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	Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) A. Clemm, Ed.	Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) A. Clemm, Ed.
	Request for Comments: 9845 Independent	Request for Comments: 9845 Independent
	Category: Informational C. Pignataro, Ed.	Category: Informational C. Pignataro, Ed.

	ISSN: 2070-1721 NCSU / Blue Fern	ISSN: 2070-1721 NC State University & Blue Fern Consulting
	C. Westphal	C. Westphal

	L. Ciavaglia	L. Ciavaglia
	Nokia	Nokia
	J. Tantsura	J. Tantsura
	Nvidia	Nvidia
	M-P. Odini	M-P. Odini

	August 2025	September 2025

	Challenges and Opportunities in Management for Green Networking	Challenges and Opportunities in Management for Green Networking

	Abstract	Abstract

	Reducing humankind's environmental footprint and making technology	Reducing humankind's environmental footprint and making technology
	more environmentally sustainable are among the biggest challenges of	more environmentally sustainable are among the biggest challenges of
	our age. Networks play an important part in this challenge. On one	our age. Networks play an important part in this challenge. On one
	hand, they enable applications that help to reduce this footprint.	hand, they enable applications that help to reduce this footprint.
	On the other hand, they significantly contribute to this footprint	On the other hand, they significantly contribute to this footprint

	skipping to change at line 207 ¶	skipping to change at line 207 ¶
	networking advances will increasingly need to focus on becoming more	networking advances will increasingly need to focus on becoming more
	energy efficient and reducing the carbon footprint, for reasons of	energy efficient and reducing the carbon footprint, for reasons of
	both corporate responsibility and economics. This shift has already	both corporate responsibility and economics. This shift has already
	begun, and sustainability is becoming an important concern for	begun, and sustainability is becoming an important concern for
	network providers. In some cases, such as in the context of	network providers. In some cases, such as in the context of
	networked data centers, the ability to procure enough energy becomes	networked data centers, the ability to procure enough energy becomes
	a bottleneck, prohibiting further growth, and greater sustainability	a bottleneck, prohibiting further growth, and greater sustainability
	thus becomes a business necessity.	thus becomes a business necessity.

	For example, in its annual report, Telefónica reports that in 2024,	For example, in its annual report, Telefónica reports that in 2024,

	its network's energy consumption per PB of data amounted to 38	its network's energy consumption per petabyte (PB) of data amounted
	megawatt-hours (MWh) [Telefonica2024]. This rate has been	to 38 megawatt-hours (MWh) [Telefonica2024]. This represents an
	dramatically improving from values that were reported for earlier	improvement of about 90% since the 2015 base year (400 MWh/PB),
	years, for example 115 MWh/PB in 2019 or 400 MWh/PB in 2015	achieved through steady year-on-year efficiency gains, although these
	[Telefonica2020]. While portions of the gains in efficiency are	are still partly offset by simultaneous growth in data volume. The
	being offset by simultaneous growth in data volume, Telefónica states	same report highlights an important corporate goal: continuing on
	that an important corporate goal is continuing on that trajectory and	this trajectory and further reducing overall greenhouse gas
	aggressively reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions further.	emissions.

	1.2. Approaching the Problem	1.2. Approaching the Problem

	One way in which gains in network sustainability can be achieved	One way in which gains in network sustainability can be achieved
	involves reducing the amount of energy needed to provide	involves reducing the amount of energy needed to provide
	communication services and improving the efficiency with with	communication services and improving the efficiency with with
	networks utilize power during their use phase. However, for a	networks utilize power during their use phase. However, for a
	holistic approach, other aspects need to be considered as well.	holistic approach, other aspects need to be considered as well.

	The environmental footprint is not determined by energy consumption	The environmental footprint is not determined by energy consumption

	skipping to change at line 543 ¶	skipping to change at line 543 ¶
	operational robustness). As data transmission needs tend to	operational robustness). As data transmission needs tend to
	fluctuate wildly and occur in bursts, any optimization schemes need	fluctuate wildly and occur in bursts, any optimization schemes need
	to be highly adaptable and allow control loops at very fast time	to be highly adaptable and allow control loops at very fast time
	scales.	scales.

	Similarly, for applications where this is possible, it may be	Similarly, for applications where this is possible, it may be
	desirable to replace continuous traffic at low data rates with	desirable to replace continuous traffic at low data rates with
	traffic that is sent in bursts at high data rates in order to	traffic that is sent in bursts at high data rates in order to
	potentially maximize the time during which resources can be idled.	potentially maximize the time during which resources can be idled.


