The unbridled success of wireless networks for Internet access and beyond has brought mobile telecommunications to remote areas of Africa , safety to many a driver stranded roadside, and worldwide mobility to professionals who were once deskbound. Yet all of this has come at a steep environmental cost: The global network and technology required to run it produce 250 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, roughly the same as is produced yearly by 50 million automobiles (20 percent of all the autos in the U.S.), according to Green Touch , a new international consortium of businesses, government agencies and academics formed to address this problem. [More]