Mobile phone manufacturers have launched a new initiative with the goal of helping the mobile industry use renewable energy sources, such as solar wind, or sustainable biofuels.
The GSMA announced that its members’ goal is to power 118,000 new and existing off-grid base stations in developing countries by 2012 using renewables producing savings of up to 2.5 billion litres of diesel per annum and cut annual carbon emissions by up to 6.3 million tonnes.
Backed by 25 mobile operators, the Green Power for Mobile program will provide expertise to support the deployment of base stations that use renewable energy. The organisation forecasts that by 2012 up to 50 percent of new off-grid base stations in the developing world could be powered by renewable energy.
The GSMA’s Development Fund estimates that only 1,500 base stations worldwide are powered by at least one form of renewable energy. The GSMA’s research suggests that rising diesel prices and falling renewable equipment costs mean that operators investing in green power sources for base stations could recoup the capital costs in as little as 24 months.
Sprint’s new Xohm network is the greenest it has built. It won’t be solar- or wind-powered. The WiMAX base stations, in its request for proposal (RFP), include provisions for fuel cells for backup power. WiMAX by nature is a low-power technology, said Doug Smith, chief technology operations officer for WiMAX for Sprint, so it is an ideal guinea pig for a fuel cell deployment. The EPA ranked Sprint No. 15 in its list of 500 companies actively purchasing green power.
Intel describes the requirements for a Solar-powered WiMAX base station (pdf), right.
A Mark 2 Metrix Box ($600) consumes about 1 amp at 12 Volts (12 Watts), so an Optima battery with 45 ah capacity ($200), might power it for about 45 hours. An 80-100 watt panel ($500), putting out about 5 amps, should keep it charged with 4-5 hrs of sunlight a day.
A single $99 Meraki Wi-Fi repeater uses just 3.5 watts, so the cost is less and batteries last longer. The same setup (as above) might run 3-4 days without sun. The $700-$800 additional cost of solar might be cheaper than running power to a rooftop (with proper electrical code).
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