November 26, 2009

Grameenphone (GP) has set a target for reducing carbon emission by 30 percent from its entire operations by 2015.

The mobile operator started adopting green technology in 2007 and so far has set up 12 solar and one wind power network sites.

With an aggressive move, the company targets to set up 100 more base stations using green technology in off-grid areas.

"It's high time we went for green technology, as Bangladesh badly suffers from climate change," said Matiur Rahman Siddiqui, additional general manager and head of Climate Change Initiative of Grameenphone.

He said GP has so far managed to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emission by nine percent from its entire operations like networks, transports and offices.

The company estimates that the successful results will save approximately 1,202 megawatt of electricity every year amounting to an equivalent reduction of over 700 tonnes of CO2.

Siddiqui said the operator's CO2 emission until end-October is 140,458 tonnes. With the target achieved by 2015, the emission amount will stand at around 99,814 tonnes. Emission factors are being considered under international standards set by the United Nations.

In line with the climate change programme, an energy-efficient headquarters has been constructed where GP will move to by March.

The head office buildings will require around 20 million kilowatts of electricity per hour.

"We have set a target to reduce our energy requirement by 40 percent," said Siddiqui.

GP and telecom equipment vendor Huawei partnered in 2008 to build a green mobile network in Bangladesh to transform the operator's core network to an environmentally friendly one with layered architecture solutions, and reduce the energy requirements of its base stations.

Recognising the companies' initiative, GSM Association has given away Green Mobile Awards to GP and Huawei.

Siddiqui said such a recognition will encourage other operators to adopt green technology in Bangladesh.

According to estimates by Ericsson, a telecom equipment maker, around 0.14 percent of global CO2 emission and around 0.12 percent of primary energy use are attributed to mobile telecom technology. For instance, this compares to 20 percent of CO2 emission and around 23 percent of primary energy use for travel and transport.

The annual CO2 footprint of the average mobile subscriber is around 25 kilogrammes, which is equivalent to driving an average car for an hour or running a five-watt lamp for a year.

The Ericsson study said it is the energy consumption in the 'use phase' of radio access networks that the environment is most significantly impacted, out of all the company's products.

Usually in the radio access products of the mobile networks, the highest volume or 75 percent of indirect CO2 emissions are made, according to Ericsson.

In Bangladesh, 22,000 base stations of six mobile operators, supporting the nationwide telecom network, could raise a question as to how much CO2 is emitted by the rapidly growing mobile sector.

Source: The Dailystar