Energy Consumption and Environmental Implications of Wired Access Networks

Definitely the world is emerging as the breeding ground for high bandwidth broadband connectivity. Only in Europe by the end of last year there were already 33.7 million broadband lines that will continue in the double digits growth. Since 1980 many trials aiming to introduce "high" bandwidth via access networks have been carried out by the telecom companies, but failed short of becoming full deployments because of high cost, powering issues and lack of strong customer demand. For more than fifteen years FTTx (fiber to the premises/kurb/building/home) trials never gain traction ... until now. Since the eighties access networks had evolved with DSL (digital subscriber line) and HFC (hybrid fiber coax) being the most affordable interim solutions, despite their time-consuming provisioning and limited bandwidth due to distance and quality of existing wiring. With the rapidly voice, video, data "triply play" convergence, consequently the rapidly growing high bandwidth demand the [broadband] passive optical networks (PON) are expected to succeed as the leading optical access technology, becoming the most economical component of the FTTx architecture whilst offering greater bandwidth at a cost effective technology in terms of CAPEX as well as OPEX . With the imminent PON deployments and VOIP becoming a reality, the access and home networks devices may be required to continue to operate similarly to the plain old telephone systems (POTS), to maintain power through commercial outages. Which of the power architectures: xDSL, HFC, PONs , or the supply of power on the same generic cabling used for data transmission are the optimum, most cost effective solution? Can they converge? Is the power ready to address the last mile challenge

Wired broadband access can be realized using various technologies, configurations and protocols. It is widely deployed and able to provide both high data rates and high reliability. These features are of strong importance for many advanced applications. Since the number of broadband subscribers worldwide grows exponentially, the power efficiency of access networks becomes an important issue. The main goal of this paper is to study the power consumption of different wired broadband access technologies including both those already widely used and those which are state-of-the art, but not yet widely deployed. Thus, results on power efficiency of different access networks such as hybrid fiber coax (HFC), digital subscriber line (DSL), 1 Gbit/s and 10 Gbit/s point-to-point Ethernet and passive optical networks (1G-PON and 10G-PON) are shown.

