Radio's Role in Minimizing Carbon Emissions and Environmental Monitoring

1. Update on the Carbon Impacts ofITU Radiocommunication SectorAlexandre VASSILIEVITU, Radiocommunication Bureau (BR)Radiocommunication Study Group CounsellorBR Focal Point on Radiocommunications and Climate Change ITU-T Focus Group “ICTs and Climate Change” (ICT&CC) Meeting, Hiroshima, Japan, 24-27 March 2009

2. Radio and Minimizing CO2 Emissions • Main directions/activities: • Monitoring Global Carbon Dioxide Emissions - Radio-based devices called remote sensors are the main tool for the global monitoring of carbon dioxide emissions. • Minimizing CO2 emissions from radio equipment/systems - The use of advanced technologies, such as modern chips, coding and compression technic, digital modulation allowed significantly reduce power consumption per unit for almost all radio applications. • The use of radio-based devices/systems for reduction in other sectors - Wireless devices, such as mobile phones are currently the most common way of communications, which significantly reduce commuting and travelling. Radio, in many cases, is the most economically valuable solution of the “last mile” problem. • “Dematerialization” through the use of radio equipment/systems – The use of radio technologies, for example satellite systems, paves the way for Internet access from remote areas and allows to apply paperless working methods, switch from physical distribution DVDs and CDs to online delivery.

3. Radio and Environment Information Most of people think that the radio frequencies are used for radiocommunications. However, radio emissions are also used for obtaining information about the environment with which they have been in contact. In the radio frequency spectrum a limited number of frequencies are suited, due to the physical phenomena, for extracting the environmental information. Environmental information, including climate monitoring data, is currently being obtained by special measuring instruments called remote sensors. Remote sensors (passive and active) are radio devices, that derive environmental information by analyzing the characteristics of received radio waves.

4. Remote Sensing in Environment Monitoring • Space-based remote sensors are the only tools that provide environmental data on a long term, repetitive and global scale. • Radiocommunication systems based on remote sensing play the major role in monitoring of environment, including greenhouse gases emissions, and weather forecasting. • Remote sensing is the essential tool for disaster prediction, detection, disaster mitigation and planning of relief operations.

5. Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite • The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) • launched the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite • "IBUKI" (GOSAT) on January 23, 2009. • The data have been • acquired by the onboard • Sensor - the Thermal And • Near infrared Sensor for • carbon Observation- • Fourier Transform • Spectrometer • (TANSO-FTS). Source: http://www.eorc.jaxa.jp/en/imgdata/topics/2009/tp090319.html

6. GOSAT Objectives Related to Environment Monitoring • GOSAT has three major mission objectives: • to monitor the density of greenhouse gases precisely and frequently worldwide; • to study the absorption and emission levels of greenhouse gases per continent or large country over a certain period of time (tool for Kyoto protocol implementation control); • to develop and establish advanced technologies that are essential for precise greenhouse-gas observations. Current ground observation points: about 260 (see on the left) GOSAT's observation points: 56000

7. ITU-R and Environment Monitoring As the steward of the global framework for spectrum, ITU-R: • through World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRC) allocates the radio-frequency spectrum; • through World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRC) allocates the radio-frequency spectrum; • carries out studies and develops radiocommunication standards: • treaty status Radio Regulations– 4 volumes; • voluntary standards (ITU-R Recommendations – particularly in ITU-R Study Group 7 (Science services)); to foster the operation without interference of radio-based applications and radiocommunication systems used for environment monitoring, including greenhouse gases monitoring, weather forecasting, disaster prediction, detection and mitigation of negative effect of disasters.

