Smart grid energy procurement for green LTE cellular networks

Abstract

Smart grid is becoming a new global commercial venture widely seen as a means to upgrade electrical infrastructure to enhance power savings and optimize some green goals of consumers by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and optimally adjusting the power consumed [1]. For this reason, in many different research fields, people opt to introduce smart grid in their works to ensure energy efficiency and minimize costly environmental impacts. In mobile communications, a smart grid can significantly contribute in reducing the power consumption of the network and thus it helps mobile operators cope with global warming. In fact, mobile networks already represent approximately 10% of the total carbon emitted by the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, and this is expected to increase every year because of the extensive growth in the number of subscribers and service usage times [2]. The Fourth Generation Long Terms Evolution (4G LTE) network is the recent standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals and will become the first truly global mobile phone standard. However, its radio network consumes over 70%-80% of its total power [3]. Therefore, several works were proposed to save energy and make its radio access network (RAN) a green radio network.