Foreword. Preface and Overview. Acronyms. Contributors List. 1 Broadband Optical Access Technologies and FTTH Deployment in NTT. 1.1 Introduction. 1.2 History of Optical Technology in Japan. 1.3 Trends in Broadband Services. 1.4 Optical Access Technology Behind Broadband Services. 1.5 Conclusion. References. 2 Today's Broadband Fiber Access Technologies and Deployment.Considerations at SBC. 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 Fiber-to-the-Neighborhood (FTTX) Architecture. 2.3 ITU-T PON Standards. 2.4 PON Technology Background. 2.5 The SBC FTTH Network. 2.6 SBC Fiber to the Node (FTTN) NETWORK. 2.7 The Home Network. 2.8 Motivating the New Network - IPTV. Summary. General References. 3 FTTH: The Swedish Perspective. 3.1 Introduction. 3.2 Contents. 3.3 Definitions. 3.4 Background for the Swedish FTTH Boom. 3.5 The Swedish Broadband Market Today. 3.6 Open Networks Versus Vertical Integration. 3.7 Access Network Technologies. 3.8 Drivers, Services and Trends for the Future Broadband Networks. 3.9 Description of Key Swedish FTTH Players. 3.10 Summary. Acknowledgements. References. 4 Broadband Access Networks and Services in Korea. 4.1 Changing Environments and FITL Plan. 4.2 FLC-A as the First Member of the FITL. 4.3 FLC-C. 4.4 Broadband Access-XDSL. 4.5 Ethernet to the Home and WLAN. 4.6 B-PON (Broadband Passive Optical Networks). 4.7 WDM-PON. 5 Broadband Fiber-to-the-Home Technologies, Strategies, and Deployment Plan in Open Service Provider Networks: Project UTOPIA. 5.1 Introduction. 5.2 Municipal Perspective. 5.3 Operational Model: Open Service Provider NetworkTM. 5.4 Guiding Principles. 5.5 Technology Position: Physical Media. 5.6 Architecture Template: Outside Plant. 5.7 Architecture Template: Standards. 5.8 Architecture Template: Transport Layer Topology. 5.9 Network Technology: Technology and Vendor Selection. 5.10 Network Interfaces. 5.11 Network Operations: Capacity Management. 5.12 Conclusions. References. 6 High-Speed FTTH Technologies in an Open Access Platform - the European MUSE Project. 6.1 Introduction. 6.2 Fiber Access Networks. 6.3 FTTX Technologies. 6.4 Conclusions. References. 7 Residential Broadband PON (B-PON) Systems. 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 Brief History of ATM-Based PONS. 7.3 Triple Play B-PON System Architecture. 7.4 Evolution of Broadband Services. 7.5 FTTP Economics. 7.6 FTTP Deployment Practical Considerations. 7.7 Summary. References. 8 Optical Networks for the Broadband Future. 8.1 Introduction. 8.2 Brief History of Fibre in Access. 8.3 Standard PON Systems. 8.4 Emerging Drivers for FTTH. 8.5 Lower Cost Architectures. 8.6 An End-to-End Vision. 8.7 Summary/Conclusions. 8.A1 Appendix. 8.A1.1 B-PON General Characteristics. 8.A1.2 G-PON General Characteristics. References. 9 An Evolutionary Fibre-to-the-Home Network and System Technologies: Migration from HFC to FTTH Networks. 9.1 Introduction. 9.2 Elements of Compatibility. 9.3 The State of HFC Networks. 9.4 Comparing the Technologies. 9.5 Introduction to the Architectures of HFC and FTTH Networks. 9.6 Elements of Compatibility. 9.7 Video Issues. 9.8 Conclusion. References. 10 FTTH Systems, Strategies, and Deployment Plans in China. 10.1 Current Status of Broadband Access. 10.2 Driving Forces of FTTH 10.3 Latest FTTH Initiatives. 10.4 FTTH Technology Considerations. 10.5 Major FTTH Players and Products. 10.6 Market Barriers. 10.7 Market Opportunities and Deployment Strategies. References. 11 Integrated Broadband Optical Fibre/Wireless LAN Access Networks. 11.1 Introduction. 11.2 Directly Modulated Radio-Over-Fibre Systems. 11.3 Radio-Over-Fibre Systems Deploying Optical Frequency Conversion. 11.4 Optical Frequency Multiplying System. 11.5 Bi-Directional Multiple-Access System. 11.6 Installation Aspects of In-Building Radio-Over-Fibre Systems. 11.7 Dynamically Allocating Radio Capacity. 11.8 Concluding Remarks. Acknowledgement. References. 12 Broadband Optical Access, FTTH, and Home Networks - the Broadband Future. 12.1 Introduction - A Historical Perspective. 12.2 The Broadband Access Technology Options - xDSL Versus Cable Modem, HFC Versus FTTH, PON Versus P2P Ethernet. 12.3 Broadband FTTH Drivers, Triple-Play, Competition and IPTV. 12.4 Broadband Competitions Worldwide: A Few Examples. 12.5 Broadband Competition in Hong Kong. 12.6 Broadband Optical Home Networks: The Potential of Broadband Home Networking or 'Giga-Homes'. 12.7 Research on Technologies for Next Generation Broadband Optical Access: WDM PON Access Networks and Fiber/Wireless Integration. 12.8 The Broadband Future, with IP HDTV/VOD and HD Video Communications. Acknowledgements. References. Index.

Network infrastructure plays a key role in the success of added services and in user satisfaction. It is widely accepted that Passive Optical Networks (PON) are the most promising, cost-effective, and high-performance access network solutions. Access networks are also commonly referred to as either ‘the last mile’ by the operators, or ‘the first mile of the network’ in IEEE terminology. The term ’mile’ is often related to the path portion that is used to reach the user from a network node, however access networks go as far as 20 km depending on the technology used. An access network comprises connections between different subscribers and a Central Office (CO), which is attached to the metro or core network. The wired technology deployed varies significantly from one country to another, i.e. Digital Subscriber line (xDSL), based on copper wires; Hybrid Fiber-coax (HFC), and optical fiber. The trends for Next Generation Access Networks (NGA) based on PON are: Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM), 10 Gb/s or more, and longer reach/higher splits. NGA must be able to cope with challenges, such as delivering diverse broadband services and facilitating the integration of different technologies. Moreover, NGA should provide higher bandwidths or further reduce the cost of existing delivering services, and serve as backhaul of wireless access networks (WiFi, WiMAX). The last one constitutes a relevant issue for the convergence between wireless and wired technologies.

