K. Pentikousis et al. (Eds.): MONAMI 2010, LNICST 68, pp. 326–339, 2011. © Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering 2011 EARTH: Paving the Way for Future Energy Efficient Broadband Wireless Networks Luis Sanchez 1 , Oliver Blume 2 , Manuel Gonzalez 1 , Gergely Biczók 3 , Dieter Ferling 2 , and István Gódor 4 1 TTI (Technologies of Telecommunication and Information). Albert Einstein 14, Santander, Spain 2 Alcatel-Lucent Deutschland. Lorenzstraße 10, Stuttgart, Germany 3 Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Műegyetm 3. Budapest, Hungary 4 Ericsson Magyarország Kft., H-1097 Budapest, Könyves Kálmán krt. 11., Hungary lsanchez@tlmat.unican.es, mjgonzalez@ttinorte.es, {oliver.blume,dieter.ferling}@alcatel-lucent.com, biczok@tmit.bme.hu,istvan.godor@ericsson.com Abstract. Currently, the vast majority of mobile subscribers rely on second- generation mobile technologies, but service providers are investing into aggressive rollouts of mobile broadband networks to deliver a fully-featured wireless Internet. While the main focus in research has been put on enhancing the capacity of this kind of networks, very little has been done regarding their energy efficiency. On the other hand, rising energy cost and growing awareness of climate issues require a shift of focus. The EARTH (Energy Aware Radio and neTworking tecHnologies) project addresses this by investigating and proposing effective mechanisms to drastically reduce energy wastage and improve energy efficiency of mobile broadband communication systems, without compromising system capacity and users’ perceived quality of service. In this paper we sketch the main research approaches taken within the project. First, the methodologies to evaluate the energy efficiency of cellular networks, as well as the respective energy efficiency metrics are presented. Afterwards, the proposed solutions are described; within EARTH a holistic approach is being used so that advances in radio components, radio network technologies and advanced network management protocols are exploited jointly, resulting in combined gains that enable an expected power consumption reduction by 50%. 1 Introduction The planet Earth is experiencing global warming mainly due to the rising emission of greenhouse gases requiring immediate action to reduce carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emission of all human activities. Even though the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP15 in Dec 2009 has failed to yield legally binding reduction plans many countries have committed to reducing their CO 2 footprint by 20% by 2020, compared to 1990 [1]. It is believed that the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry can play an important role in such reduction plans. Scientific findings have indicated that the CO 2 emission of the ICT industry is