Towards greener telecommunication towers: A framework for “LEED for telecom towers”

Abstract

As climate change becomes an urgent issue that must be tackled immediately, several disciplines are making efforts to mitigate its effects. One of the disciplines that must be addressed to mitigate the negative impacts it has on the environment is the installation of telecommunication towers. An ever-increasing number of telecommunication towers may have negative impacts on the environment because of the use of diesel, not environmentally friendly materials or the waves emitted to the surrounding environment. Literature review showed different sustainable approaches that were proposed for use in telecommunication towers. However, there is a gap in having a comprehensive approach for making the overall factors of the telecommunication towers more sustainable. Green rating systems are used as guidelines for making buildings more sustainable. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system is the most widely used green rating system in the world; however, it doesn’t have any guidelines for applying sustainable measures in telecommunication towers. Therefore, this paper proposes a green rating system that is based on LEED’s main categories, to limit the negative impacts telecommunication towers have on the environment. Then, 21 questionnaires were distributed among engineers from various backgrounds in Egypt as a case study to come up with proposed weights for categories and subcategories. The questionnaire analysis is based on Analytical Hierarchy Process. It is concluded that the sustainable site category has the highest weight, as the optimum selection of site would help in improving the overall factors that affect the environmental behavior of the tower.

Keywords:

• communication towers
• sustainability
• LEED
• green rating systems

1. Introduction

Telecommunications are vital infrastructure for the twenty-first century. Instantaneous, virtual data and voice freeways facilitate and speed up communication between people, businesses, and other trades. Telecommunication is the nerve center of the modern world, as communication, government functions, and information are all part of the modern metropolis’s system. Access to phones and the internet is required for social gatherings and corporate activities. Individuals, businesses, and telecommunications networks would not be able to function without proper communication infrastructure (Moss et al., 2006). With the increasing demand for voice and data traffic, more telecommunications towers are needed to maintain coverage (Parbat & Aulakh, 2014, 2014). The increase in telecommunications infrastructure will increase the electricity requirement that provides power for the towers’ appurtenances. This electricity is usually obtained from the power grid or through diesel generators. Such sources emit greenhouse gases which have a hazardous impact on the environment (Mehra, 2020). Steel is used to construct most telecommunication towers. It is known for its high carbon emissions. In China, for example, the steel industry consumes coal and coke energy for about 89.18% of the total energy consumption of the steel industry; therefore, the steel industry is considered one of the key sources of CO₂ emissions representing around 15% of the total national emissions (Xu et al., 2021). Steel is also known for its high embodied energy which is the energy used in manufacturing a product or a service including energy consumed in extracting, processing the raw materials, manufacturing the construction materials, transportation, distribution, and assembly and construction (Tuladhar & Yin, 2019). The embodied energy in structural steel is found to be higher than in concrete and is considered the highest among structural materials (Elsayed et al., 2021). Reinforced concrete is used for the telecommunication towers’ foundation which is known as well for its high CO₂ emissions. The cement industry alone represents at least 8% of global carbon emissions because of the fossil fuels used to manufacture cement. (Concrete Needs to Lose Its Colossal Carbon Footprint, 2021). The emission of CO₂ is crucial to the environment as CO₂ is considered a greenhouse gas that absorbs and emits heat. CO₂ is abundant and stays in the atmosphere much longer than other greenhouse gases such as methane; therefore, it is causing the Earth’s temperature to increase. In addition, it dissolves into oceans leading to acidification which is lowering the ocean’s pH harming marine life (Lindsey, 2020). An increase in temperature affects different aspects of life such as sea level, agriculture activities and hence economic, touristic activities and others. Therefore, there are increased endeavors to limit green gas emissions to help save the environment and future generations. Sustainable structures are found to be one of the rising measures to mitigate the climate change crisis and its effects. The telecommunication towers’ structure depends on tower location, available land, tower surroundings, and wind speed in the considered area (Elhakim et al., 2022), and accordingly, the construction of these towers depends on the aforementioned factors and the governmental regulations if any.

The main objective of sustainability is to meet our own needs without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to their own needs (Ramsden, 2010). There are 16 goals for sustainability; one of them is to develop and build sustainable cities and communities which includes investments in creating green public spaces, public transport, and enhancing urban planning and management (UNDP, 2021). Green rating systems are considered a step towards fostering sustainability by encouraging the inclusion of the sustainability concept during the building’s life cycle. Green rating systems are certifications given for green buildings which are buildings that aim to alleviate the construction’s negative impacts on the environment, economy, and society and optimize resources use (Florez, 2020). Green rating systems also measure the environmental impact throughout the service life of a product or a system resulting in a more efficient, resilient, and durable project (Jamshidi et al., 2013). Therefore, green rating systems could be considered promising frameworks for propagating the sustainability concept and achieving enhanced sustainable buildings. There are around 600 green rating systems worldwide, BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Assessment Method) in the UK is the first established system while LEED (Leadership in energy and environmental Design) in the US is the most widely adopted system based on the number of countries (Doan et al., 2017). There are different schemes and handbooks for each rating system depending on the building type in consideration. In BREEAM, for example, there are BREEAM New construction, BREEAM for Refurbishment & fit-out, BREEAM for In use buildings, and BREEAM for Communities (BREEAM, 2022). In LEED, there are LEED for building design and construction, LEED for interior design and construction, LEED for building operations and maintenance, LEED for neighborhood development, LEED for Homes, LEED for cities and communities, LEED recertification, and LEED zero for projects with net zero goals (USGBC, 2022). The different LEED schemes have main categories that include all or most of the following categories which are: (1) Location & transportation; (2) Sustainable sites; (3) Water efficiency; (4) Energy & atmosphere; (5) Material & resources; (6) Indoor environmental quality; (7) Innovation; and (8) Regional priority. According to the building type, the subcategories will differ. Therefore, it could be observed that the aforementioned manuals present techniques for different building types to be sustainable; however, none of them includes techniques for making telecommunication towers more sustainable. There is a need to have a green rating system for telecommunication towers because of their crucial role in development and their negative impacts on the environment.