A form of fiber-optic communication delivery in which an optical fiber is run directly onto the customers’ premises is called Fiber to the Premises (FTTP). This contrasts with other fiber-optic communication delivery strategies such as Fiber to the Node (FTTN), Fiber to the Curb (FTTC), or Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial (HFC), all of which depend upon more traditional methods such as copper wires or coaxial cable for “last mile” delivery (Fiber to the Premises, 2007). While high-speed fiber-optic cables are more often used to provide the primary links, the “last mile” to each home still plays an important role in the quality of service and bringing high-speed broadband to an area that is largely dependent on this last-mile connection. FTTP involves laying optical fiber from a central location (switch) to a termination point (the home or business), and could potentially deliver broadband at speeds of up to 100Mbps. The actual speed is determined by the size of the Passive Optical Network (PON). The technology is capable of transmitting data at speeds of up to 2.5Gbps; this amount is divided by the number of termination points on the PON to determine the actual bandwidth to each end point. Replacing copper infrastructures with fiber to every home in an area is an expensive proposition, but the rewards could be great for telecom providers. An FTTP infrastructure would enable those providers to not only provide high-speed broadband; they could also expand into other areas such as cable programming. The Baby Bells have another incentive to roll out FTTP as well; the FCC requires them to share their copper wires with their competitors, but that requirement would not apply to new FTTP infrastructures. This ruling gives providers a major incentive to roll out FTTP, despite the large initial investment that is required. Copper, the predominant connection to the home used today, has inherent limitations both in terms of length from home to switch, and amount of bandwidth that is provided. FTTP also has a great advantage over Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), which provides broadband over existing copper, because DSL infrastructures must have more central relay points due to distance limitations. DSL is limited to only a few thousand feet between the switch and the home; FTTP allows for up to 49.6 miles (80 kilometers) between the home and the central switch. Cable broadband already has a head start, but FTTP offers some advantages, in that cable has a limited upstream bandwidth. FTTP, while still very new, holds great promise. It will enable providers to easily provide customers with a single bundle of services that comprise voice, data, and video. Ultimately, FTTP will deliver higher bandwidth to the home, and a wider range of services at an affordable price. While some FTTP projects focus on replacing existing copper cable, new “greenfield” areas such as new housing developments are likely to see FTTP from the very beginning (WiseGeek, 2007).

The bandwidth demand of the telecommunication network users are increasing from day to day. Bandwidth demand in our networks will continue to grow rapidly due to the increasing number of technology-intelligent users. Four main expectations from the users are high mobility, large data bandwidth, high quality of service (QoS), and ubiquitous coverage. The emerging optical and wireless access technologies are expected to provide these demands. Optical and wireless access networks have emerged to address two issues: channel capacity sharing fairly to the customers, and adequate capacity assignment according to service requirements. In this paper, the enabling optical and wireless broadband access technologies are presented and compared. The architectures, advantages, disadvantages, and main parameters of these access networks are discussed and reported. The hybrid wireless-optical broadband access technology is presented, which has many advantages to become the next-generation broadband access network. The concept and architecture of the hybrid wireless/optical broadband access technology are reviewed. The hybrid system developed at the Lightwave Communication Research Group (LCRG) is presented as a case study. It comprises of passive optical network in the trunk and a wireless-optical access network. The passive optical network (PON) supports a maximum data rate of 100 Gbps by using the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) technique in the optical access network. In the wireless access network, WiMAX IEEE 802.16m provides data rate of 1 Gbps for fixed users and 100 Mbps for mobile users.

