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FCC Requires Backup Power For 210K Cell Towers
1sockchuck alerts us to an article in Data Center Knowledge that explores ramifications from the FCC's decision a couple of months back to require backup power for cell sites and other parts of the telecom infrastructure. The new rule was prompted by wireless outages during Hurricane Katrina. There are more than 210,000 cell towers in the US, as well as 20,000 telecom central offices that will also need generators or batteries. Municipalities are bracing for disputes as carriers try to add generators or batteries to cell sites on rooftops or water towers. The rules will further boost demand in the market for generators, where there are already lengthy delivery backlogs for some models.
Jesus christ you fucking hippies. Your solution to everything is to throw a fucking solar panel on it. And wind power...are you shitting me. The little wind you get down the street isn't going to power a flash light much less a tower on the wireless network. Wind turbines need to be placed in very windy mountainous areas not likely to provide great cell service. Also you fucking sensationalists think that batteries are the end all storage. Do you realize most batteries are bad for the environment, are expensive as sin, and are horribly inefficient? And solar...which spot on the tower do we block? I also hope you know that solar panels for anything more useful than a calculator will need to be very large and expensive. Please hippies think before just throwing out the two most horribly inefficient energy sources. I am sure we can burn a bit of gas during an emergency and our carbon counting overloads will forgive us.