Considerations towards a holistic model of energy dynamics in global networks

Developing highly energy-efficient information and communication technologies (ICTs) has become an important goal not only for involved researchers, companies and interested individuals but also for governments, nonprofit organizations and, in general, for the entire society. Since the global communication network is growing rapidly and the number of Internet users is increasing continuously, the global network infrastructure becomes more and more complex and consumes more and more energy. On the one hand, there are a huge number of technologies, protocols, algorithms and software applications already in use. On the other hand, ICT technologies, services and applications have already become a very important integral part of our everyday's life and have a strong influence on many branches of technology, business and society. Therefore, the global communication network cannot be considered as a closed system because the interactions and inter-dependencies between communication networks, software applications and other subsystems that make use of the global network infrastructure are complex and intensive. In order to achieve an optimal operation of the global communication network by means of energy efficiency and to realize highest possible gains in other branches of business and society, a holistic approach for evaluating different technologies and concepts has to be developed and applied. This paper discusses possible methods to increase energy efficiency of the global communication network and presents some considerations towards a holistic model of energy dynamics in the global communication network including interactions with its environment.