mobile communications: addressing electromagnetic field concerns and environmental sustainability

© GSM Association 2014 J. Rowley, January 2014

Mobile Communications: Addressing Electromagnetic Field Concerns and

Environmental Sustainability

Jack Rowley, PhD,

Senior Director Research & Sustainability GSM Association

IIT Delhi, India 9 January 2014

1 © GSM Association 2014 J. Rowley, January 2014

The GSMA in numbers


Contents

Growing demand for mobile communications

Electromagnetic fields: – Concerns about using mobile phones. – Concerns about living near masts.

Environmental topics:

– Energy use. – Lifecycle issues. – Enabling effects.

Summary.


The mobile revolution


More internet and more use indoors

OFCOM, 2012; ITU, 2012

120x more data 79% indoors


GSMA Mobile Economy India 2013

http://www.gsmamobileeconomyindia.com/


Globally deployed mobile technologies

• Total connections, excluding M2M, stand at 6.6 billion in 2012 globally. • Total unique mobile subscribers stands at 3.2 billion in 2012 globally. • About 1.5 billion unconnected due to lack of mobile coverage.

Wireless Intelligence, 2012


Evolution of mobile technologies

Ericsson Mobility Report, June 2013


Mobile phones need nearby antenna sites

Phones are low power devices.

Adaptive power control

reduces interference and extends talk-time.

Higher data rates.


Available data rates reduces with increasing distance

Ericsson Mobility Report, June 2013


Many types of antenna sites


Contents





Summary.


Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs)

Radio signals are not x-rays. High intensity radio signals cause heating. RF energy absorption assessed by Specific

Absorption Rate (SAR) with units of W/kg.


WHO International EMF Project

www.who.int/emf


Hazards of radiofrequency (RF) exposure

Established: – Behavioural changes in

response to heating. – Cataracts

• (very intense exposures).

– Microwave hearing • (radar pulses).

Not established: – Cancer. – Fertility. – Electro

hypersensitivity. – Symptomatic

complaints. – Animals, plants – …


Exposure

Adverse effects threshold

Safety thresholds for RF exposure

10%

2%

Worker Limit

Public Limit

www.icnirp.org

www.who.int/emf

Typical Levels


Evidence subject to regular expert review

http://www.gsma.com/publicpolicy/mobile-and-health/science-overview/reports-and-statements-index/
















Nordic authorities – December 2013

http://www.nrpa.no/eway/default.aspx?pid=240


Nordic authorities – December 2013 (1/3)

‘The overall data published in the scientific literature to date do not show adverse health effects from exposure of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields below the guidelines or limits adopted in the Nordic countries. However, epidemiological studies on long-term exposure to radio waves from mobile phones are still limited, especially studies on children and adolescents.’



Large body of relevant research

http://www.emf-portal.de/overviews.php?l=e

n = 981 n = 45 (children) (8 January 2014)



‘Since 2011, a number of epidemiological studies on mobile phone use and risk of brain tumours and other tumours of the head have been published. The overall data on brain tumour and mobile phone use do not show an effect on tumour risk. There is still limited data regarding risks of long-term use of mobile phones, longer than approximately 13-15 years. It is too early to draw firm conclusions when it comes to risk for brain tumours for children and adolescents, but the available literature to date does not show an increased risk.’



Mobile phone epidemiology (1/3)

• glioma

• meningioma

INTERPHONE – Cumulative time of use

The INTERPHONE Study Group, 2010

http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/39/3/675



Meta-analysis of 47 eligible studies.

‘Overall, the results of our study detract from the hypothesis that mobile phone use affects the occurrence of intracranial tumors.’

Continue to monitor.

Lagorio et al, 2013

http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bem.21829






Inskip et al, 2010

USA – subscribers and brain tumour rates

http://neuro-oncology.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/noq077v1






‘Since exposure of the general public, including children, to radio waves from the wireless local area networks and base stations is far below the exposure limits, there is no need to further limit exposure from these radio wave sources.’

‘Recent surveys have shown that despite the sharp increase in applications using wireless technology, the level of radio wave exposure in public outdoor areas as well as indoor in schools, offices and dwellings is far below the exposure limits.’



