The analysts over at In-Stat are predicting that by 2014 there will be roughly a quarter of a million cell towers powered by wind or solar energy. In the developed world, and by that I mean places where you can get McDonald’s and broadband, operators simply plug their towers into an electrical outlet, much like you do with your refrigerator or air conditioner. In places like Africa however, which is called the dark continent not because of the color of people’s skin, but because there is little to no electrical infrastructure, their cell towers run on diesel fuel powered generators. As demand for connectivity increases, so does the number of towers going up, which in turn causes more carbon dioxide to be produced. Infrastructure vendors like Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks, ZTE and Huawei are already selling towers that can be powered via renewable energy sources, and the number of units being sold is increasing by a factor of 30% each and every year. This can only be a good thing.
[Via: Digitimes]