8. ITU-R Recent Decisions and Publication Related to Monitoring • - WRC-07 and Radiocommunication Assembly (RA-07) adopted a number of Resolutions on studies related to remote-sensing, which is a vital component in the science of climate change. • ITU-R Recommendations on radiocommunication systems and radio-based applications operating in Earth-exploration satellite, meteorological-aids and meteorological satellite services, today provide most of data for the Global Observing System (GOS) and Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). • ITU-R Study Group 7 (Science services) in cooperation with the World Meteorological Organization produced WMO and ITU Handbook on Use of Radio spectrum for meteorology: weather, water and climate monitoring and prediction providing information on development and a proper use radiocommunication systems and radio-based technologies for environment observation, climate control, weather forecasting and natural and man-made disaster prediction, detection and mitigation. – It is the first handbook in the ITU history signed by the Secretary-Generals of two UN Agencies.

9. Radio-based Devices and CO2 Emissions • It seems that radio-based devices are the most used telecommunication devices. According to the recent statistics there are currently in use: • more than 4 billions mobile phones; • ~ 2.5 billions radios; • ~1.5 billions TV sets; • plus many set-top boxes, Wi-Fi cards, powerful broadcasting transmitters, etc. Source: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications/idi/2009/index.html and http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/med_tel-media-televisions

10. 2-2.5 % ICT global CO2 emissions from ICTs – Is everything included? Source: Kumar, Rakesh and Mieritz, Lars (2007) “Conceptualizing “Green IT” and data centre power and cooling issues” The ICT Sector itself (excluding the broadcasting sector) contributes between 2-2.5 per cent of GHG. Emissions from most radio devices (TV sets, broadcasting transmitters, etc.) except mobile phones are not taken into account. Are they significant? Let’s try calculate…

11. TV and Set Top Box Energy Consumption http://www.carbonfootprint.com/energyconsumption.html

12. ICT Average Power Consumption • Power consumption comparedTVs: Average plasma: 339 watts Average rear-projection: 211 watts Average LCD: 213 wattsOther AV gear (for comparison only): PlayStation 3: 197 watts Xbox 360: 187 watts Average PC: 78 watts DirecTV HR20 DVR: 33 watts Nintendo Wii: 19 watts Slingbox: 9 watts Wireless router: 7 watts • Source: CNET Reviews at: http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6475_7-6400401-2.html

13. U.S. Department of Energy Statistics • Now, it’s no secret that one result of the flat-screen revolution is to make larger screen sizes practical. That 30-inch analog set of 2006 is likely to be replaced with an LCD-TV measuring 40 or 42 inches and consuming 200 to 250 watts. TV energy consumption is rising sharply because the average screen size is rising sharply. Energy Star, a joint program of the EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy, says 10% of residential consumer electrical energy consumption is now used by TV sets. (At about 10 cents per KW-hr that would be over $5 Billion in retail power costs!). • Source: http://www.lcdtvassociation.org/images/TV_Power_Consumption_White_Paper_LCD_TV_Association.pdf

14. How Much Time Spent With Media?Average Hours Per Week – All People 14+ Source: Roy Morgan Single Source Australia Jan 2008 – Dec 2008. Representative sample of 20,865 Australians (at: http://www.freetv.com.au/media/News-Media_Release/Tv_Tops_Media_Consumption_050309.pdf )

15. TV Sets Carbon Dioxide Emissions • Based on previous slides optimistic estimation could be done using the following values: • TV set power consumption: 0.21 kW (without standby consumption); • On power usage: 6.5 hours a day (based on UK statistics see slide 11). • Then power average: • P=0.21×1500000000×6.5/24=85312500 kW • Using a coefficient 0.4 kG per 1 kW/hour from a draft Deliverable 1 and calculating for 365 days and 24 hours: • 85312500×365×24×0.4=298935000000 Kg CO2 • 298.9 million tonnes carbon dioxide!

