Every summer seems to bring another record-breaking heat wave. As temperatures climb, so do energy bills—especially for organizations operating large office buildings and campuses such as hospitals, schools, airports, and data centers.
When organizations think about reducing energy costs, they often focus on lighting, HVAC equipment, or building automation. Yet one of the biggest contributors to both power consumption and cooling demand often goes unnoticed: the network.
Here’s the good news: by modernizing network infrastructure with Passive Optical LAN (OLAN), organizations can significantly reduce both electrical consumption and the air conditioning required to keep networking equipment operating efficiently.
That’s a win that lasts far beyond the summer months.
The Hidden Cost of Traditional Networks
Traditional networks rely on hundreds of switches distributed throughout telecommunications closets across a building or campus.
Every switch consumes electricity.
Every watt consumed becomes heat.
And every bit of that heat has to be removed by the building’s cooling system.
The result?
You’re paying twice:
- Once to power the network
- Again to remove the heat it generates
As energy prices continue to rise, those operational costs compound year after year.
Less Equipment. Less Heat.
Optical LAN dramatically changes the equation.
Instead of deploying hundreds of power-hungry Ethernet switches throughout a facility, Passive Optical LAN uses centralized Optical Line Terminals (OLTs) connected to compact Optical Network Terminals (ONTs) via passive fiber infrastructure.
Fewer active electronics means
- Lower power consumption
- Far less heat generation
- Reduced demand on HVAC systems
- Fewer telecommunications closets requiring cooling
It’s a simpler network that naturally operates cooler.
The Numbers Are Hard to Ignore
A previous energy cost model compared two networks serving approximately 9,000 endpoints:
- Traditional LAN: 188 forty-eight-port switches
- Passive Optical LAN: Three OLTs and 2,250 four-port ONTs
The results were substantial.
Network Power Savings
Compared to a traditional LAN, Optical LAN delivered up to:
- 60% reduction in electrical costs
- 59% reduction in power consumption
- Approximately 26.6 fewer kilowatts dedicated to cooling the network
Those savings don’t happen just once—they continue every hour of every day.
Cooler Networks Mean Lower Cooling Bills
Power savings tell only part of the story.
Every watt consumed by networking equipment eventually becomes heat.
Reduce the heat, and building air conditioning systems don’t have to work nearly as hard.
In the modeled environment, annual cooling expenses dropped from roughly $59,000 to just over $24,000 without PoE—saving nearly $35,000 every year. Even in high-PoE deployments, cooling costs were reduced by nearly 50%.
That’s money organizations can invest elsewhere instead of spending on air conditioning.
Savings That Never Stop
Unlike one-time capital reductions, lower energy and cooling costs create something far more valuable:
An operational annuity.
Every month.
Every quarter.
Every year.
As long as the network is in service, it continues generating savings.
That ongoing operational efficiency becomes especially valuable during periods of:
Rising utility costs
- Inflationary pressure
- Tight operating budgets
- Sustainability initiatives
Instead of absorbing ever-increasing energy expenses, organizations benefit from infrastructure that continuously reduces them.
Better for Budgets—and the Environment
Using the same energy model, Optical LAN avoided approximately:
- 468,747 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually
- 332 metric tons of CO₂ emissions
According to the U.S. EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator, that’s roughly equivalent to:
- Removing 71.6 gasoline-powered vehicles from the road for one year
- Eliminating the annual energy use of 41.8 homes
- Saving over 37,000 gallons of gasoline
- Avoiding the consumption of approximately 769 barrels of oil
Sustainability goals become much easier to achieve when reducing operating costs and reducing emissions happen at the same time.
Stay Cool This Summer and Every Summer After
Heat waves may be unavoidable.
Sky-high cooling bills don’t have to be.
By reducing both the power required to operate the network and the energy needed to cool it, Optical LAN delivers meaningful operational savings year after year while supporting the growing bandwidth, wireless, security, and smart building demands of modern organizations.
When the temperature rises outside, your network shouldn’t be driving costs even higher inside.
This summer, it may be time to ask a simple question:
How much is your network costing you to keep cool?
Ready to Cool More Than Just Your Building?
Learn how Tellabs Optical LAN helps organizations reduce power consumption, lower HVAC costs, simplify network infrastructure, and improve long-term operational efficiency.
Contact Tellabs to schedule a consultation or request the Optical LAN Solutions Summary to see how much your organization could save.