BT is trialling a new ‘sleep mode' for broadband connections that promises to slash energy use by broadband infrastructure by almost a third, delivering deep cuts in carbon emissions in the process.
Dubbed Cool Broadband, the new system is being piloted at the research and development centre at Martlesham in Suffolk and a nearby exchange, and early indications are that it can cut energy use per line by around 30 per cent.
Speaking to BusinessGreen, BT's recently appointed chief sustainability officer Niall Dunne said the algorithms at the heart of the new technology could deliver major cuts in emissions.
"We want to shift broadband from always on to always available," he said. "The plan is that if the broadband line is 20Mbit/s, then it can go into a sleep mode where it is cut to 200kb/s, which is sufficient to support a phone call. Then it powers back up instantly when people want to use the full broadband connection."
The breakthrough has the potential to deliver a "massive" reduction in energy use, according to Dunne who also revealed that currently BT's infrastructure uses 0.7 per cent of the UK's energy.
The company said there were still some "technical challenges" for the project to overcome, but engineers are now planning a larger trial of the system with a view to rolling it out more widely in the coming years.
The project is part of a raft of sustainability initiatives from BT, which has seen the company sign one of the UK's largest green energy contracts and pursue plans to build two of its wind farms with a view to sourcing a quarter of its energy from renewables by 2016.
Dunne also revealed that the company is expecting to cut its energy bills by £13m and cut its carbon footprint five per cent as the result of the roll out of a new smart meter system across BT's offices.
The company is currently in the process of deploying over 22,000 smart energy meters and 1,500 building energy management systems to monitor and control energy use across its estate and infrastructure.
The wireless smart meters provide real-time updates to a central system that can then automatically control IT, heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems to optimise their efficiency.
Dunne said the company-wide system would provide a template that it can then offer to its clients as demand grows for smart meters and automated energy management systems.
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