How will climate change effect Telecommunications?

So global warming is a huge subject in today’s society weather you believe in it or not. I think its safe to say that the majority of us think that it happening and that we do need to look at the implications but there is people who believe it is all a myth and something we have either caused or can help.

Weather you believe in global warming or not we can safely say that the climate is changing and I am going to look at how these changes will effect telecoms and telecommunications; an idea that is rarely talked about in the grand scale of the global warming theory.

What is climate change?

So what exactly is climate change? According to Wikipedia it is ‘Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average (e.g., more or fewer extreme weather events). Climate change may be limited to a specific region or may occur across the whole Earth’. From reports I have read in various sources such as The Guardian and The Met Office that this means we should expect more extreme weathers and storms which is the major factor that will effect our telecoms products!

How will weather effect telecoms?!

How will the weather effect telecoms I can hear you saying already? Well although more heat may seem like a good thing at first it could have an adverse effect on our telecoms products. Well metal things such as large wires and pylons expand in the heat which can cause them to buckle and break, just like a train track. A sudden break in a system could be disastrous depending on where it is and would also to be costly to fix!  These lines can also be damaged in the extreme cold, except lines then shrink and break which would be just as pricey to fix!

Another extreme weather case in which telecoms can be effected, especially when it will be relied on is in flood cases or high winds. In the case of high winds such as a hurricane or major flood in which people are stuck at home and need to contact friends, family or emergency services communication telecoms will be relied on heavily. However if we do not adapt and expect these situations then we may be without communication when we vitally need it!

A third instance of weather conditions effecting our communication is electrical storms, such as thunder and lightening. These can knock out telecom pylons in a flash, literally! Not only can this cause damage and knock out telecoms systems but it can also cause injury and death! If this happened again it would be very expensive to fix.

How can we help prevent climate change?

Well you might be helping already without even realizing! When you host a conference using services like Skype, or phones that are VOIP or IP you are already reducing your carbon footprint! Instead of traveling, sometimes hundreds of miles for a half hour meeting, using a train or car, you are simply driving to the near by office or maybe even conferencing from home. This immediately cuts down your CO2 emissions almost completely as the amount of electricity used produces nowhere near the amount of harmful gases as traveling a long way.

Another way of helping with this huge issue is to use Eco friendly phones. Here at DST UK we sell eco friendly phones which you can have a look at here.

We would like to hear your views on this subject so feel free to leave a comment an we will get back to as soon as we can!