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NewsGlobe: Currents
It’s official: Fiber is environmentally friendly
FTTH Council Europe reveals findings of new research
by Kendrick Struthers-Watson
At the FTTH Council Europe event in Paris the results of a
unique research exercise evaluating the sustainability and
environmental impact of fibre networks were announced.
Joeri Van Bogaert, president of the FTTH Council Europe, said
today, “The results clearly demonstrate the overall service
and environmental benefits of FTTH. The findings stand as
testament that fibre is a sustainable and future-proof
technology for the 21st century.”
The research compared the environmental impact of a typical
FTTH network to its associated benefits and will provide the
foundation for further research on the subject by the Council.
Maximising the opportunity for new services whilst minimising
the materials and maintenance required, FTTH contributes to
reduced road travel, less transport infrastructure, and the
introduction of innovative social and government services.
Meanwhile, the total impact of network implementation in the
study takes into account the full lifecycle of a typical fibre
infrastructure from production of passive equipment,
transport, implementation of all active equipment and power
consumption to end of life.
Christian Ollivry, Chair of the SUDEFIB Committee (the
Council’s Sustainable Development and FTTH Committee)
comments, “Beyond this 15 year timescale, which is quite
conservative, the research shows that FTTH provides only
positives for Europe. The results are based on calculations
from tele-working and tele-assistance applications only,
although FTTH solutions offer extensive social and
economical benefits over and above these, with the capability
to change societies for the better because of the access to
new services it brings.”
Using the projection of FTTH users according to IDATE (20
million for 2015) the research found that for the first 15 years
of network implementation, greenhouse gas emission savings
per user were found to be 330 kg, the equivalent to a car
travelling 2,000 kilometers. Moving forward, the sustainability
of FTTH solutions will be increased significantly as user
experience grows and other fields not assessed in this study
such as supply-chain management and energy demand are
considered.
Over the full network lifecycle, the use of the network (power
consumption) represents only 6% of the total environmental
impact, whilst the production and deployment of the
equipment totals over 80%. However, with continuing
innovations taking place in the industry these processes are
becoming cheaper, quicker and less disruptive, henceforth
reducing the environmental impact and further increasing the
sustainability of fibre networks over time.
Further research into the subject of sustainable development
is planned for the near future. This could also include the
adoption of similar sustainable development methodologies
for a defined network project and by the FTTH Council’s of
APAC and North America.
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