The paper describes some relevant solutions for Next Generation Access Network (NGAN, or NGN), considering evolution from copper legacy network to optical access network (PON, Passive Optical Network) and analysing pros and cons of several PON solutions (TDM-PON, WDM-PON, TWDM and OFMD-PON) as well as potential convergence/coexistence scenarios.

This chapter provides the introduction to technical trends and market status of both broadband wireline and wireless access networks and also summarizes the technology evolution of fiber and wireless networks. The technical introduction on broadband wireline access networks includes xDSL, coaxial cable and hybrid fiber coax (HFC), and various passive optical network (PON) architectures. The current global deployments on broadband wireline access are also presented here. As for the study on the broadband wireless access technologies, this chapter addresses the technical evolution path for dominant Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and mobile communications systems. As wireless and wireline technologies converge and the dividing lines become less clear, the common denominator will be optical fiber. In this chapter, technology synergies and recent research activities are also described for the integrated fiber-wireless access networks.

Major US electric utility climate pledges have the potential to collectively reduce power sector emissions by one-third

Mitigating climate change and achieving stabilization of greenhouse gas atmospheric concentrations — the objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) — will require deep reductions in global Energy-related Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions. G-8 leaders called for a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions before 2050 to avoid the most serious consequences of climate change. Meeting this goal requires transforming the way energy is produced, delivered, and consumed across all sectors of the economy and regions of the world. Energy efficiency offers seemingly glittering promises to all-savings for consumers and utilities, profits for shareholders, improvements in industrial productivity, enhanced international competitiveness and reduced environmental impacts. As global energy demand continues to grow, actions to increase energy efficiency will be essential. The technical opportunities are myriad and potential savings real, but consumers and utilities have so far been slow to invest in the most cost-effective, energy-efficient technologies available. The energy efficiency of buildings, electric equipment, and appliances in use falls far short of what is technically attainable. Energy analysts have attributed this efficiency gap to a variety of market, institutional and technical constraints. Electric utility energy efficiency techniques have great potential to narrow this gap and achieve significant energy savings. This paper provides some of the recent trends in energy efficiency technologies that have been successful and also used widely worldwide. They are: 1) Energy efficient motors 2) Soft starters with energy saver 3) Variable speed drives 4) Energy efficient transformers 5) Electronic ballast 6) Occupancy sensors & Energy efficient lighting controls 7) Energy efficient Lamps This paper presents Case Studies of various energy efficient techniques used in a Steel Plant resulting in considerable Electrical energy savings varying from 10–15%. Electric motors drive both core industrial processes, like presses or roll mills, and auxiliary systems, like compressed air generation, ventilation or water pumping. They are utilized throughout all industrial branches, though the main applications vary. With only some exceptions, electric motors are the main source for the provision of mechanical energy in industry. In recent years, many studies identified large energy efficiency potentials in electric motors and motor systems with many saving options showing very short payback times and high cost-effectiveness. Furthermore, almost all electricity in India is generated by rotating electrical generators, and approximately half of that generated is used to drive electrical motors. Hence, efficiency improvements with electrical machines can have a very large impact on energy consumption. The key challenges to increased efficiency in systems driven by electrical machines lie in three areas: a. To extend the application areas of variable-speed electric drives through reduction of power electronic and control costs b. Secondly, to integrate the drive and the driven load to maximize system efficiency c. Finally, to increase the efficiency of the electrical machine. Lighting is a large and rapidly growing source of energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time the savings potential of lighting energy is high, even with the current technology, and there are new energy efficient lighting technologies coming onto the market. Currently, more than 33 billion lamps operate worldwide, consuming more than 2650 TWh of energy annually, which is approximately 19% of the global electricity consumption. The introduction of more energy efficient lighting products and procedures can at the same time provide better living and working environments and also contribute in a cost-effective manner to the global reduction of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

The goal of this paper is to identify all the essential costs of building broadband access networks, and then to comparise different technologies in various scenarios. Different market segments (Scenarios) have different geographical characteristics and will require different amounts of access bandwidth. These different market segments will be served by alternative access technologies that minimise overall costs. In order to do this, we have developed a model framework and an evaluation tool. To measure the attractiveness of several broadband access technologies, the proposed tool compares the costs, revenues, NPV, IRR, payback periods etc for 3 scenarios. The paper presents a techno‐economic analysis of 8 broadband technologies for access networks: digital subscriber line (DSL), hybrid fibre coax (HFC), power line communications (PLC), fibre to the home (FTTH), fibre to the curb (FTTC), fibre to the cabinet (FTTCab), and wireless alternatives such as WiMAX and satellite.

