Alternative Power

Ericsson (News - Alert) has launched its latest energy-optimized radio base station site concept, a research project for a pioneering wind-powered Tower Tube.

 

Committed to sustainable and cost-efficient solutions that help bring communications to all, the Swedish telecom giant is currently working with Vertical Wind AB and Uppsala University in Sweden to develop the concept.

 

The wind-powered Tower Tube builds on the energy-lean design of Ericsson's award-winning original Tower Tube and employs renewable energy. The Ericsson Tower Tube reportedly won the Technology Design category of the 2008 Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Awards.

 

The new Tower Tube harnesses wind power via a four-blade turbine with five-meter blades vertically attached to the tower. Working silently, the vertical rotor blades minimize the load on the tower during operation.

 

The partners have decided to conduct trials to find out if the design of the energy-efficient Ericsson Tower Tube and the vertical wind rotor blades can work together to enable low-cost mobile communication, with reduced impacts on both the local and global environment.

 

Elaborating on their Tower Tube, Ericsson explains that the new launch houses base stations and antennas, fully enclosing them in an aesthetically pleasing concrete tower. The new wind-powered Tower Tube has a smaller footprint and lower environmental impact compared to traditional steel towers with CO2 emissions related to materials, such as production an transportation, that are at least 30 percent lower.

 

The Ericsson Tower Tube doesn’t require feeders and cooling systems. It requires up to 40 percent lower power consumption than traditional base station sites, and aids operators to cut down their operating costs.

 

According to Ulf Ewaldsson, vice president and head of Product Area Radio at Ericsson, combining wind power with Ericsson's Tower Tube brings further opportunities to support mobile communication in both urban and remote areas with no or limited access to the electricity grid.

 

Ericsson’s wind-powered Tower Tube research initiative reflects the company’s ambition to use their technical leadership to drive sustainable, telecom expansion and deliver communication for all.