Utility and Water Efficiency
By deploying utility and water efficient wireless products and services in our own operations, some of CTIA-The Wireless Association’s® members have saved up to 70 percent in their energy costs and have significantly reduced their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Similar to the smart grid technology that’s outlined in this section, mobile meters and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication technologies have made our members’ operations more energy and water efficient.
Many members have certified their buildings to adhere to the voluntary U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. This process requires a review of a building’s carbon footprint and improving its water efficiency, energy usage, recycling and waste reduction and several other areas to make it more eco-friendly. Since the U.S. Department of Energy estimate that buildings use 39 percent of the energy and 74 percent of the electricity produced each year in the United States, our members’ support of these kinds of initiatives have an impact in helping our environment.
Another voluntary program, the U.S. EPA’s Green Power Partnership, encourages businesses to purchase alternative power. Some of our members have purchased up to 20 percent of their energy from these renewable resources. These purchases, according to the EPA, are equivalent to eliminating the CO2 emissions of more than 10,000 passenger vehicles per year, or the amount of electricity needed to power more than nearly 8,000 average American homes annually.
The EPA’s Climate Leaders program requires companies that sign-up for the voluntary initiative to inventory their organization’s greenhouse gas emissions, set 10-15 year reduction goals and report their progress to the agency every year. The EPA states that its participating partners will eliminate more than 13 million metric tons of carbon equivalents each year, which is the same as removing 9 million cars from the roads.
To meet these goals, some of our members have developed alternative cooling and heating systems that have substantially reduced their need for energy in their offices, network equipment and computer labs. By simply moving mini-labs and roaming-labs to a central data center, our members improve their centers’ power and cooling efficiency. This reduction of their data centers’ power by thousands of metric tons has also cut their carbon emissions by at least 15 percent, which the EPA says is equivalent to taking 2,000 passenger cars off the road.
To ensure wireless access in remote areas throughout the United States, some of our members have installed alternative energy powered sites, such as solar and wind, and have installed solar-charged back-up power in case the primary source of power is interrupted.
In addition, many of them have developed employee-focused campaigns to encourage reducing their electrical load by doing simple things such as turning off lights when they leave a room and turning down network equipment components that are no longer needed at that time.
They’re also being more efficient with their outdoor operations. Some of our members have developed innovative landscaping irrigation systems that monitor soil moisture and weather conditions to adjust the area’s watering schedule. The wireless programmed landscaping project has been estimated to save up to 50 percent of the landscaping water annually.
To learn more about a CTIA member’s specific “go green” initiatives, please click here.