Wireless power could be key to 5G-enabled sustainable smart cities

The Internet of Things (IoT) is estimated to currently connect over 10 billion devices and is expected to grow rapidly with 5G, with Cisco predicting that there will be over 500 billion connected devices by 2030. One of the pillars of 5G coverage is its ability to increase the number of connected devices by orders of magnitude; for the first time we will have a network that can truly connect every device in the world.

This scalability could enable a wide range of new IoT applications, including large-scale, ultra-high-speed networks that improve supply chains and speed up manufacturing processes. But as 5G coverage grows, IoT data that drives sustainable smart city applications is the most anticipated. When applied to smart city applications, 5G's real-time data capabilities for IoT can balance power loads, reduce costs, reduce unnecessary resource consumption, and improve safety.

Now, 5G is solving the massive connectivity problem, but there is one obstacle that is not getting enough attention and is holding back the deployment of the IoT: power. Today’s typical wired and battery-powered approaches are not up to the challenge of powering hundreds of billions of devices; humans haven’t made that many batteries in 200 years, and we can’t possibly connect that many. We need to rethink how we power sensors and devices to meet the challenge and realize the promise of a 5G-enabled IoT. Fortunately, there is another option: wireless power.

Wires and conventional batteries can’t power the future

While 5G can indeed expand the scale of IoT with hundreds of billions of new connected devices around the world, traditional power transmission mechanisms limit IoT deployment over 5G. Wireless power is the modern power infrastructure we need to deploy with 5G. Wireless power is safe and reliable electricity that can be automatically transmitted to devices from great distances.

Smart cities will require metropolitan-scale networks to improve operational efficiency, deliver critical data to the public, and improve municipal services. For example, IoT sensors in devices can transmit information about air quality, temperature, resource consumption, general health, and activity levels around a city, enabling rapid analysis to design and deploy improvements—but all of these sensors require power.

Safe wireless power already exists and can be deployed at scale to integrate wireless power into buildings and infrastructure along with 5G. This will reduce wiring and maintenance costs while providing wireless power to enable personal consumer smart home gadgets, phones, tablets, gaming devices, etc. within buildings to be automatically charged as well.

On the other hand, batteries have a huge environmental cost: extracting rare earth metals, manufacturing batteries and ultimately disposing of them wreak havoc on our environment.

• Battery chemical mining has negatively impacted the health of ecosystems, human populations, and wildlife around the world.
• The energy cost of a battery is typically 5000 times that of the equivalent energy from a wall socket. This includes the cost of raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, etc.
• Battery disposal is becoming an environmental nightmare, with more and more devices having short lifespans, meaning batteries, even rechargeable ones, are being disposed of in large quantities around the world.

Wireless drives a sustainable 5G future

Sustainability is a core component of the smart city vision. 5G enables smart cities to leverage data and technology to improve efficiency, increase productivity, and transform cities into hubs of sustainable development. Wireless power achieves this by reducing the excessive battery and electronics waste associated with traditional power sources.

Independent research firm Sustaintalytics estimates the impact that wireless power could have on the IoT over the next five to ten years. The company looked at just three potential IoT sensor use cases, which represent less than 1% of the total number of sensors expected to be deployed in the next few years. Even with limited capacity, the positive environmental impact of switching to wireless power is expected to be significant:

• 41,000-83,000 kg of waste avoided.
• Eliminated 238,000-476,000 standard containers (40 feet) of battery waste.
• This is equivalent to removing 66,000-132,000 cars from the road.
• 468-936 tonnes of lithium avoided.
• Save 936M-1.87B liters of water (equivalent to 720 Olympic-sized pools).
• Avoided 306,500-613,000 emissions (tCO2e).

Again, these are the estimated impacts of wireless power on 1% of IoT devices. Extrapolating these numbers to broader wireless power deployments, the huge potential of wireless power to improve sustainability comes into focus.

Driving technology trends

In smart city environments, wireless power infrastructure can reduce the waste associated with traditional electricity, while also enabling wider deployment of sensors connected by 5G networks. These can drive smart transportation, parking and traffic management initiatives, while supporting innovation in other areas, including healthcare, education and public services.

This is just the beginning. 5G is already inspiring new technology trends across the board. When 5G is combined with wireless power, the two technologies can open the floodgates of creativity and enable innovation across fields, including smart cars, smart homes, virtual reality, and more.

5G is a game changer. Its scalability, speed, and data capacity have the potential to drive innovation in the Internet of Things. People are excited about the possibilities, including the potential for smart cities. But before the promise of the Internet of Things can be fully realized, we need to overcome the limitations of traditional power sources for the Internet of Things. Wireless power deployed by 5G may be the key to achieving this sustainable vision.