Nokia liquid cooling in 5G base stations to reduce environmental impact

Nokia liquid cooling in 5G base stations

To reduce the ecological footprint of its 5G base stations, the equipment manufacturer uses liquid cooling with its AirScale 5G solutions.

The ICT sector is regularly singled out for its energy voracity, which is only increasing over the years due to the growing use of networks and the multiplication of digital uses.

Nokia and Elisa see sustainability leap in world-first 5G liquid

While the energy efficiency of electronic components is improving from generation to generation, the increased uses do not generally reduce overall energy consumption.

While waiting for new architectures designed from the beginning to be economical, the European telecom equipment manufacturer Nokia has found a solution to reduce the environmental footprint of its base stations: liquid cooling, demonstration object at technology fairs and now deployed in the field.

It is thus the first to offer this type of response at the Finnish operator Elisa with Airscale 5G base stations with liquid cooling that promise a 30% reduction in energy consumption and 80% CO2 emissions compared to installations standard.

Nokia environmental footprint

The solution was devised by Nokia Bell Labs and consists of recovering part of the heat released by the equipment, knowing that 90% of the energy consumed by a standard base station is lost in heat.

The other advantage is the liquid cooling used is silent and does not require maintenance while remaining more compact than a conventional active air conditioning solution, which will also have positive consequences for the longevity of the installations.

The OEM Nokia has embarked on a long-term strategy to reduce emissions from its products and activities by joining 86 other companies at the UN to try to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.