Broadband Forum: Greener equipment could power 70 data centres
January 15, 2026
Enabling connected devices in homes across Europe to enter standby mode will potentially save enough energy to power up to 70 new small data centres across the continent or the equivalent of a mid-size city, the Broadband Forum predicts.
The outcome of new power management standardisation efforts will mean devices such as home gateways, repeaters, and set-top boxes, will be able to enter low-power, energy-saving or deep standby modes resulting in energy savings of up to 1.3 TWh (Terrawatt-hour) in energy usage from homes across Europe, which is equivalent to powering the annual residential needs of cities, such as Athens, Copenhagen, or Lisbon.
“As connected homes grow increasingly sophisticated, energy efficiency is becoming a defining design consideration for broadband equipment,” said SoftAtHome Chief HGW Standardisation Architect David Cluytens. “This work from the Broadband Forum reflects a collective global industry effort to align broadband technologies with sustainability objectives, such as those outlined in the French Energy Transition Law for Green Growt.”
The latest extensions embedded in the Broadband Forum’s TR-181 Issue 2 Amendment 20 Data Model will allow broadband service providers (BSPs) and manufacturers to design and introduce even smarter and more environmentally friendly products, while maintaining a high level of performance and service for customers.
The BBF’s TR-181 device data model, when used over a User Services Platform (USP/TR-369)-enabled network, introduces standardized mechanisms for controlling and monitoring power consumption of embedded network technologies, such as Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB, xPON, and Thread. The TR-181 device data model allows BSPs to manage connected devices and ensures interoperability between devices and management software from different vendors.
“The latest power saving efforts highlight how the Broadband Forum’s members continue to look for ways to improve economic and environmental sustainability for the industry,” added Broadband Forum CEO Craig Thomas. “The TR-181 update represents a huge step forward for hitting sustainability targets in the years ahead.”
Significantly, remote power consumption monitoring for individual hardware components is enabled thanks to the update. The power management capability can be installed as a containerised solution in hardware from different vendors remotely.
The TR-181 update includes features such as Ethernet Energy Detect Power Down (EDPD), LED brightness management, CPU frequency scaling, and the ability to dynamically control the number of active Wi-Fi Rx/Tx antenna chains.
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