VNL

In 20 years, solar power rules 14 Mar, 2008

Futurist Ray Kurzweil predicts that in 20 years, the world’s energy needs will be covered entirely by solar - saying that there is 10,000 times more sunlight than we need.

Currently, sustainable energy sources like wind and solar only address around 1 percent of our insatiable thirst for energy, but this is sure to change as new technology like nano-engineered materials for solar panels starts maturing.

VNL is already pioneering the field of solar applications with WorldGSM™ - the world’s first entirely solar-powered GSM network.

Learn more about solar energy: read the full article at livescience.com

Billions of litres of diesel 2 Mar, 2008

Full-scale, traditional GSM networks use an enormous amount of power. Each Base Station requires 3-4000 Watts of power — before air conditioning is factored in.

In remote areas like rural India, there is either no electricity grid or it’s only available for a few hours each day. Diesel generators are used to fill the gap times, resulting in over 1.8 billion litres of diesel fuel being burned every single year in India alone.

And it takes even more fuel to bring the diesel fuel to each generator. The generators themselves are typically low quality and poorly maintained, resulting in replacement every two or three years — more waste, more greenhouse gas emissions.

Using sustainable energy sources is a prerequisite to reach underserved rural and remote communities. Microtelecom equipment must be energy efficient enough to allow for solar or wind power sources.

Want to learn more? “The Solar Imperative” (a white paper by Anders Hansson) is a good start.