Mobile devices in power play
Hold the line: Professor Rod Tucker's energy-consumption tips can reduce your device's appetite. Photo: Erin Jonasson
Using a mobile phone just to make calls is so last century. Phones are increasingly welded to our hands as we download videos, browse the internet, send tweets and access apps. But the demand for all this wireless access any time, anywhere is creating a surge in energy consumption.
According to networking giant Cisco, global mobile data traffic grew by 70 per cent last year.
The global telecommunications system is estimated to consume 2 per cent of the world's energy, and that figure could grow to 10 per cent by 2020 if no action is taken, according to the Centre for Energy Efficient Telecommunications (CEET), based at the University of Melbourne.
Wireless networks consume a lot of energy because they are so inefficient, CEET director Professor Rod Tucker says.
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In the past, networks were designed with two things in mind: capacity and keeping costs to a minimum, he says.
''Now there's a third factor: energy,'' Tucker says. ''A mobile phone tower consumes a large amount of power to spread a radio signal in all directions, but only a tiny amount is received by a mobile device. So most of the power isn't used, and that's not energy-efficient. Mobile towers are designed to provide enough capacity for the busiest time of day; [however] at night the towers are not used much but continue to consume power.''
Why is consumption of 2 per cent of the world's energy such a problem? ''If every industry that consumed 1 or 2 per cent of energy works on reducing that, there would be a positive environmental impact,'' Tucker says.
CEET is doing its part for the global telecommunications industry. A joint venture between the University of Melbourne, communications vendor Alcatel-Lucent and the Victorian state government, the centre is investigating ways to improve how networks are managed for energy efficiency.
''There's a lot of research into making the mobile phone network more efficient,'' says Tucker, also a board member on Green Touch, an international consortium dedicated to improving the energy efficiency of the internet and other communication networks. It comprises 53 global telecommunications and research organisations, including Bell Labs, Alcatel-Lucent, Samsung and the University of Melbourne.
Wireless networks can be redesigned to become more energy-efficient. Green Touch believes that by 2020 the net energy consumption in overall networks can be reduced up to 90 per cent.
One strategy is to shift traffic from the large towers to smaller networks with a smaller range, to reduce the distance from signal to device.
''Moving from large towers to smaller antennas uses less energy,'' Tucker says. ''Using small towers with a little antenna on a power pole that covers a smaller area increases the efficiency of transmission. This becomes more like Wi-Fi. Some overseas telcos provide Wi-Fi access points to offload from inefficient towers.''
Australia's National ICT centre, NICTA, is also working on getting rid of energy inefficiencies but at the microprocessor level, which ''could help every phone and computer on the planet'' by optimising power consumption, NICTA technology strategist Dean Economou says.
Smartphones are bumping up network usage and, consequently, the consumption of energy, but using smartphones saves energy in other areas, Economou says.
''Without mobiles, what would we be doing instead?'' he says. ''The old landlines had telephone exchanges that used a lot of electricity.''
Also, a smartphone uses less energy than a laptop, a PC or an Xbox. Using a smartphone reduces the number of printouts, such as on digitised airline tickets stored on your device. Downloading music and movies means you don't have to drive somewhere to buy them.
Smartphones also save energy when used as home-automation control systems to turn off lights and heaters at optimum times.
Improving the efficiency of the networks and the wireless devices means we can continue to download more high-definition movies and use all the other high-capacity applications that haven't even been thought of yet. That's fortunate, because it's not as if we're ever going to stop.
Plan to use less energy for IT needs
There are strategies that can help users reduce energy consumption, University of Melbourne Professor Rod Tucker says. ''The energy efficiency of wi-fi is much better than the 3G or 4G mobile network. You would use less energy by using a public wi-fi network. Think where you are, and avoid 3G and 4G. For example, use Flinders Street Station or a coffee shop with free wi-fi. This is more efficient than using the 3G or 4G network.
''At home, plugging directly into a modem is more energy efficient than using wi-fi. And, of course, switch off the computer when you're not using it.''
Tucker says you can also save energy by getting a combination single unit with ADSL and wi-fi. ''Keeping your wi-fi and ADSL separate uses about twice as much power than a single ADSL and wi-fi unit.''
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