Exposure reduces rapidly with increased distance

Worker limit Public limit

Less than 1% of limit

Distance x 2

Exposure ÷ 4

Compliance zones near to the antennas.


0.06

9.22

0.01 0.413.93

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Average urban, TV and

radio

Baby monitors (20 cm)

Average urban, base

stations

WLAN access point (20 cm)

DECT cordless phone (20 cm)

ICNIRP (100%)

Level (% ICNIRP)

Mobile networks levels similar to other radio sources

Based on Valberg et al., 2007

http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2006/9633/abstract.html





No significant change in average exposure

Rowley & Joyner, 2012


Epidemiology – base stations

Elliott et al., 2010.

National study:

6,985 subjects, 76,890 base station antennas.

Assessed mother’s exposure during pregnancy. Distance, base station power, modelled power density.

‘There is no association between risk of early childhood cancers and estimates of the mother’s exposure to mobile phone base stations during pregnancy.’

http://www.bmj.com/content/340/bmj.c3077.abstract


Epidemiology – broadcast transmitters

Ecological studies of broadcast transmitters Australia, UK, USA.

Case-control studies of broadcast transmitters in South Korea and Germany.

Investigations of reported illness clusters. – ‘…it is expected that possible cancer clusters will occur near base

stations merely by chance.’ – WHO (2006)

No hazards found among populations living near high power broadcast transmitters.

Hocking et al., 1996. Ha et al, 2007. Schuz et al., 2008.

http://mja.com.au/public/issues/dec2/hocking/hocking.html

http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/166/3/270

http://rpd.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/ncn270v1


IARC classification for RF – May 2011

http://monographs.iarc.fr

http://monographs.iarc.fr/


WHO – September 2013

‘While an increased risk of brain tumours from the use of mobile phones is not established, the increasing use of mobile phones and the lack of data for mobile phone use over time periods longer than 15 years warrant further research of mobile phone use and brain cancer risk.’

‘Studies to date provide no indication that environmental exposure to RF fields, such as from base stations, increases the risk of cancer or any other disease.’


Established Risk

http://www.michellehenry.fr/tel.htm

Obey the law. Drive safe. Don’t text. Stay in control.

http://www.michellehenry.fr/tel.htm


Contents





Summary.


Energy and greenhouse gas emissions

Total global electricity and diesel energy consumption by all mobile networks was approximately 120 Terawatt hours (TWh) in 2010.

– Energy costs of $13 billion; – Responsible for 70 Mt CO2e.

Almost 80 TWh of the energy consumption was from grid electricity,

and just over 40 TWh was from diesel generators used in off‐grid and unreliable grid locations.

– Typical generator efficiency is 20%.

Total network energy consumption by mobile operators showed no growth from 2009 to 2010.

– Increased energy per connection in emerging markets.

GSMA, Mobile’s Green Manifesto 2012


GSMA Mobile Energy Efficiency Benchmarking

GSMA mobile energy efficiency (MEE) benchmarking: – Network is more than 70% of operator energy usage. – Energy is 15-25% of network opex. – Typical site 3.2 kW, best in class 1 kW.

www.gsma.com/mee

A B C D E F G H I J K L

kWh per connection

Diesel usage

Electricity usage

Country


Mexico

Canada

Costa Rica

Brazil

Morocco

Mauritania

Algeria Qatar

South Africa

Australia

Mongolia Kazakhstan

China Japan

Alaska

Greenland

USA

Argentina

Chile Uruguay

Paraguay

Bolivia

Peru

Ecuador

Colombia

Venezuela

Surinam Fr. Guyana

Guyana

Cuba

Jamaica Dominic. Rep.

