Bell Labs is trying to make the systems that power the Internet more energy efficient by convening a “Green Touch” consortium, reports the Mother Nature Network.
“The consortium is committed to finding open-source solutions to energy efficiency, with the goal of making communications networks ‘1,000 times more energy efficient’ within the next five years,” blogged Dave Connell of the Cool Green Science Blog.
According to Connell technology companies are taking it upon themselves to reduce their environmental impact, despite the lack of any enforcement mechanism coming from the Copenhagen summit.
“Essentially, because governments decided not to include cutting emissions from the ICT sector, an industry leader has taken it upon itself take on that challenge,” said Connell. “As world governments continue to struggle with attempts to solve the climate change crisis and limit greenhouse gas emissions, businesses — especially in the tech sector — are stepping up to the plate to fill the void.”
Why are they doing this? Money, said Connell.
“If Bell Labs and others can create a scheme that allows networks to achieve 1,000 times greater efficiency, it will make economic sense to rebuild the network, which in turn will create massive business opportunities across the sector.”
But the exciting part is really that Bell Labs is looking at open source technology to solve their environmental problem.
