ITU says standard EPS to reduce emissions by 25%

Standardizing efficiency characteristics could reduce the energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of Electric Power Supplies (EPS) between 25 and 50 per cent, says International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

The Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau at ITU, Mr. Malcolm Johnson, made this known in his foreword to the “An energy-aware survey on ICT device power supplies,” noted in addition that the report highlighted that standardizing efficiency characteristics could reduce the energy consumption and greenhouse  gas (GHG) emissions of EPSs.

He said, Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) users and manufacturers are already enjoying the economic and environmental benefits of the standardization, maintaining that ITU is working in partnership with organizations around the world to produce global policies and standards to tackle climate change and environmental degradation.

This report reveals that standards for the manufacture of external power supplies (EPS) could enhance their reliability and extend their lifetime while decreasing their average weight by up to 30 per cent. This could eliminate up to sixty per cent of current annual EPS e-waste.

He said, ITU Universal Charger detailed in Recommendation ITU-T L.1000. ITU-T Study Group 5 – ITU’s lead study group on environment and climate change – is now building on this success with new standards applicable to a wider range of ICTs.

The report, he said, firmly underlines opportunities to achieve further reductions in e-waste, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions; and the resultant ITUT Recommendations will achieve this by widening the range of ICTs supported by power adaptors and standardizing design parameters able to optimize these adaptors’ eco-efficiency.

Also speaking, the chairman of the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), Mr. Luis Neves, pointed out that they participated in the global debate on sustainable development for over a decade, even as the rapid deployment of innovative ICT solutions must be matched with a commitment to create environmentally responsible products that are energy efficient, reduce the carbon footprint of the ICT sector and meet consumer needs.

This report, he said, marks another milestone in GeSI’s role of bringing together leading ICT companies and international organisations to raise awareness of the contribution of innovative technology to sustainability. 

Stressing the report commissioned by GeSI and ITU, presented the results of a study of more than 300 commercially available adapters, both for ICT and non-ICT use.

Further, he said, the report suggests that an environmentally friendly design could result in savings of more than 30 per cent of the materials used to build the devices. Avoiding obsolescence would cut down on the 300,000 tons of e-waste likely to be created per year by discarded devices. 

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