The world took a big step closer to a more sustainable communications future with the launch of Green Touch, a global consortium organised by Bell Labs which aims to create the technology needed to make communications networks 1 000 times more energy-efficient. That’s great news for an energy strapped SA, even if it is light years away from reaching our mass market.
The world took a big step closer to a more sustainable communications future with the launch of Green Touch, a global consortium organised by Bell Labs which aims to create the technology needed to make communications networks 1 000 times more energy-efficient. That’s great news for an energy strapped SA, even if it is light years away from reaching our mass market.
A thousand-fold reduction is roughly equivalent to being able to power the world's communications networks, including the Internet, for three years using the same amount of energy that it currently takes to run them for a single day.
Green Touch brings together leaders in industry, academia and government labs to invent and deliver radical new approaches to energy efficiency that will be at the heart of sustainable networks in the decades to come. With its launch, the consortium has also issued an open invitation to all members of the information and communications technology (ICT) community to join forces in reaching this ambitious target.
Some comments made were: “Truly global challenges have always been best addressed by bringing together the brightest minds in an unconstrained, creative environment. This was what we used when putting a man on the moon and is the same approach we need to implement to address the global climate crisis. The Green Touch initiative is an example of such a response - bringing together scientists and technologists from around the world and from many different disciplines in an environment of open innovation to attack the problem from many different directions,” said Dr Steven Chu, US Secretary of Energy.
“Climate change is an enormous and immediate challenge that needs to be addressed globally and with bold actions. It is only through harnessing the best minds around the world, regardless of their mother companies, industry, or nationality, that we will make the difference we need to. The Green Touch consortium, with its open innovation model that harnesses the leading minds across the globe and includes experts from every part of ICT, is the model for the sort of radical initiatives that we need to address the huge challenge of global warming,” said Jong-Soo Yoon, Director General, Ministry of Environment, South Korea.
To support its objectives, the Green Touch initiative will deliver - within five years – a reference network architecture and demonstrations of the key components required to realise this improvement. This initiative also offers the potential to generate new technologies and new areas of industry.
The first meeting of the consortium will take place in February and will be dedicated to establishing the organisation's five-year plan, first-year deliverables, and member roles and responsibilities.
For those companies interested in joining the consortium, please visit the Web site: www.greentouch.org