	As a result, emphasis needs to be given to technology that enables,	As a result, emphasis needs to be placed on technology that enables,
	for example, very efficient and rapid discovery, monitoring, and	for example, very efficient and rapid discovery, monitoring, and
	control of networking resources. This allows devices to be	control of networking resources. This allows devices to be
	dynamically taken offline or brought back online without extensive	dynamically taken offline or brought back online without extensive
	network-level state convergence, route recalculation, or other	network-level state convergence, route recalculation, or other
	complex optimizations at the network level. To facilitate such	complex optimizations at the network level. To facilitate such
	schemes, rapid power cycle and initialization schemes should be	schemes, rapid power cycle and initialization schemes should be
	supported at the device level. There may be some lessons that can be	supported at the device level. There may be some lessons that can be
	applied here from IoT, which has long had to contend with power-	applied here from IoT, which has long had to contend with power-
	constrained end devices that need to spend much of their time in	constrained end devices that need to spend much of their time in
	power-saving states to conserve battery.	power-saving states to conserve battery.

	skipping to change at line 1566 ¶	skipping to change at line 1566 ¶
	DOI 10.3390/cryptography4020015, 2020,	DOI 10.3390/cryptography4020015, 2020,
	<https://doi.org/10.3390/cryptography4020015>.	<https://doi.org/10.3390/cryptography4020015>.

	[TCC] Rahimi, P., Singh, A. K., and X. Wang, "Selective Noise	[TCC] Rahimi, P., Singh, A. K., and X. Wang, "Selective Noise
	Based Power-Efficient and Effective Countermeasure Against	Based Power-Efficient and Effective Countermeasure Against
	Thermal Covert Channel Attacks in Multi-Core Systems",	Thermal Covert Channel Attacks in Multi-Core Systems",
	Journal on Low Power Electronics and Applications, vol.	Journal on Low Power Electronics and Applications, vol.
	12, no. 2, DOI 10.3390/jlpea12020025, 2022,	12, no. 2, DOI 10.3390/jlpea12020025, 2022,
	<https://doi.org/10.3390/jlpea12020025>.	<https://doi.org/10.3390/jlpea12020025>.


	[Telefonica2020]
	Telefonica, "Telefonica Consolidated Management Report
	2020", 2021, <https://www.telefonica.com/en/shareholders-
	investors/financial-reports/historical-archive-annual-
	reports/2020/>.

	[Telefonica2024]	[Telefonica2024]
	Telefonica, "Telefonica Consolidated Annual Report 2024",	Telefonica, "Telefonica Consolidated Annual Report 2024",
	2025, <https://www.telefonica.com/en/wp-	2025, <https://www.telefonica.com/en/wp-
	content/uploads/sites/5/2025/02/Consolidated-Annual-	content/uploads/sites/5/2025/02/Consolidated-Annual-
	Accounts-2024.pdf>.	Accounts-2024.pdf>.

	[TradeOff] Welzl, M., "Not a Trade-Off: On the Wi-Fi Energy	[TradeOff] Welzl, M., "Not a Trade-Off: On the Wi-Fi Energy
	Efficiency of Effective Internet Congestion Control", 2022	Efficiency of Effective Internet Congestion Control", 2022
	17th Wireless On-Demand Network Systems and Services	17th Wireless On-Demand Network Systems and Services
	Conference (WONS), pp. 1-4,	Conference (WONS), pp. 1-4,

	skipping to change at line 1628 ¶	skipping to change at line 1622 ¶

	Authors' Addresses	Authors' Addresses

	Alexander Clemm (editor)	Alexander Clemm (editor)
	Independent	Independent
	Los Gatos, CA	Los Gatos, CA
	United States of America	United States of America
	Email: ludwig@clemm.org	Email: ludwig@clemm.org

	Carlos Pignataro (editor)	Carlos Pignataro (editor)

	North Carolina State University & Blue Fern	North Carolina State University & Blue Fern Consulting
	United States of America	United States of America
	Email: cmpignat@ncsu.edu, carlos@bluefern.consulting	Email: cmpignat@ncsu.edu, carlos@bluefern.consulting

	Cedric Westphal	Cedric Westphal
	Email: westphal@ieee.org	Email: westphal@ieee.org

	Laurent Ciavaglia	Laurent Ciavaglia
	Nokia	Nokia
	Email: laurent.ciavaglia@nokia.com	Email: laurent.ciavaglia@nokia.com


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