In Uganda, 50 percent of radio base stations are powered by diesel generators. Ericsson has worked with local operator, Celtel, to develop a hybrid power solution using diesel and batteries to significantly reduce cost and increase efficiency. Traditional off-grid diesel solutions consist of two diesel generators working alternately. With Ericsson’s new hybrid energy solution, one of these diesel generators is replaced by a battery bank with specially designed batteries that can handle a large amount of charges and discharges. The diesel generator can be switched off at regular intervals and the radio base station can be powered by the battery. The sites now running are consuming 50 percent less diesel, significantly cutting costs and emissions.

Another innovation is the Ericsson Tower Tube, an innovative radio base station site concept. The concrete tower has a lower environmental impact than traditional steel, consuming up to 40 percent less power from a life-cycle perspective.

This is because concrete results in less energy and CO2 than steel during production and transport, but most important is that during operation feeder losses are substantially reduced, and no active cooling is needed.

Today the most common solution to cool telecom shelters containing radio equipment is with air conditioning units, consuming some 1200-2000W. However, Ericsson’s modern radio base stations (in this case RBS 2216) endure higher temperatures so new cooling methods can be used. Ericsson has conducted trials in Bangladesh and Indonesia which prove that significantly lower energy consumption can be achieved by using heat exchangers for the shelters and separate cooling compartments for the battery back up. The power used for cooling the sites can be reduced up to 60 percent, depending on the configuration of the site.