Cable Joins Green Party

Kermit the Frog is finally making a splash within the cable industry. While cable is a little late to the green movement, the SCTE intends to make it a focus at Cable-Tec Expo 2009 in late October. The SCTE will be hosting a Green Pavilion to showcase technologies to save energy within the telecommunications industry.

An MSO Steering Council is reviewing applications from companies that want to exhibit in the Green Pavilion. Representatives from all of the top MSOs are on the Steering Council, including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox and Charter, as well as Canada’s Rogers Wireless.

Exhibitors must focus on energy efficiency within three specific areas: facilities and plant; fleet; and operations.

“The big thing here is that we’re focusing on the concept of power management,” said Marv Nelson, VP of professional development with the SCTE. “It’s part of a much bigger concept which is a renewed focus on the business of engineering and realizing that the engineering side spends the vast majority of capital.”

Besides the focus on energy efficiency, the products and services on display must be currently available and must offer a cost savings.

“Take something like solar power alternatives,” said Nelson. “That technology has been out of consideration because it’s been too expensive to get a reasonable payback. But now it’s starting to scale nicely.”

In fact, one of the first vendors to receive approval from the Steering Council is The Alpha Group, a power solutions company.

“We’re working with the SCTE to do some kind of grand entrance to the pavilion to make it ‘wow,’" said John Hewitt, VP of sales with Alpha. “We’re going to do a ground-mount solar system with 6-foot by 15-foot solar panels to look like a real installation.”

The SCTE has secured about 4,000 square feet for The Green Pavilion with enough space for about 30 exhibitors.

-Linda Hardesty