Many Hawaii residents have taken steps to reduce their carbon footprint. Some have installed rooftop photovoltaic solar panels on their homes to generate electricity from sunshine. Others have adopted hybrid and electric vehicles, ride bicycles or take the bus to help decarbonize ground transportation.
But have you ever thought your internet service could also help to reduce your carbon footprint? A service’s carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions (referred to as GHG emissions), including carbon dioxide and methane, that the service generates.
According to a recent Fiber Broadband Association’s Sustainability Working Group special report, “Fiber Broadband Deployment Is Paramount to Achieving a Zero Carbon Footprint,” fiber technology has a much lower life-cycle carbon impact compared with traditional copper-based cable internet solutions. This means switching to fiber internet can significantly reduce not only your energy bills, but also your carbon emissions.
The association’s study highlights that using fiber-optic technology (specifically, XGS-PON) results in lower carbon emissions than older, copper-wire-based internet networks at every stage of its life cycle. That means:
>> 60% lower embodied carbon from the manufacturing of network materials.
>> 7% less carbon from the installation of fiber networks.
>> Up to 96% lower carbon emissions during network operation.
>> 18% less power consumed by equipment in your home or business.
In short, fiber broadband is a greener alternative. Supporting the study’s findings, our own analysis shows that it takes an average of 172 kilowatt-hours per year to serve a subscriber on a legacy copper network but only 6 kWh per year on a fiber network, a staggering 97% reduction in power consumption and emissions!
Hawaii consumers value fiber broadband for its higher speeds, reliability and affordability, and now this data shows that transitioning to fiber internet is more than just a technical upgrade. Fiber internet is a critical step toward a sustainable future. By reducing carbon emissions across the various stages of deployment and operation, fiber broadband is the environmentally friendly choice for our digital infrastructure.
Choosing fiber broadband reduces GHG emissions at the customer’s home or business while also supporting the state’s goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045, when the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere is balanced by the amount absorbed or removed from the atmosphere. As customers switch to fiber, providers can power down legacy networks, dramatically reducing the power needed to provide high-speed broadband service across the state.
If you’ve been on the fence about switching to fiber-based internet service, now you have another good reason: to get faster, more reliable service while also reducing your carbon footprint.
Nadja Turek is director of sustainability for Hawaiian Telcom and its parent company, altafiber. Reach her at nadja.turek@hawaiiantel.com.