16. ICT Footprint in 2007 • Report “SMART 2020: Enabling the low carbon economy in the information age” states: • “In 2007, the total footprint of the ICT sector – including personal computers (PCs) and peripherals, telecoms networks and devices and data centres – was 830 MtCO2e, about 2% of the estimated total emissions from human activity released that year.” • Compare with the a very optimistic figure related to TV sets emissions: 298.9 million tonnes CO2 per year!!! • What about set-top boxes, radios, DVDs, VCRs, powerful transmitters??? • Source: http://www.theclimategroup.org/assets/resources/publications/Smart2020Report.pdf

17. European Commission Estimates • That probably explains why the European Commission uses different value for ICTs: • “ICTs are now embedded in almost all parts of the European economy. As a result of its own success, use of ICT products and services represents about 7.8% of electricity consumption in the EU and may grow to 10.5% by 2020.” • Source: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0111:FIN:EN:DOC.

18. Minimizing CO2 Emissions - Introducing New Technologies An impressive example in this area is a digital broadcasting Plan GE06 developed by Regional Radiocommunication Conference 2006 for 120 countries. GE06 Plan envisages: • reduction (by almost 10 times) in transmitter power due to the use of digital modulation. There are hundreds of thousands of transmitters around the world with power of up to 100-150 kW each. The resulting energy saving is very significant; • possible reduction number of transmitters due to the transmitting up to 10 TV programmes in one 8 MHz channel instead of 1 TV programme per channel. GE06 Plan is based on ITU-R and ITU-T standards (ITU-R and ITU-T Recommendations).

19. Minimizing CO2 Emissions – Standardization Regulations (samples) • IEC 62087 standard - the world's International standard for measuring the energy efficiency of the latest generation of plasma and LCD televisions and other devices such as cable set-top boxes; • European Commission submitted to EU Parliament a report “on mobilising Information and Communication Technologies to facilitate the transition to an energy-efficient, low-carbon economy” expecting to reap from EU legislation on smart technologies including radio technologies to tackle climate change (see at: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/sustainable_growth/docs/com_2009_111/com2009-111-en.pdf).

20. Minimizing TV CO2 Emissions - Labeling • Labeling environment-friendly TVs is another way of minimizing emissions. Some samples: • Energy Star programme: • based on IEC 62087 standard; • sets thresholds that would permit about 25% of the TVs on the market to receive the Energy Star label. • LCD TV Association “Green TV” programme: • based on IEC 62087 standard; • sets the energy consumption thresholds of TV sets, regardless of technology; • requires incorporation of advanced features such as ambient light sensors and boosting efficiency; • takes account number of recyclable parts.

21. ITU-R Activities in Minimizing Power Consumption • The World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRCs) facilitate the use of less power hungry radio technologies by incorporating the most efficient ones in the Radio Regulations – international treaty status standard. • WRCs also abolish the use of outdated radio-based applications and systems on international level. • ITU-R Study Groups carries out analyses and approve ITU-R Recommendation allowing the use of the most environment-friendly methods, applications and systems.

22. “Dematerialization” and Radio • In terms of technologies for reducing carbon emission, the use of radiocommunications as a part of telecommunication infrastructure provides means for: • reducing business travels by “virtual presence” (teleconferences) and working at home using remote access tools; • online publications of documents; • use Internet and specifically IPTV instead of DVDs/CDs; • using e-commerce to reduce shopping trips; • online billing (to save on paper bills), etc. • However, radio, in certain extend, is the next step in dematerialization – it “dematerializes” wires.

23. “Dematerialization” and Remote Wireless Collaboration • The work of ITU-R Study Groups 4, 5 and 6, on multimedia, is of particular importance, notably in terms of standards for remote wireless collaboration, such as the BO, M, S Series of ITU-R Recommendations on wireless audiovisual and multimedia systems, including video-conferencing, which provides means for people to collaborate/work at a distance without needing to travel (ITU-T’s also develops Recommendations on multimedia).