2. Literature review

In this section, literature related to making communication towers more environmentally friendly and literature related to the efficiency of LEED-certified buildings are discussed.

(Ike et al., 2014) analyzed the importance of using solar power in telecommunication towers in Nigeria. The authors analyzed as well the cost of solar power generation for grid-connected and stand-alone solar power systems. The authors concluded that grid-connected solar power was more cost-effective than standalone solar power. (Ahmad et al., 2020) used bamboo as a replacement for the steel for the Rooftop low-height telecom tower. The authors examined a 5 m high bamboo tower from bamboo originating in Bangladesh and modeled it using SAP2000. It was found that its max axial and bending stresses developed in the members were less than the bamboo allowable stresses. In addition, based on a 15-year life cycle analysis, the bamboo tower was found to be less expensive by 18% than the galvanized iron pipe tower with an equivalent height. (Alshurafa & Polyzois, 2018) used lightweight fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) 81 m guyed tower and compared its performance to the conventional steel tower. It was concluded that lightweight fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) tower was more economic and sustainable than steel towers. The material cost in the case of the FRP is 30% less, the deflection is 14.3 % less than the steel tower. (European Commission, 2020) used recycled wood to replace steel in communication towers; therefore, reducing carbon footprint. It was estimated that if 1% of telecom towers that are expected to be built in Europe in the next 5 years used wood instead of steel, over 17,000 tons of CO₂ emissions will be eliminated. Therefore, the EU funded this project to introduce the Ecopol (the wooden tower) to the market where prototypes for the 3 G & 4 G technologies are being tested in Hungary. Accordingly, by 2023, the project and the Finnish coordinator Ecotelligent aim to be the first provider of wooden towers in the European market.

(Turner & Frankel, 2008) analyzed the performance of 121 LEED new construction buildings in terms of energy consumption. The authors concluded that there is an average enhanced performance of 25–30% to the national average. (Amiri et al., 2019) stated that Newsham et al., Chen et al., Sabapathy et al., U˘gur, Leblebici, and Reichardt support that LEED saves energy and enhances overall energy performance. Therefore, LEED is proven to enhance overall energy consumption in buildings, especially for a higher level of certificates. In addition, it promotes the use of recycled materials to reduce negative impacts on the environment (Gurgun et al., 2015). Subsequently, LEED has proved to enhance the main categories related to communication towers.

Therefore, this paper aims to propose guidelines to create LEED for Telecom Towers as LEED is considered the most widespread green rating system among different countries (Doan et al., 2017). This guideline could be used as a framework to certify and help telecommunication towers become more sustainable and reduce their negative impacts on the environment. This rating system weights will be established using the Analytical Hierarch process which is a decision-making tool used to prioritize the alternatives. The different alternatives will be obtained by distributing questionnaires among engineers with different backgrounds and expertise in Egypt as a case study. This paper will be divided into 5 main sections which are an introduction, research methodology, main proposed categories for LEED for telecommunication towers, results & analysis, How to expand the results of this search to other parts of the world and concluding remarks.

3. Research methodology

The following steps were taken in this study to help develop a new rating system for existing buildings in Egypt:

3.1. Desktop search

This study relied on desktop searches using major scientific databases such as the Egyptian Knowledge Bank (EKB), Web of Science (WOS), and Google Scholar search engines to review the existing literature on telecommunication tower rating systems. Furthermore, the review helps to collect data on the various approaches to telecommunication tower rating systems to develop a more comprehensive rating system for the Egyptian market. Since LEED is widely regarded as the foundational rating system upon which all other commonly employed rating systems are built and is the most widely known system worldwide, it was chosen as the focus of this study. In Egypt, there are 24 certified LEED buildings according to USGBC Projects Directory, 2023. LEED is commonly used and familiar to professionals in the Egyptian market. However, there are no developed rating systems for telecommunications.

