Building a low-carbon society with green technologies

The digital economy has become the new driving force of global economic growth. As pillars of the digital economy, technologies like 5G, cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and machine reasoning (MR) are being integrated into different industries, bringing new thinking, models, and practices, and revolutionizing production and lifestyles. The total value of the digital economy is projected to grow from US$17 trillion today to US$23 trillion by 2025, when it will account for about 25 percent of global GDP.

At the same time, climate change remains a global issue that threatens our long-term survival on this planet and that of other species: research shows close ties between climate change and the loss of biodiversity.

ICT has a dual role to play in climate change. First, the sector has to reduce its own carbon footprint. And second it must enable other industries to lower their carbon emissions.

Globally, the development of the ICT industry has always been a key driving force in cutting carbon emissions across society. Remote meetings, for instance, have significantly reduced the number of trips corporate employees have to make, while systems such as short messages and instant messaging have greatly decreased the physical media people need to communicate, such as postcards, greeting cards, and letters.

According to the SMARTer2030 report by the Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), carbon emissions generated by the ICT industry will start to decline as a proportion of total global emissions thanks to energy efficiency improvements in ICT products. By 2030, the ICT industry's carbon emissions are projected to reach 1.25 Gt, accounting for 1.97 percent of global emissions. The widespread application of ICT will also enable other industries to slash their carbon footprints. By 2030, ICT will help reduce 12 Gt of carbon emissions across every industry – about 10 times the ICT industry's own carbon footprint.

Over the past decade, technology and product upgrades in the telecommunications industry have driven a continual decline in energy consumption, with the sector playing a key role in helping other industries to save energy and curb emissions.

Driven by our vision & mission 

Huawei's vision and mission is to bring digital to every person, home, and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world. But we also need to make sure this intelligent world is green so it can harmoniously coexist with nature.

Our innovation focuses on providing our customers with leading green products and solutions. ICT has always played an important role in promoting a better environment – whether that’s more energy-efficient 5G networks or data centers (DC), or the health impact of smart devices. We will continue to empower industries to conserve energy and lower emissions, so enterprises that use our technology can also reduce their carbon footprint.

Green product lifecycles

Using a lifecycle assessment (LCA) methodology, we discovered that for network equipment, carbon emissions generated in the use phase account for 80 to 90 percent of the total carbon footprint. As power consumption is specifically responsible, energy-saving technologies in our products are thus key to lowering the carbon footprint.

For many years now, we’ve been reducing the whole-lifecycle energy consumption of our ICT products, which has in turn helped numerous industries save energy and cut carbon emissions. 

Wireless access

5G offers 50 times the energy efficiency of 4G in terms of bits per joule. But with its high bandwidth, ultra-low latency, and massive connections, 5G also increases network energy consumption. So how can we have our 5G cake and eat it? By innovating on multiple levels. 

We use advanced hardware materials, high-performance algorithms, and new heat dissipation technologies to enhance product energy efficiency. Technological innovation at three layers – equipment, sites, and networks – can improve the energy efficiency of 5G networks, helping operators cut their carbon footprint. For example, our 5G all-outdoor solution eliminates the need for air conditioning, reducing site energy consumption by at least 40 percent.

Data communication

In the digital world, DCs, metro networks (MANs), and backbone networks play a key role in aggregating and exchanging network traffic in cities, regions, and countries. Routers and switches in these locations must be ultra-high performance, which imposes strict demands on equipment heat dissipation and ambient temperature. To improve the power supply and heat dissipation efficiency of our products and thus lower energy consumption while ensuring product performance, we’ve made breakthroughs in magnetic blowout-based power switching technology, carbon nano-thermal materials, VC phase change heat dissipation, and mixed-flow fans.

In 2019, we unveiled the CloudEngine 16800 series of switches for DC networks and the NetEngine 8000 series of routers for MANs. In the initial design stage, we focused on the two major technical problems of power supply efficiency and heat dissipation efficiency, and were able to lower the power consumption of routers and switches. Their energy consumption per bit is 26 to 50 percent less than other products in the marketplace. Each NetEngine 8000 X8 router can save about 90,000 kWh of electricity per year.