Bahamas

Guatemala

Belize

Honduras Nicaragua

Panama

El Salvador

New Zealand

Papua New Guinea Indonesia

Malaysia

Philippines

Vietnam

Thailand

Myanmar Laos

Cambodia

Taiwan

South Korea

North Korea Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan

Uzbekistan

India

Bangladesh

Bhutan Nepal Pakistan

Afghanistan Turkmenistan

Iran

Russia

Oman

Yemen

U.A.E Saudi Arabia

Iraq

Turkey Syria Lebanon

Egypt

Israel

Sudan

Ethiopia

Somalia

Eritrea

Libya

Mali Senegal

Sierra Leone Liberia

Ivory Coast Ghana

Burkina Faso

Niger

Guinea Nigeria

Lesotho

Mozambique

Madagascar Botswana

Namibia

Angola Zambia

Zimbabwe

Tanzania

D. R. of Congo

Congo

Gabon

Cameroon

Chad

Kenya

Uganda

Finland

Sweden

Norway Iceland

Great Britain Ireland

Spain Portugal

France

Italy

Germany

Poland Ukraine

Belarus

Romania

Greece

Participant in MEE

MEE participants are located in 145 countries


GSMA Mobile Energy Efficiency Benchmarking and Optimization Services

Networks are compared against four Key Performance Indicators: 1. Energy consumption per mobile connection 2. Energy consumption per unit mobile traffic 3. Energy consumption per cell site 4. Energy consumption per unit of mobile revenue

Unique analytical approach allows MNOs to compare their networks

against one another and against their peers on a like-for-like basis – Variables outside the MNO’s control, e.g. population distribution

and climate, are ‘normalised’ using regression techniques.

– Quantifies potential efficiency gains, typically 10% to 25%.

If all networks with above average energy consumption were improved to the sector average the potential energy cost saving for mobile operators would be $1 billion per annum at 2010 prices.


Options to reduce energy consumption

Cooling: – Increase free cooling, increase number of outdoor versus indoor sites. – Use temperature resistant batteries.

Energy efficiency of network equipment:

– Activate energy saving features. – More efficient rectifiers. – Newer equipment. – Single RAN – LTE+3G+2G on same hardware. – Site sharing.

Reduction in diesel consumption:

– Generator‐battery hybrids. – Green power solutions.


GSMA Green Power for Mobile program

Target = 118,000 green deployments or 20% of total off-grid sites


Mobile phone lifecycle


Universal charger solution


UK - charger out of the box

Over 100 million unused chargers in the UK alone. 70% of customers already have the suitable charger for their new phone.


Reducing phone environmental impacts

Supply chain. Conflict-free minerals. Design. Fair price. Closing the loop.


Mobile phone recycling

A 2008 survey of 6,500 people in 13 countries reported: – 44% kept their old phone; – 25% gave it to friends or family; – 16% sold their used phone (especially in emerging markets); – 3% are recycled and; – 4% are thrown in to landfill.

Kenya – 10 authorised repairers but 2,000 to 4,000 informal.

Local sorting – export for safe materials recovery.

Financial and environmental sustainability.


Materials recovered from recycled phones

• Over 90% of the materials can be recovered.

• Recycling 50,000 handsets can remove the need to mine 110 tonnes gold ore, 213 tonnes of silver bearing ore or 11 tonnes of copper sulphide ore.

• For every tonne of mobile phone materials recovered 10 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions are avoided.

www.mobilemuster.com.au/


GSMA Mobile’s Green Manifesto 2012

Footprint of mobile industry. – Total network CO2e emissions

estimated at 70 million tonnes (Mt) for 2010:

• <0.2% of the global total; • lower than the emissions of Austria.

– Expect emissions per connection to fall by 40% by 2020.

Enabling role of mobile.

– 4 to 5 times own footprint. – Smart applications. – Mobile M2M connections could

enable savings equivalent to taking four million cars off the road. www.gsma.com/environment


GSMA Mobile’s Green Manifesto 2012

www.gsma.com/environment


Summary

Growing demand for wireless communications means expansion of mobile networks.

No established health risks from the radio signals of mobile phones or antenna sites.

Mobile industry continues to work on reducing its own footprint and expanding enabling effect in other sectors.


धन्यवाद् Contact: Dr Jack Rowley

Job title: Senior Director

Research & Sustainability

email address:

[email protected]

Website:

www.gsma.com

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.gsma.com/

mobile communications: addressing electromagnetic field concerns and environmental sustainability

Technology

contents growing

mobile phone

radio waves

mobile phone

mobile phones

base stations

energy consumption

exposure limits