What does the term Green Network really mean?
We take our responsibility for the environment and climate protection seriously: Networks and antennas for mobile and internet access require a lot of energy. That’s why, since 2021, we’ve been powering our entire network worldwide with green electricity. This means every Telekom customer surfs and calls on a green network that runs 100 percent on renewable energy, no matter which plan they use, including the ultra-fast 5G network. We’re also working hard to significantly improve the energy efficiency of our mobile and internet networks, for example by shutting down the outdated 3G network. Expanding our network also helps us use energy more efficiently as we replace copper cables with fiber optics. Step by step, Telekom’s network is getting greener.
How is Telekom making its cloud greener?
Our vision for climate neutrality goes beyond building a green network, it also means creating a green cloud. That includes online storage and computing solutions powered by sustainable energy. As digitalization accelerates, businesses will need even more computing and storage capacity, which means data centers will use more electricity. That’s why T-Systems, a Telekom subsidiary, is already working on ways to significantly reduce the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of our data centers. One example: the sustainable Biere Data Center.
What makes the Biere Data Center sustainable?
Located near Magdeburg, the Biere Data Center is a high-security hub in Telekom’s global cloud infrastructure. With 40,000 square meters of space, it’s also one of the largest cloud data centers in Europe, making it the ideal place to drive environmental and climate protection for cloud applications. That’s why T-Systems, together with experts from the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation (IFF) in Magdeburg, has launched an ambitious pilot project here. The goal: to transform the Biere Data Center into a Net Zero Energy Data Center. This refers to a data center that, under optimal conditions, no longer draws any energy from the public power grid and is powered entirely by CO2-neutral energy. To make this vision a reality, our project team first examined a total of 98 different technologies and individual measures to reduce the CO2 footprint of Biere and its twin data center in Magdeburg. These included solutions like photovoltaics and wind energy, as well as improved cooling technology, waste heat utilization, and more efficient servers. By using these technologies, we aim to achieve up to 50 percent energy self-sufficiency at Biere and cut up to 20,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year. This increased self-sufficiency not only makes the data center greener, but also more resilient to fluctuations and disruptions in the public power grid, contributing to the high level of data security in our green cloud.
