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Mobile & Wireless
CTIA 2009: Gore sees hope for environment in wireless
Calls for industry to take the lead in building green infrastructure
by Sam Bookman
Speaking at the International CTIA Wireless 09 in Las Vegas Friday morning, former U.S. vice president Al Gore called for the wireless industry to take the lead in building a “green” infrastructure across several vertical industries including utilities.
“Wireless is going to be one of the key tools that we use to solve the climate crisis,” Gore said, as he reviewed the advances and innovations that wireless is moving forward, particularly in areas like smart grid technology being developed by power companies.
Gore’s dedication to environmental initiatives is well known; since leaving the political realm he has written two books on global climate change and produced an Academy Award-winning documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” detailing the effects of climate change. He received a Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 and serves as chairman of Current TV and as chairman of Generation Investment Management, which focuses on sustainable investing.
Noting the challenges of the global economic downturn, Gore pointed out that the wireless industry has enormous potential despite economic problems. “This industry … is one of the great bright spots, one of the great success stories in our American economy,” he said.
The explosion of information via the Internet and now through wireless technology is, like the printing press and the telegraph, once again revolutionizing the communications environment, Gore said, pointing to the recent U.S. presidential election as an example of the power of interactive communications.
“One of the reasons why Obama was able to win was because he was able to use these new communications devices to raise money, not just from the conglomeration of special interests but from the millions (of people) across the country.”
However, Gore noted that three global challenges – the climate crisis, the economic crisis, and a global security crisis – will have an impact on the industry, as they are on most of the world’s economy.
Gore has, of course been preaching the climate change message of several years now, and he sees many opportunities rising in the current economic climate to push for more “green” initiatives. And he sees government stimulus of the economy as a big factor in this goal. Since the Obama administration is talking about improving and putting new infrastructure in place across the nation – from telecommunications networks to bridges and many things in between – he wants to see that infrastructure built to “green” standards. This, he says, would reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil and would solve the climate crisis.
“The alleged conflict between the economy and the environment are mostly myths,” he said, pointing out that the world has another opportunity, thanks to lessons learned in the credit crunch, to focus on longer-term investments in sustainable technologies.
He cited energy production as an important initiative. “…we can scale down the module sizes of energy production devices and connect them to the grid. The key connecting technology … is wireless.”
Wireless technology will play a big role in developing nations, he noted, as countries with no fixed infrastructure could simply “leapfrog” old technologies and establish an environmentally sound infrastructure using photovoltaics and wireless to generate and manage energy and communications.
Gore sounded an equally hopeful note on innovation, particularly in the U.S., which he called the most competitive wireless industry in the world – something the EU and Asian countries might argue with, but which wasn’t surprising at a U.S.-based tradeshow. He also didn’t sound too worried about spectrum issues.
“In the wireless spectrum there is technically no upper limit to the ways the spectrum can be exploited. We can use innovation … for leverage in the ways the spectrum can be exploited,” he stated.
Noting, like many speakers at this week’s show, that the world is in the early days of the “wireless revolution,” Gore reiterated that although the wireless industry is a small segment of the global economy, its impact is expanding rapidly.
“Now is the time for business to take the lead. We have government leadership committed to this transition now, we have a country that is aware & ready to make the transition, but the wireless (industry must take the lead to make it happen).”
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