Nokia, Elisa and Efore have deployed a liquid-cooled base station system in an apartment building in Helsinki, promising lower costs for operators and owners of base station sites, as well as reduction in CO2 emissions.
Nokia said the liquid-cooled base station – developed by Nokia Bell Labs — has redirected the heat emitted from the base station to heat the building, lowering energy costs.

The Nokia solution achieved 80 percent reduction in CO2 emissions and 30 percent cut in energy operating expenses during customer trials. This will result into significant savings for operators and other owners of base station sites.

Liquid cooling permits the removal of air conditioning and fans, promising further operator savings, potentially longer base station component life and silent sites.
Nokia made the liquid-cooled base station at Nokia’s Oulu facility in Finland. Power supplier Efore developed the liquid-cooled power system. Elisa is deploying the base station in Helsinki. Vlad Grigore is the chief technology officer of Efore.

The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland evaluated the environmental impact of the liquid-cooled base station and energy usage compared to those generated by air cooling in the field.

ICT sector is one of the leading industries responsible for climate change. IEA says carbon emissions have started to rise again in advanced economies despite the strong growth in solar PV and wind.

“We have set targets to reduce our emissions in our effort to become an environmental leader, and we are committed to providing customers the services that enable them to act in a sustainable way,” Minna Kroger, director, Corporate responsibility from Elisa, said in a statement on Monday.