The accounting of ICT sector energy consumption encompasses three major segments that include Personal Devices, Backbone Networks, and Auxiliary Infrastructure. The following are the main constituents of each segment:
Personal Computing Devices: The devices segment consists of all the personal computing devices around the globe and combined energy consumption associated with their use. These devices include mobiles phones, desktop computers, and laptops.
Backbone Networks: This segment consists of Internet infrastructure including all the copper/optical fiber networks and devices like routers, switches, firewalls, repeaters, and hubs, etc. Telecommunication networks include all the Mobile Switching Centers (MSCs), Base Transceiving Stations (BTSs), and corresponding support networks.
Auxiliary Infrastructure: This segment mainly consists of data centers that are centralized repositories containing data storage and telecommunication equipments and is used for storage, management, and dissemination of data associated with a particular organization, business, or agency. As the demand for information over Internet is rapidly increasing, more and more data centers are being established.