STL Partners has published new decarbonisation research assessing the potential impact on mobile network energy use and emissions of using High Altitude Platforms (HAPs) to beam 5G to mobile users. STL’s research projected the carbon emissions and sustainable energy of the hydrogen-powered Stratomast HAP, designed by UK-based Stratospheric Platforms, compared to existing and planned 4G and 5G masts. The UK was used to model decarbonisation benefits, with plans for US and Japanese markets in 2022.
identified over 0.45 million tons of CO2 could be saved every year, using Stratospheric Platforms’ flying 5G mast, compared to ground-based installations – the equivalent of taking 225,000 fossil fuel cars off the road each year. A net saving of 4.5 million MWh of energy could be achieved in the UK by 2035 by terrestrial networks.
STL’s research, calculates a potential reduction of between 10% and 30% of the cell-site energy in the UK. This is made up of:
- Savings from cell sites not built, An estimated 4,600 rural cell sites that would not need to be built according to operators’ coverage plans
- Savings from decommissioned cell sites. Between 4,100 and 8,300 cell sites could be decommissioned by 2035, as a result of new coverage from Stratomast
(Image: Stratospheric Platforms (HAPs) will beam 5G to mobile users across the globe from a hydrogen-powered, remotely piloted composite aircraft the size of a passenger jet. Aircraft will take off from commercial airstrips and will conform to civil aviation regulations on operation and flight)
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