Management of the impact on the environment

A remedy is new technologies, particularly the Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, as they help to reduce consumption of electricity, fuels and water or improve the quality of air.

In Poland, more than 80 cities and towns, both big and small, have already implemented IoT solutions provided by Orange.

Smart Water solutions from Orange are operational in over 30 municipalities in Poland. In particular, it is used in the right-bank districts of Szczecin, while in Krosno Odrzańskie it encompasses the entire water supply network (3372 main water meters). The system prevents water waste, generates savings and streamlines management. Smart Water automatically reads water meters on house service lines, and, via a telemetric module with a built-in SIM card, sends the current data to the water utility.

Moreover, current monitoring by Smart Water ensures effective failure identification, which reduces water waste by up to a dozen or so per cent and prevents costly repairs of streets and sidewalks. The system also reports fraud attempts, such as water meter removal or manipulation. Smart Water provides access to information on a 24-hour basis, while historical data enable analysis, future water consumption forecasts and planning of water supply network repairs and development. The system also makes life easier for residents, as they do not need to arrange visits by meter reading personnel and they are notified in case of increased water consumption.

Smart Lights ensures efficient and eco-friendly city lighting. Special LED fixtures with built-in GSM cards enable automatic control of illumination of streets, parks, residential districts and other open spaces according to pre-defined parameters. Consequently, lamps are turned only when it is dark and any pedestrian traffic is detected, and lighting intensity is adjusted to the season or the weather conditions. As a result, electricity consumption can be reduced by several dozen per cent compared to traditional lighting systems. In addition, LED fixtures are designed to minimise light pollution, which disrupts the natural circadian rhythm of people and animals. A total of eight cities, such as Bolesławiec, Lwówek Śląski and Lubomierz, have already appreciated the Smart Lights solution.

The fourth biking season with Smart Bike is over. So far, over 56,000 bikers from 21 cities have ridden almost 2.4 million kilometres, that is 60 times around the world. Had they covered that distance, 2.4 mln km, by car, about 288 tonnes of CO₂ would have been emitted to the atmosphere. Smart Bike is a fourth generation public bike-sharing system. In particular, it means that you can leave your bike at any place within the designated zone. The operator tracks the location of each bike, used or free. The bike monitoring system is charged by a solar power supply, so it is possible to see what is happening with bikes all the time. Bikes are equipped with SIM cards and a system monitoring various parameters during ride. The collected data provide information how to plan the network and develop further active smart solutions, as well as how to design the cycle track grid and other cycling facilities. The Smart Bike solution not only facilitates city transport, but also reduces CO₂ emissions and promotes healthy lifestyle.

Other Smart City solutions are Smart Energy and photovoltaics. Photovoltaic systems use the Internet of Things to communicate with the system that manages electricity flows. Thanks to proper monitoring and analytic tools it is possible to optimise the use of photovoltaic energy. The Smart Energy Controller developed by Orange experts in 2020 is the brain of the system. It monitors both the system and the equipment and circuits connected to it on a 24-hour basis, controlling dozens of power parameters in real time. In case of any irregularities, the system sends notifications or alerts. The built-in ‘power guard’ enables individual devices or circuits to be switched on and off remotely.

Analysis of data from various city systems gives municipal authorities the complete picture, enabling them to take the right actions. It is facilitated by the Live Objects platform. It is Orange’s in-house solution, that can be used by companies, cities and institutions. Live Objects integrates all city systems in a single place; then, they can be managed from virtually anywhere in the world as long as there is internet access. The operations of the platform are based on the analysis of huge amounts of data and M2M communications. The latter is possible thanks to special SIM cards (similar to those used in smartphones) installed in devices to make them automatically send information to the system. There are already over 2 million devices with such cards provided by Orange all over Poland, which is about 40% of the Polish M2M market. In the M2M technology, information is sent between devices via a mobile network without human involvement. The LTE-M network is used for these communications, as it can handle thousands of IoT devices per square kilometre. Importantly, this technology reaches also weak coverage sites, such as basements, and is energy-efficient, as devices can operate up to ten years on a single battery. The latter is achieved by ‘awakening’ devices only for brief moments when they need to send data.

For example, we replace copper-based solutions with more energy-efficient fibre.

Orange Polska invests PLN 700–800 million annually in its fibre network. As a result, almost one third of Polish households are already within its reach. During the pandemic, our fibre network enabled data traffic higher by about 30% compared to older technologies.

Once at optimal usage rates, energy consumption in a fibre network is several times lower than in the case of copper wires, while transmission capacity per customer is higher.

Lower electricity consumption is a comparative advantage of fibre over copper-based solutions. Owing to the characteristics of optical lines, more customers can be connected to a single aggregate device without compromising on service quality. Moreover, as fibre develops, it becomes more effective. According to our analyses, energy consumption per FTTH customer is up to a dozen or so times lower than in networks based on copper technologies.

Fibre network is currently the most energy-efficient technology for the Internet access, and its efficiency increases as its capacity is filled. Fibre lines have virtually no physical limitations in terms of data transfer. Optical systems make it possible to achieve transmission range on an unparalleled scale and eliminate a considerable number of active network devices, which would otherwise consume energy.

Currently, we need four times less energy per customer to provide Orange fibre broadband then we did when this technology was introduced to the market in 2015. Thus, migration of our customers to a modern fibre network has a major impact on our green transformation and pursuit of climate neutrality by 2040. Owing to our customers increasingly choosing FTTH services, we are able to save 17 GWh of energy annually, which corresponds to 13,000 tonnes of CO₂ less in the atmosphere.

We efficiently manage waste from dismantled copper lines. As much as three fourths of the elements of removed copper cables can be reused, e.g. to produce power cables or mobile phones. In terms of savings of raw materials, it is a valuable contribution to circular economy. Therefore, at Orange we ensure that the copper cables which are no longer needed are dismantled and recycled in a responsible manner.

Each year, Orange Group emits 1.5 million tonnes of CO₂ globally. Orange Polska accounts for as much as one third of these emissions. This is a simple consequence of Poland’s energy mix which is based on coal. Therefore, the energy sources we use as a company are of key importance.

The first step in our response has been to conclude long-term contracts for electricity from two new wind farms built for Orange Polska by WPD in Greater Poland. They will become operational in mid-2021 and supply almost 50 GWh annually. This is about 9% of our annual energy needs. WPD could complete this project because Orange Polska guaranteed that it would purchase energy from it for many years. As a result, new renewable sources will be added to the market, improving Poland’s energy mix.

We will subsequently increase the use of renewable energy from facilities developed specifically for our needs, so as to increase their share to 60% of our annual energy consumption by 2025.

We have also decided to use the roofs and lands on our premises to produce green electricity for our own needs. We will follow the Solar-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. It means that our business partner will develop and maintain a photovoltaic (PV) system at its own expense, while we will lease an installation site and buy the solar energy produced. This benefits both parties and the environment. The first PV systems are scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2021. They will supply a total of 900 kWp of energy, which accounts for almost 4% of the annual consumption by our two data centres.

Our Warsaw Data Hub, which is currently under construction, will also be equipped with a PV system of the initial capacity of 500 kWp (which can be subsequently expanded). No data centre operating in Poland has a similar solution at such scale. Furthermore, charging stations for electric cars will be developed on a parking lot in front of the Warsaw Data Hub, and ‘grey water’ (recycled waste water) will be used to irrigate the greens around the facility. Thanks to the technological solutions implemented in the Warsaw Data Hub, we will prevent CO2 emissions of about 5,000 tonnes annually, which corresponds to the annual emissions of 1,300 cars.