Europe braces for mobile network blackouts

The sanctions were a disaster. The West funded and fought proxy wars against Russia in Eastern Europe, Africa and South America all through the second half of the twentieth century without this insanity.

If you pivot to digital and then turn the power off, your society is stuffed and you will be deservedly kicked out of office at the next election.

when sanctions are backfiring on you.

Ursula and co as great "leaders" heading EU to darkest days in decades without any problems in their empty heads.

all in name of US interests.

all of this may not end good.

Europe has been so dependent upon Russia, and didn't realize it ?

Even if the War in Ukraine is resolved, without the NORD Gas pipelines, power issues will remain.

European politicians allowed Greta, a high schooler, to set energy policy and now they will all suffer.

She has said "Nuclear is not competitive," and she was wrong.

Yrral

Why is there so much gloom and doom going into the holidays,I already in the holiday spirit

Most of your comments are doom the gloom so will we get a respite then?

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline was never in operation and never supplied any gas. The Russians shut off the Nord Stream 1 pipeline about two weeks ago citing breakdowns.

It will be a difficult period for Europe while alternative supplies are made. In the long term, Russia will export less gas.

"economics might be a bit over your head, but..."

Ad hominem exposes ones logical weakness.

The sanctions are having their anticipated effect, much to the detriment of the people of the EU.

How much electricity does a mobile tower use?

1-5 kilowatts.

A 5G tower needs 10-15 kilowatts.

There are 421,000 tower sites in Europe, as of 2018. Germany has the most, 70,000.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1122159/telecom-tower-sites-europe-2018/

50% of Indian cell towers use renewable energy.

Annually, US cell sites use a total of almost 21 million megawatt hours (MWh) of power. That’s the equivalent of the average power used by almost two million households.

As carriers densify networks and build out 5G, the number of cell sites in the U.S. grew to 417,215 by the end of 2020, according to a survey from CTIA.

Similar number to Europe.

So European mobile towers use 21 million megawatt hours (MWh) of power. That’s the equivalent of the average power used by almost two million households.

Electricity for mobile phones does not end at the towers. There is also a vast infrastructure which includes massive data centers.

Upgrading cell towers could save enough energy to power entire cities

Artificial intelligence can create massive efficiencies in the management of telecom cell sites, and with hardware and software upgrades, the power consumed by the sites could be cut by 40%.

https://www.computerworld.com/article/3668168/upgrading-cell-towers-could-save-enough-energy-to-power-entire-cities.html

Mobile phone systems use more than 10% of total world energy.

How does your mobile phone work?

https://youtu.be/1JZG9x_VOwA

Russia is too big to sanction.

This is not the 90s where one country could sanction their enemies into submission.

Sanction Russia and take its oil off the market when Iran and Venezuela are already sanctioned. The global oil demand will ensure that oil prices will go double or higher of what they already are.

The US will not be affected since it’s now self sufficient in oil production, but the rest of the world will be the next to experience what Europe is experiencing now.

If the West tries to sanction countries buying energy from Russia it will only lead to formation of economic blocks, and these will not be UN sanctions anyways.

China and India don’t want to shoot themselves in the foot like Europe, and they have billion plus populations to take care of.

I remember power outages from when I was a Kid. The Mantle-piece Candlesticks, were no longer ornaments, and became functional essentials.. wonder if people still remember candlesticks (and I'm not talking about Financial Charting "Candle Sticks").

https://www.langmann.com/insights-blog/history-of-candlesticks

The fact of the matter is, that unless Global Warming leads to a warmer Winter, homes will be Cold during the Winter months, and potentially without Power too.

Prudence suggests, being prepared sooner than later, before the Scalpers suck the products dry and resell them at elevated prices.

If you live in a house (rather than an apartment) then you have additional options - especially the older ones with fireplaces .... though you really should stock up on Coal & Firewood sooner than later.

Best to invest in canned food that can be eaten cold (baked beans, is a good example), bottled Water - since without power, pumping stations may stop, and water cease to flow. A Waterbutt would be useful to add to your home as you can use the rainwater for flushing toilets, etc.

Deodorant - as clearly a cold shower in the morning, may not be everyone's cup of tea.

A bicycle, as if you need to travel to work, then that may be your only viable option.

An ice/cold box, with icepacks, for putting stuff from the fridge into when the Power does go off... ,

Candles... and/or batteries for Torches.

And of course, a battery pack for your Mobile phone - at least, it can act as a Torch, regardless whether the network is up or not. Plus, if you want some entertainment, you can always download iPlayer programming and watch later whilst the battery lasts.

Sleeping bags are pretty good too, more efficient for keeping an individual warmer than a bedsheet.

Get used to Ice-coffee in the morning, and bread & peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast.

The list goes on, though it will pay to think ahead.

Also, have a thought to the Homeless people, during these times, you may soon be getting an experience of what they go through , even though you have a roof over your head.... maybe consider buying a copy of "The Big Issue" from those selling it on the Streets, or even having a conversation with them.

They need to accelerate to diversify their sources, whether it's energy or manufacturing production

That's what happens when ya rely too much on one country

Mobile phones are now essential items. Mobile towers using renewable energy.

Japan has 220,000 cell sites for its 115 million internet users. About 10 million megawatts of power or the power used by one million homes.

This entire operation has been run by leaders in high ivory towers somewhere far away like Washington DC. Anyone in Asia or in the area close to Russia would have been able to easily understand how ridiculous the western response to Russia was.

A bigger problem than the Ukraine War is the strength of the US dollar and yet there is no concerted effort to prevent the US dollar causing a global disaster...

Some European countries.

So many people blaming the US and blaming people in Europe. The real blame lays with Russia and its invasion. If Russia had not chosen to invade Ukraine, none of this would have happened and over a hundred thousand people would still be alive.

Russia is the culprit, the criminal and the cause of all of this. Nobody else is to blame for Putin's evil actions.

Yet again, another scare mongering piece by mainstream media, where there is ZERO certainty that anything bad will happen, and even the opening sentence lays out that they're pulling stories out of their bums:

X could happen if Y.

How many times do we see empty speculation as "news" stories these days? How lazy is the media to focus on "may, might, possibly" instead of facts (like total energy imports to the EU are down a mere 5% from one year ago, while Putin has totally lost sales to a market that used to comprise over 55% of his gas exports)? How dishonest is it to treat speculation as fact, and conjecture as reality?

Go Green, then.

Easy to say?

I can't even remember the last power cut.

I live in France and the chance we get hours of out of the grid is very very low.

Bet please. Electricty lines in France are very reliable. Around kilometers around my city, all lines are underground.

Why is there so much gloom and doom going into the holidays,I already in the holiday spirit

Did Russia halt the gas supply? I don't think that was Russia's decision. Also, the Nord pipeline was bombed, so that sure did halt the supply, but once again not by Russia's decision. This is not truthful news reporting.

time for coin or prepaid cards for public phones....great U turn

2 hour disruption max. Lol.

In many countries, you talk about half days or worse...

Worse is the inflation but rhat is the price to pay for liberty (who would like Poutin as his best friend ?)

Prin,the European are at the mercy of Putin,of their choosing

Make one call away,one hour of internet,

Sanctions seem to be hitting Europeans really hard.

short term pain for long term gain.

economics might be a bit over your head, but believe me when I say Russia will be the only long term loser