SCTE, Cable Ops Set Goals to Reduce Energy Use by 2020

SCTE announced “Energy 2020,” a multi-year campaign to provide cable operators with new standards, technology innovation, training and more aimed at reducing power consumption 20% on a unit basis.

Operators active in the initial stages of Energy 2020 include Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Bright House, Bend Broadband, Rogers, Suddenlink and Buckeye, with more to come. Once operators’ objectives are aligned, vendors will jump in to help create standards that will be incorporated into future cable network equipment requirements. Cisco, Arris, Intel and others are already involved, according to SCTE pres/CEO Mark Dzuban. He explained that while the program is voluntary, it’s not going to be voluntary when it comes to putting requirements into vendor agreements to make sure these energy reduction needs are met.

In addition to power consumption reduction, the program aims to:
• Reduce energy cost by 25% on a unit basis
• Reduce grid dependency by 10%
• Optimize technical facilities and datacenters footprint by 20%
• Establish vendor partnerships that will impact hardware development

The industry needs to make sure that “energy and power never becomes an obstacle to compete in the marketplace,” Dzuban said. “The benefit is you get network reliability improvements. We’re going to work on density—in other words, continue to grow the bandwidth without necessarily growing out of our facilities.”

As operators grow bandwidth, it requires more hardware. “Reducing energy consumption and growing bandwidth at the same time is a challenge, but technologically, it is possible,” Dzuban said.

SCTE and the SCTE Energy Management Program stakeholder operators will unveil further details about the program during a special session at SCTE Cable Tec Expo (Sept. 22-25, Denver). Based on operator input, Energy 2020 has identified 12 primary initiatives across 5 categories: facilities, plant, operations, technology and marketing/regulatory.

“Ensuring both the availability and the efficient use of energy for cable’s needs are operational and financial imperatives,” said John Schanz, Comcast Cable chief network officer and evp.