3G more energy efficient than 2G
November 26, 2002
There are rumors in academic circles and in the media that 3G will
lead to a dramatic increase in power consumption. This is not true.
In fact, 3G will be more energy efficient than 2G as the next generation
networks grow.
A gravely misleading study was recently reported in the Swedish
daily Dagens Industri concluding that: "3G brings on the need for
an additional nuclear reactor." The author has acknowledged that
it was founded on hypothetical information and has turned to Ericsson
for real facts concerning energy consumption.
A revision of the study can therefore be expected.
To put things into perspective: mobile telephony takes only 0.5%
of an average user's total electricity consumption. This is offset
by the technology's great potential to conserve energy. The first
3G products will initially require a marginal increase in energy
demand, on the order of 10-15 percent. But over time, 3G will be
more energy efficient than 2G, because it is built to handle more
traffic.
This advantage over 2G gradually becomes more significant as the
traffic in the network grows. In fact, it would take more energy
to use only 2G technology for the growing number of mobile subscribers.
This is analogous to what happens when you build a new railroad:
the cost per passenger will initially be higher but drop as the
number of passengers increases.
A comparison of different generations of mobile communication systems
reveals a 40 - 50 percent reduction in energy consumption over a
four to five-year period. Advances in microelectronics and the fact
that built-out systems use equipment more efficiently can partly
explain this reduction.
The energy needed for 3G is small compared to the benefits it brings
to society.
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3G Motorola A920
