Green networks: Opportunities and challenges

One of the most urgent challenges of the 21st century is to investigate new technologies that can enable a transition towards a more sustainable society with reduced energy use and a smaller CO2 footprint. ICT is a direct contributor to more than 2% of global CO2 emissions, and this is expected to double in the near future. It has been shown that PCs (which consume about 2% of the electricity in the US and a growing amount in developing countries) are idle most of the time and the majority of them do not have power management enabled. In this talk, I will describe ongoing standards work by IEEE 802.3az to address an energy efficient ethernet and by Ecma to address reduction of induced energy use of network-connected hosts, such as PCs. I will also describe possible future directions for further reducing energy consumption of both ICT and non-ICT equipment, systems, and processes focusing on the role of networks. Networks can play a significant role in reducing global energy consumption and achieving a level of comfortable conservation needed for a sustainable society.