When the conversation turns to 5G’s potential to be a “greener” technology than previous generations, the subject of power usage is one of the first that comes up. Most often, it is framed in the context of power efficiency: That 5G is more efficient than 4G systems, on a basis of energy consumption per unit of data (watt/bit) and therefore, greener.
There’s a bit of a “yes, but …” moment here. Yes, 5G as a system is designed to be more power efficient – but that doesn’t mean it will use less power on an absolute basis.
