\tLIVE FROM MWC19 LOS ANGELES: Sustainability experts tipped 5G-enabled applications to make a significant contribution to environmental initiatives, far outweighing any rise in energy usage brought about by adoption of the new access technology.<\/p>\n
During a panel session at Thursday\u2019s keynote, representatives from the technology, mobile and energy industries discussed the impact of wireless and other innovations on carbon emissions and environmental issues.<\/p>\n
HP Enterprise chief sustainability officer Christopher Wellise (pictured, second from right) said although he anticipated 5G would lead to a net increase in power consumption, the benefits to society would far outweigh the added usage: \u201cIt\u2019s unlimited what the opportunities might be.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added these perks stretched across a number of sectors and initiatives, including new abilities in data processing.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy 2025 we expect two thirds of all data will be generated at the edge, it\u2019s no longer [going to be] happening at a centralised location. It\u2019s happening in an agricultural field, it\u2019s in a smart city, it\u2019s on a smart factory floor,\u201d Wellise said. \u201cWe need to move compute to where the data is, as opposed to moving the data where the compute is. It takes an order of magnitude more energy to move data than it does to process it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smart solutions
\nJames Gowen (pictured, second from left), chief sustainability officer at Verizon and chairman of ICT sustainability organisation GeSI, agreed that although 5G would \u201cpotentially\u201d lead to more energy used, the impact of the applications it enables would have a significant effect.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt [5G] will absolutely have a massive impact on climate,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen we marry what we are doing in Verizon with companies all around the globe, we are finding ways we can work together because at the end of the day sustainability is something we must do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doug Arent (pictured, far-right), deputy associate lab director at the US national renewable energy laboratory, added: \u201cThe elements of smart solutions are really core to a decarbonised future as we see it. It\u2019s smart grid, interactive buildings, it\u2019s smart mobility platforms combines with edge computing, AI, machine learning and predictive algorithms that give you forecasting ability.\u201d<\/p>\n
The session comes amid increasing momentum among wireless companies to drastically reduce the industry\u2019s carbon footprint. Last month more than 50 of the world\u2019s mobile operators, including Verizon, signed-up to a GSMA climate action initiative [1].<\/p>\n[1] https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/featured-content\/home-banner\/global-operators-back-gsma-led-climate-initiative\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LIVE FROM MWC19 LOS ANGELES: Sustainability experts tipped 5G-enabled applications to make a significant contribution …<\/p>\n
The post 5G climate benefits predicted to offset energy increase<\/a> appeared first on Mobile World Live<\/a>.<\/p>\n