU's electricity consumption and
could save as much as ?4.5bn per year."

There are currently 10 signatories for the
JRC
Institute of Energy broadband code of conduct, including vendors
Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Huawei, Nokia Siemens Networks, and carriers Deutsche
Telekom, Swisscom, and Telecom Italia.

These have now been joined by BT, as well as A1 Telekom Austria, Belgian
carrier AG Belgacom, Dutch carrier KPN, France Telecom/Orange, Greek carrier
OTE, Portugal Telecom, Spanish telco Telefonica, Norwegian carrier Telenor and
Turk Telekom.

The JRC's Institute for Energy (IE) says its 29-page broadband voluntary
code of conduct can help ICT companies to reduce their energy consumption by as
much as 50 per cent.

The code could have a significant effect on BT's procurement activities re
lated to its optical fibre rollout since it specifies that signatories need to
ensure that procurement specifications for broadband equipment are compliant
with the code.

The JRC is also responsible for a code of conduct related to datacentre power
consumption, to which BT is already signed up.

EC figures for EU datacentres show that they account for about 18 per cent
(56TWh) of ICT sector energy consumption, and are expected to grow faster than
any other ICT technology

Full story at http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2270658/bt-signs-ec-code-reduce