Energy-efficient global networks and their implications

Nowadays, energy related problems are becoming a key environmental, social and political issue because the demand for energy and power resources grows continuously. A decoupling of economic growth and energy consumption becomes a very important goal that can be achieved only by increasing the energy efficiency of new technologies and processes, i.e., the ability to provide a higher performance by consuming less energy. Communication networks play a significant role as the crucial part of the information and communication technologies. An adequate and future-ready communication network infrastructure has become one of the most important strategic goals of any government, region, and municipality, because a high-capacity and efficient network leads to an accelerated development of both business and society. This paper aims to give an overview on possible potentials of new technologies for implementing energy-efficient network elements. It identifies main energy-related issues in high-performance network elements and tries to draw attention to some promising approaches for implementing low-consuming components and networks. Various aspects related to applications and services that can make use of the energy-efficient and high-performance global networks are discussed. Some thoughts about possible implications on energy productivity, economy, and society can also be found.