Environmental Aspects of WDM Equipment

Abstract:
Environmental parameters of telecommunications equipment are getting more important, driven by requirements of large network operators, slowly intensifying specifications from legislation and standardization, and finally the increasing problems caused by emissions, materials scarcity and the likes. This also holds for wavelength-domain multiplexing equipment. Environmental impact is analyzed in lifecycle assessments. For WDM systems and other ICT equipment classes, most impact parameters – most notably the Global Warming Potential – are driven by use-phase energy consumption. This is followed by the materials aspects, which in turn are followed by the non-product-specific aspects of transport, commuting, business travel and the contributions of own operated buildings. All product-specific aspects are addressed by related eco design. Problem arise in particular for a fair rating of the energy efficiency as the currently most important environmental parameter, since expectations regarding decreasing energy consumption are complicated by the growth of Internet bitrates, which is still exponential. This is critical for environmental rankings and initiatives like the Science Based Targets initiative, all of which tending to requiring decreasing absolute energy consumptions.