Claudio Bianco

An innovative approach to the environmental system design for TLC rooms in Telecom Italia

In this paper we describe the innovative approach that Telecom Italia is adopting in order to identify new strategies for saving energy in the environmental systems. After presenting the guidelines of the Italian Operator in the matter, we concentrate on the solutions adopted to optimise the cooling systems within TLC rooms. In particular, the paper focuses on an energy simulator (SIMEN), that has been developed to provide Telecom Italia with a support tool, useful to evaluate and compare different cooling systems, and to help identifying the strategic solutions for energy saving. Furthermore, we present the results of the analyses we carried out on some TLC rooms of Telecom Italia, by using SIMEN.

Carbon footprint of next generation fixed networks

For the first time a full/streamlined life cycle assessment (LCA) case study was performed to estimate the carbon footprint of three types of FTTx networks deployed in Italy. The functional unit is “broadband network in an Italian urban dense area for use by 10,000 homes during one year” The worst case results show that FTTB, FTTCab, and FTTH all emit around 1,000–1,300 ton CO2e/year dominated by the use stage. The LCA based carbon footprint is 30–70% higher than the carbon footprint based only on the use of electricity. As far as overall energy usage reduction, the customer premise equipment (CPE) has the largest opportunity for improvement. A sensitivity analysis shows that it might be possible to reduce the FTTH score by 80% by assuming 4 hours full power mode/20 hours low power mode for the CPE, and use existing infrastructure in deployment. Moreover, FTTH has considerably better bitrate based carbon efficiency than FTTCab and FTTB. The parameterized study could be expanded to included service level functions.

Energy and carbon pay back times for renewable power supply systems for Italian RBS off-grid sites

For the first time streamlined life cycle assessments (LCA) were performed to estimate the carbon footprint/energy payback times of three types of RBS off-grid sites in Italian network. Most advantageous is to locate solar wind power system in Southern Italy. Annually between 14 and 19 tonnes of CO2e can be saved by replacing power supply system based on diesel generators with renewable solar and wind systems. The pay back times for energy and CO2e are around 2 years and 3 years, respectively. LiFePO4 advanced cycle batteries are preferable to Pb-acid deep cycle batteries thanks to lower diesel usage. In order to find the optimal power supply system when configuring sites multi criteria modeling could be applied.

An update on the field trial concerning underground solution for FTTCab architecture

The concept of the energy-saving strategy has become in recent years one of the top priorities of Telecom Operators and Governments. To this end, the deployment of the Next Generation Networks represents one of the main drivers towards the reduction of the energy bill. The NGN architecture can include different scenarios: FTTE, FTTCab, FTTB or FTTH. Among these, the FTTCab certainly brings the greatest challenges concerning the issue of heat dissipation. To this end, the present paper describes the first field trial (jointly carried on by Telecom Italia and Huawei) results for an innovative cooling solution: the Underground Cooling Cabinet. This system adopts a certain number of heat pipes (sealed hollow tubes containing a solution of ammonia) installed underground with the aim of refreshing the hot air coming from the equipment. The cooling process is simply pursued with the support of one fan, and is therefore far more efficient with respect to traditional solutions involving for example mechanical air conditioning systems. Data collected from the field trial and concerning internal/external temperature, as well as humidity, will be reported in the following. Finally, the next steps of the trial will be anticipated.

An update on the field trial concerning Free Cooling solution for FTTCab architecture

The concept of the energy-saving strategy has become in recent years one of the top priorities of Telecom Operators and Governments. To this end, the deployment of the Next Generation Networks represents one of the main drivers towards the reduction of the energy bill. The NGN architecture can include different scenarios: FTTE, FTTCab, FTTB or FTTH. Among these, the FTTCab certainly brings the greatest challenges concerning the issue of heat dissipation. To this end, the present paper describes the first field trial (jointly carried on by Telecom Italia and Huawei) results for an innovative cooling solution: the Free Cooling Cabinet. This system directly uses the external fresh air in order to increase the cooling efficiency. In particular, data collected from the field trial and concerning internal/external temperature, humidity as well as noise levels will be reported. Finally, the next steps of the trial will be anticipated.

Analysis of existing standards on broadband equipment's energy efficiency and proposal of an alternative evaluation methodology

Analysis of broadband equipments energy efficiency evaluation methodologies in industry aims to try to develop simple and operational method to profit both Operators and Vendors; it is analyzed based on existing standards including Code of Conduct on Energy Consumption of Broadband Equipment (CoC BB, Version 3), ETSI TS 102 533 Environmental Engineering (EE) Measurement Methods and limits for Energy Consumption in Broadband Telecommunication Networks Equipment (V1.1.1), North American Verizon NEBS Compliance: Energy Efficiency Requirements for Telecommunications Equipment standard VZ-TPR-9205 (Issue 3) and Telecom Italias and Huaweis usual (“standard”) testing procedures. The following aspects are analyzed: product scope including customer side and network side broadband equipment, broadband equipments energy efficiency definition, measurement conditions, load and configuration comparison and their advantage and disadvantage. Huawei support an index which can make its consumers realize the importance of energy saving and select more energy efficient services. To simplify the measurement procedures and solve the difficulty of load and configuration based on Operators actual network scenario needing numerous loads such as line simulators and CPEs, an operational alternative measurement method is proposed to extrapolate the energy efficiency value which approaches the real measurement value through minimize the possible influencing factors.

Autocleaning filter used on air direct cooling system outdoor cabinet

Currently there are many different cooling methodologies used for outdoor cabinets; among them, the most used ones are the Heat Exchanger system (HXS) and the Air Direct Cooling System (ADCS). ADCS has the higher cooling efficiency, but on the other side it needs frequent maintenance given that sand, dust and dirt reduces the air flow passing through the filter. This study is focused on how to automatically clean up the filter, therefore strongly reducing the maintenance cost as well as the total OPEX.

An overview of available and future technical solutions to reduce/optimize the energy consumption of Telecom equipment and networks

In the past years, increased environmental awareness from the community as well as governments commitment on energy efficiency have been converted to pressure on the ICT players to optimize their energy footprint. In the meantime, soaring energy price is impacting very seriously on their financial balance. In the last year, this effect has been temporarely attenuated as a side effect of the economic crisis, but its expected to worsen both due to the future increase of the energy cost and to the punitive measures (such as differential pricing) being launched in many countries to boost energy efficient behaviours.