Nokia Siemens boosts green credentials

Company claims up to 70 per cent savings in energy consumption

Nokia Siemens has unveiled a network package which the company claims can achieve savings of up to 70 per cent in energy consumption at mobile base stations.

A combination of energy-efficient mobile equipment packages use a power-saving mode at night when base-station traffic is much lower than during the day.

The Nokia Siemens Energy Efficiency solution also reduces energy consumption by up to 30 per cent by changing the minimum temperature requirement for a base station.

Increasing typical indoor base station temperatures from 25 degrees to 40 degrees reduces the amount of power expended on air cooling, according to the company.

The energy saving package comprises four main elements:

• Minimising the number of base station sites
• Reducing the need for air conditioning to cool the sites
• Using the latest base station technologies
• Optimising the use of radio access for wireless communications

"The Energy Efficiency solution makes good green business sense," said Ari Lehtoranta, head of the Radio Access business unit at Nokia Siemens Networks.

"By bringing state-of-the-art products and software together we can reduce adverse environmental impact while generating considerable cost savings for our operator customers."

Nokia Siemens said that the new package is just the first of a wide range of energy-savings initiatives.

Industry analysts have applauded the announcement. "Nokia Siemens' move is a welcome one," said Jeremy Green, principal analyst at Ovum.

"The company is also attempting to reduce its own carbon footprint, even though it estimates that 80 per cent of its products' impact comes from their lifelong use rather than their production."

Nokia Siemens is also working with independent auditors to measure its CO2 emissions, and expects to publish targets next year.

In the meantime, the firm claims that video conferencing allowed it to hold 20,000 virtual meetings last year.