In a piece overly titled "NBN may reduce need for new power plants" iTWire has reported Rod Tucker's comments that though increased internet usage will continue to increase the energy demands of the sector - especially through data centres - the NBN will limit that demand.
In a great line Tucker said "Unlike fibre, wireless is energy hungry."
It would be interesting to undertake a full energy audit of some telecommunications technologies. For example, would a monopoly wireless business with lots of smaller base stations use less power and what would be the energy saving/cost of different topologies in construction as well as operation.
What is the energy consumption inherent in actually building the NBN? All those civil engineering works use a lot. What is the energy saving in reduced maintenance costs for copper and the end of linesman and techs visiting pillars to connect services?
Like so many things, a simple analysis of one feature is not the whole story.
(Pity the event the iTWire story talks about is in Melbourne ....)
Novae Meridianae Demetae Dexter delenda est
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