Environmental Impact Assessment of Mobile Communication Networks in Lagos State

I.O. Ladipo; A.O. Gbenga-Ilori

I.O. Ladipo Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Yaba College of Technology, Yaba-Lagos, Nigeria
A.O. Gbenga-Ilori Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, University of Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

The exponential increase in the energy demand and carbon footprint of Information and Communications
Technology (ICT) services are problems of global concern. There is no general solution to this problem globally
because energy sources and the resulting environmental impacts differ from country to country. However, there is a
need to identify the causes of these pollutants and locally assess their impacts to proffer a lasting solution. In this
paper, we evaluate the energy demands of the telecommunication sites in Lagos, Nigeria and the environmental
impact resulting from their operations. The periods the base transceiver stations (BTSs) are powered by the national
grid were investigated and we considered the emission generated from the alternative energy sources the service
providers adopt in the absence of national grid supply. The findings from our study revealed that the service providers
depend largely on diesel generators (DG) for their operations, and the entire management of the site is not energy-efficient. Based on the peculiarity of our study location, we present viable green approaches and achievable
recommendations that can be implemented by the service providers and the major stakeholders to reduce the
negative environmental impact resulting from the operations of these telecommunication sites

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