In a recent Fortune webinar “The Power of Green: Digital Solutions for a Sustainable Future”, Dr René Arnold, Huawei Vice President Public Affairs Strategy, highlighted the importance of energy digitalisation to increase efficiency and reduce high operation and maintenance costs. "We need to use digital technologies to our advantage to foster economic progress and growth, while meeting sustainability targets. Leveraging the potential of ICT to transform the sector is huge and we at Huawei are committed towards this end to create an overall positive impact for the industry and our planet."
The explosive acceleration into everything digital requires huge amounts of energy - from 5G high speed networks and energy hungry devices to data storage and wireless sites. At Huawei we are committed to minimising environmental impacts during production and operations, as well as throughout our product and service lifecycles. “We believe that a fully connected, intelligent world will also be a green one,” William Zhang, Huawei Luxembourg CEO. “By using new technologies like photovoltaics and AI, we are introducing more renewable energy and making the fullest possible use of it, providing green power for the intelligent world.”
“We believe that a fully connected, intelligent world will also be a green one,” William Zhang, CEO Huawei Luxembourg.
Green solutions
Huawei's products cover a wide range of scenarios in the ICT industry, including smart devices, wireless access, fixed access, data communications, optical transmission, and intelligent computing. This end-to-end portfolio of products and solutions serves more than 3 billion people across more than 170 countries and regions. By integrating new ICT technologies such as connectivity, IoT, AI, blockchain, cloud, big data, and edge computing, Huawei has developed scenario-based solutions, including intelligent power plants, smart grids, intelligent oil & gas, intelligent pipelines, smart gas stations, and intelligent mining to address environmental challenges.
To lower the pressure on the environment, Huawei continues to improve its product design and uses more eco-friendly materials, making products more durable and easier to disassemble. “For instance, we reduce the weight and size of our packaging and use fibre-based material instead of plastic for easier disposal. We have also implemented a global recycling programme to extract residual value from electronic waste to reduce our consumption of resources, and contribute to a circular economy” Over the course of 2020, Huawei has recycled more than 4,500 tons of e-waste through its nearly 2,000 recycling stations in 48 countries and regions around the world.
One might be surprised to hear that there is such a thing as a Green Data Centre. “To enable carriers to evolve towards green networks, we have adopted a simplified site deployment model, shifting the location of sites from equipment rooms to cabinets and then to poles, and intelligently managing energy efficiency throughout the entire process,” explains Mr Zhang. Blade sites can be rapidly deployed without cabinets or extra space, saving site rental costs and improving the energy efficiency of the entire site to over 97%. During site deployment, solar panels are added and diesel generators are removed, providing easy access to solar power and reducing the consumption from the power grid. This simplified design reduces the operating expenses by more than 50%. Huawei has also reshaped cooling; its digital iCooling technology and indirect evaporative cooling solution maximizes the use of natural cooling and reduces the power usage effectiveness of data centres by between 8% and 15%.
“To enable carriers to evolve towards green networks, we have adopted a simplified site deployment model, shifting the location of sites from equipment rooms to cabinets and then to poles, and intelligently managing energy efficiency throughout the entire process” William Zhang, CEO Huawei Luxembourg.
Huawei builds sustainability into the entire lifecycle of its products, and strives to help industries reduce their own energy consumption and emissions to support a more circular economy. “We believe it is our responsibility to take every step we can to cut carbon emissions, promote renewable energy, and contribute to more regenerative economic systems.” adds Mr Zhang. Advancements in ICT technology are focusing more and more on using less energy to transmit, process, and store more information to make energy systems more efficient and ultimately benefit the entire energy sector and society as a whole.
Read more about Huawei’s sustainability strategy here: https://www.huawei.com/en/annual-report/2020
Learn more about ICT and green solutions by watching Huawei’s European Talks videos on the European Green Deal and why sustainability matters with various experts in the field:
Can tech drive the Green Deal? | Huawei European Talks with Eline Chivot, senior policy analyst at the Center for Data Innovation.
Can digitalization solve the climate crisis? | Huawei European Talks with Mauro Accurso, Sustainability expert.