Supply chain solutions are based on first-mile and last-mile deliveries; their efficiency significantly influences the total cost of operation. Drone technologies make it possible to improve first-mile and last-mile operations, but the design and optimization of these solutions offers new challenges. Within the frame of this article, the author focuses on the impact of integrated first-mile/last-mile drone-based delivery services from trucks, analyzing the impact of solutions on energy efficiency, the environmental impact and sustainability. The author describes a novel model of drone-based integrated first-mile/last-mile services which makes it possible to analyze the impact of different typical solutions on sustainability. As the numerical examples and computational results show, the integrated first-mile-last-mile drone-based service from trucks could lead to a significant reduction in energy consumption and a reduction in virtual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which would lead to a more sustainable logistics system. The numerical analysis of the scenarios shows that the increased application of drones and the integration of first-mile and last-mile delivery operations could decrease energy consumption by about 87%. This reduction in energy consumption, depending on the generation source of electricity, significantly increases the reduction in greenhouse gas emission.

_ Maritime transport accounts for around 3% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Well-to-Wake). These GHG emissions must be reduced by at least 50% in absolute values by 2050 to contribute to the ambitions of the Paris Agreement signed in 2015. Switching to zero-carbon fuels made from renewable sources (hydro, wind, or solar) is seen by many as the most promising option to deliver the desired GHG reductions. However, renewable energy is a scarce resource that gives a much larger GHG reduction spent within other sectors. This study explores how to reach the IMO 2050 GHG targets exclusively through energy efficiency measures. The results indicate that by combining wind-assisted ship propulsion (WASP) with a slender hull form, fuel consumption and GHG emissions can be reduced by 30–35%, at a negative abatement cost for speeds exceeding 8 knots. Where the cost saving increases with the speed because at higher speeds, the fuel accounts for a higher share of the total cost, which implies that the cost saving goes from zero at 8 knots, to 5% reduction at 11 knots average speed to 14% reduction of total cost with 15 knots average speed. In comparison, GHG reductions through zero-carbon fuels will increase transport costs by 50–200%. Introduction From the first days of our civilization, sea transport has enabled regional and global trades. Today, sea transport accounts for 80% of the global trade measured in ton-miles (UNCTAD 2021) and 3% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions measured Well-to-Wake (Lindstad et al. 2021). More than 40% of this sea trade is performed by dry bulkers, making them the real workhorses of the sea. Even though sea transport is energy efficient compared to other transport modes, all sectors need to reduce their GHG emissions by at least 50% in absolute values by 2050 to contribute to the Paris Agreement (UNFCCC 2015). According to Bouman et al. (2017), the desired energy and GHG reductions can be achieved through: Design and other technical improvements of ships; Operational improvements; Fuels with zero or low GHG footprints; or a combination of these.

Energy efficiency is widely accepted as a tool to achieve reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. And reductions in GHG emissions are necessary in order to control the effects of climate change resulting from increased GHG emissions. With these statements the assemblage that explains the need for energy efficiency is supposedly complete. But that simply is not the case. Energy efficiency is not only pursued for reasons other than GHG emission reductions but is often pursed by actors that actually reject the entire notion of human-caused climate change and/or reject GHG emissions as a cause for climate change. In this paper I explore how and why actual actors decouple energy efficiency from climate change and examine some of the factors actors include in their decisions to pursue energy efficiency that are not related to climate change.

This paper focuses on power efficiency of different wired access technologies. The considered technologies include copper-based access options such as hybrid fiber coax (HFC) and two variants of digital subscriber line, namely ADSL2+ and VDSL2. In addition, several optical access network options are considered such as passive optical networks (GPON, EPON and 10G-EPON) and point-to-point optical access networks (1 Gbit/s and 10 Gbit/s Ethernet).