24. Climate Neutral ITU – Radiocommunication Sector Role (1) • ITU-R and its predecessor IFRB were pioneers in the ITU applying the relevant practices since 80-th. Few examples: • voluminous ITU-R service publications, distributed to all ITU-R Member States on weekly bases, are published on DVD and Internet, that significantly reduced the amount of paper (1 space networks data – up to 1000 pages), consumed by BR; • WRCs, that are the biggest ITU forums, are switching to paperless methods of work and significantly reducing number of paper copies distributing to delegates. Reduction of paper copies of conference documents at the last World Radiocommunication Conference 2007 (WRC-07), which was attended by more than 2800 participants, saved several millions pages of paper; • WRC-07 decided to publish series of maritime Service Publications in electronic form from 2011 (Res. 335 (WRC-07)). That will save about 300 tons of paper per year and reduce the carbon emissions from transporting paper copies;

25. Climate Neutral ITU – Radiocommunication Sector Role (2) • Resolution 906 (WRC-07) is completing ITU-R switching from paper to electronic submission of information on radio frequency assignments/allotments. As the result millions pages of paper are saved (in the past a notice with data related to one satellite network could require more than 1 thousand pages). • BR devotes significant efforts for development of tools for electronic access (through Internet) to frequency assignment/allotment data in the Master International Frequency Register (MIFR), that contains billions of data elements. These tools allow not only provide very quick access to these data, but also significantly reduce amount of publications on physical mediums; • in order to facilitate the use of ICT for submission of data to BR and access to ITU-R databases/documents, BR, through seminars and workshops (World and regional), provides training for the staff from administrations and other involved organizations..

26. Thank you for your attention! Questions?

27. Supplementary Slides/ Information

28. Supported by Counsellors and Assistants in Study Group Department of BR Radiocommunication Study Groups Res. ITU-R 4-5 of Radiocommunication Assembly 2007: decided to establish 6 ITU-R Study Groups: • >900 Recommendations • “Standards” in areas of spectrum management and radio technology • Result of consensus from meetings of world-wide experts • Some referred to in RR • Used by spectrum planners and system designers SG 1: Spectrum management SG 3: Radiowave propagation SG 4: Satellite services SG 5: Terrestrial services SG 6: Broadcasting service SG 7: Science services In addition: CCV: Coordination Committee for Vocabulary CPM: Conference Preparatory Meeting SC: Special Committee on regulatory and procedural matters http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/go/rsg

29. Application of ITU-R Standards • The best samples: • Radio Regulations – applied by all countries around the World for international spectrum management; • ITU-R Regional Agreements – applied by all country parties of a given agreement (some countries are parties of several Agreements/Plans); • ITU-R M-Series Rec. – e.g. for land mobile service: there are currently>4billions customers (more than 50% people on the Earth) using mobile phones built in accordance with ITU-R Rec.; • ITU-R BT&BR-Series Rec. – used for broadcasting (TV and sound). There are more than 1.5 billions TV sets based on ITU-R standards; • ITU-R standards for the use of radiocommunication services/systems for emergency situations; • etc..

30. ITU-R Publications • BR International Frequency Information Circular (IFIC) – terrestrial and space services • Space Radiocommunication Stations on DVD-ROM • Radio Regulations • electronic file (WinWord, PDF) • CD-ROM • paper • Service documents • ITU-R Recommendations • online subscriptions • CD-ROM • paper • Handbooks, etc. http://www.itu.int/publications

31. ITU-R Recommendation series • BO: Satellite delivery • BR: Recording for production, archival and play-out; film for television • BS: Broadcasting service (sound) • BT: Broadcasting service (television) • F: Fixed service • M: Mobile, radiodetermination, amateur and related satellite services • P: Radiowave propagation • RA: Radio astronomy • RS: Remote sensing systems • S: Fixed-satellite service • SA: Space applications and meteorology • SF: Frequency sharing and coordination between fixed-satellite and fixed service systems • SM: Spectrum management • SNG: Satellite news gathering • TF: Time signals and frequency standards emissions • V: Vocabulary and related subjects

32. Some ITU-R Web Pages • Main ITU-R Web page: http://www.itu.int/ITU-R • Terrestrial Services: http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/terrestrial • Space Services: http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/space • Study Groups: http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/index.asp?category=study-groups&rlink=rsg&lang=en • ITU-R Publications:http://www.itu.int/publications/sector.aspx?sector=1&lang=en