Optical networks

At the transmission network layer, our all-optical backplane technology allows us to print over 1,000 optical fibers on a backplane the size of an A4 sheet of paper. We’ve used this to develop the OptiXtrans series of optical cross-connect (OXC) products, which reduce equipment room footprint by a massive 90 percent and slash power consumption by 60 percent.

In optical access, distributed forwarding architecture evenly distributes traffic to each service board, enabling us to push the limits of efficiency and power consumption. For example, our products achieve 43 percent lower power consumption than the level set out for broadband equipment by the European Union.

For home networks, our AI-based OptiXstar gigabit home optical networking terminal (ONT) reduces inefficient energy consumption thanks to product features like automatic usage sensing and off-peak intelligent sleep. OptiXstar ONT's consumption is 20 percent lower than that set out by the EU, and each device can save 38 kWh a year.

At the network level of enterprise campuses, our all-optical campus solution can shrink equipment room and wiring footprints by 50 percent and energy consumption by 30 percent.

Site power

The increasing maturity of technologies like photovoltaics (PV), lithium batteries, and AI offers new potential to achieve zero emissions in site energy. In 5G, we’ve introduced solar energy and AI technology into our 5G Power site energy solution to maximize the use of clean energy in power sites, setting us on the path to achieving zero emissions.

Data center power

Data centers consume huge amounts of energy. We’re using natural cooling sources applied through our indirect evaporative cooling technology to lower the energy used by DC cooling systems by 40 to 60 percent. By integrating big data and AI into the iCooling solution, the DC learns to save power and can automatically optimize energy efficiency, decreasing DC power usage effectiveness (PUE) by 8 to 15 percent.

Slashing carbon emissions everywhere

Globally, ICT’s energy-saving and emission-reduction benefits are generally recognized by all sectors of society – and increasingly expected.

We’re using ICT and working with our partners to accelerate the wider adoption and application of renewable energy. By integrating IT and PV, we’ve improved the efficiency of photovoltaic power generation, converting every joule of solar energy into more photovoltaic power. Since 2013, Huawei's Smart PV solutions have generated more than 180 billion kWh of solar power for the world – the equivalent of cutting more than 108 million tons of carbon emissions or planting more than 200 million trees.

We’ve introduced renewable energy solutions into our operations and have built PV power stations on our campuses. We’re also promoting the wide application of Smart PV around the world to bring clean electricity to millions of homes.

In China, we built the first PV power plant in our Southern Factory in Dongguan. It generates 18 million kWh of electricity each year, representing 10 percent of the factory's total power consumption. In Saudi Arabia, we constructed the Sakaka 300 MW PV plant with our partners. Generating enough power for 45,000 households a year, the plant reduces  carbon emissions by 430,000 tons per year. In Argentina, we jointly built a 300 MW PV plant in Cauchari, which generates approximately 660 million kWh of electricity annually – enough for 160,000 households.

We also help the power industry make better use of clean energy and curb its carbon footprint with smart digital technology. Huawei used cloud computing to help State Grid Qinghai construct a new-energy DC powered by AI and big data, helping more accurately predict renewable energy yields based on weather forecasts. And with multi-energy compensation, the total power output fed into the grid is more stable. 

As network connections become more ubiquitous, Huawei will continue to help the telecommunications industry conserve energy, reduce emissions, and develop solutions for low-carbon and eco-friendly communications. 

For example, optical fiber uses 60 percent to 75 percent less energy than copper. To help global operators better fulfill their social responsibility for low-carbon development, Huawei will continue to promote green innovation in fiber networks, breaking through theoretical limits and developing greener optical network products.

Sichuan Telecom has used Huawei OXC equipment in 12 core transmission nodes in its network, forming an optical cube bearer network that can save 250,000 kWh per year, the equivalent of planting more than 2,000 trees.

With the intelligent era fast approaching, ICT will be applied in every industry. As the world's leading provider of ICT infrastructure and smart devices, Huawei will continue to innovate to help numerous industries save energy and cut their carbon footprint and ensure that technology and nature coexist in harmony for a fully connected, intelligent world.