Energy Efficiency And Proper Shipping—It’s All In The Packaging

When solution providers reduce packing density and design products to be smaller and lighter—with the same high performance as larger-size products—we can all work together to reduce energy consumption, costs and carbon dioxide emissions associated with shipping.

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Note: Seventh in a series on Energy Solutions

You’ve likely heard TV commericals which say, “Act now and we’ll throw in shipping and handling for free.” Today, in the telecommunications world, you can get your solutions shipped while minimizing the associated environmental impact. I know, I’m starting to sound like the TV announcer and you’re probably waiting for me to say, “But wait, there’s more.”

In the past decade, the world has seen tremendous growth in wireless networking. This growth continues unabated as wireless operators add more infrastructure to handle mobile data traffic. In today’s global economy, the equipment required to build and operate a wireless site is often manufactured and shipped from all over the world. As most wireless operators have thousands of sites in their network, the energy consumption and costs associated with shipping and handling equipment are substantial. Unfortunately, these costs are often overlooked.

When infrastructure providers reduce packing density and design products to be smaller and lighter—with the same high performance as larger-size products—energy consumption, costs and carbon dioxide emissions associated with shipping can be reduced. Okay, I think it’s safe to say, “But wait, there’s more.”

CommScope helps its customers reduce shipping costs and subsequent carbon dioxide emissions in a number of innovative ways, such as:

Operators can save up to 40 percent of the space required to ship microwave antennas with our innovative MicroPak™ freight packing option, allowing two antennas to be safely packed into one container thus significantly reducing the energy consumption per antenna shipped

Our HELIAX® 3.0 FXL smoothwall aluminum cable is designed to be 20 percent lighter than traditional corrugated copper cable—resulting in lower shipping costs and lower greenhouse gas emissions, as less energy is required to ship the cable to cell sites

Our award-winning ReelSmart® cable reel recycling program saved the equivalent of 20,000 trees in 2010, protecting a valuable natural resource that will help capture more than 850 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over a 10-year period