3.2. Establishing a rating system checklist

Following a review of the literature and consultation with experts in the field, a preliminary checklist was developed, which includes six major categories. As telecommunication towers are different from conventional structures, some of the main categories are omitted and others are added in the proposed LEED for towers to better adapt it. The main sections that are omitted are water efficiency and indoor environmental quality. Water efficiency and indoor environmental quality are not applicable to communication towers as there are no occupants or indoor spaces in telecom towers, hence, these sections are removed. Two main categories are added to suit the telecommunication towers which are the health of surrounding occupants and waste management. The former category is included to consider the effects of telecom tower construction on the nearby areas and their residents. The latter category is added to ensure better management of waste during the construction and operation of the towers. The main categories’ intents and their contribution toward sustainability are discussed in section 3.

3.3. Questionnaire development

To conduct a pairwise comparison, a questionnaire is created that includes all the criteria from the newly proposed telecommunication tower checklist. The questionnaire mainly asked the respondents to rate the importance of each main category relative to each other. Then, for each main category, the respondent was asked to rate each subcategory element relative to the rest of the elements. The scale runs from 1 to 5, with 1 indicating equal importance for these two categories/elements. On the other hand, a value of 5 indicates that one element is far more important than the other. Table 1 shows the pairwise scale and the significance degree assigned to each number.

• If the surveyee thinks “sensitive land protection” is more strongly important than “high priority site”, then the respondent should mark (3) as shown in Figure 1 in Appendix (a).

• If the surveyee thinks “sensitive land protection” is strongly less important than “surrounding density and diverse uses”, then the respondent should mark (−3) as shown in Figure 1 in Appendix (A).

Table 1. The importance scale of the pairwise comparison (Hazem et al., 2020)

Importance Scale	Importance Scale Definition
5	Extremely Important Preferred
4	Very Strongly Important Preferred
3	Strongly Important Preferred
2	Moderately Important Preferred
1	Equally important preferred
−2	Moderately less Important Preferred
−3	Strongly less Important Preferred
−4	Very Strongly less Important Preferred
−5	Extremely less Important Preferred

The questionnaire was distributed among 21 engineers with different backgrounds and expertise in Egypt. This is because Egypt is the case study used in this search. According to the different environments and environmental challenges in each country, the percentage weights for each category will differ. Therefore, the surveyees were locally selected, so that, the percentages will reflect the Egyptian environment.

3.4. Analytical hierarchy process (AHP)

Based on the completed questionnaire, the AHP was then implemented. The AHP is a decision-making tool that provides weights for each category and subcategory. Furthermore, it ranks the elements in order of priority. This will aid in determining mandatory (i.e. prerequisite) and optional items (i.e. credits). The subcategory that will obtain the highest points from all the questionnaires will be considered a prerequisite and the remaining will be considered credits. A final checklist for the proposed rating system is developed, which includes the primary categories and sub-categories, as well as mandatory and optional credits and weights. The AHP is conducted using the below steps:

• The questionnaire replies were turned into 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and their reciprocals. Pair-wise comparison is used to determine the relative importance of categories relative to each other (Hazem et al., 2020) as shown in Table 2. The column’s values are then summed up.

  Table 2. AHP pairwise comparison sample

  Item Description	Construction Activity Pollution Prevention	Site Assessment	Site Development- Protect or Restore Habitat	Open Space
  Construction Activity Pollution Prevention	1.00	2.19	2.38	2.99
  Site Assessment	0.46	1.00	2.23	2.86
  Site Development- Protect or Restore Habitat	0.42	0.45	1.00	2.65
  Open Space	0.33	0.35	0.38	1.00

• The resultant matrix is normalized (Table 3). Normalization means the parameter’s priority is based on its total contribution. Each column of the pair comparison matrix is totaled, and each element is divided by the sum.

  Table 3. AHP Normalization sample

  Item Description	Construction Activity Pollution Prevention	Site Assessment	Site Development- Protect or Restore Habitat	Open Space	Weight
  Construction Activity Pollution Prevention	0.45	0.55	0.40	0.31	42.9%
  Site Assessment	0.21	0.25	0.37	0.30	28.3%
  Site Development- Protect or Restore Habitat	0.19	0.11	0.17	0.28	18.7%
  Open Space	0.15	0.09	0.06	0.11	10.2%

• Consistency analysis ensures correct priority ratings. According to (Saaty, 1987) if the questionnaire’s precision ratio is over 0.1, the contrasts should be adjusted. Consistency is calculated by: (a) Multiply the first matrix column by its priority. 5th table (b) Values are added via rows to create a “Weighted Sum” vector; (c) weighted sum vector values are divided by the priority corresponding to the (sum/weight) value for each criterion; (d) the average of (sum/weight) is computed and indicated as λ_max; and (e) Calculate the Consistency Index (CI) using Eq. (1)(1) $\mathrm{CI}=\left({\mathit{\lambda }}_{\max }-\mathrm{n}\right)/\left(\mathrm{n}-1\right)\text{]}$(1) :

(1) $\mathrm{CI}=\left({\mathit{\lambda }}_{\max }-\mathrm{n}\right)/\left(\mathrm{n}-1\right)\text{]}$(1)

Where n is the number of items compared. (Table 4) shows the consistency index and consistency ratio calculations sample.

• The geometrical mean (GM) was determined for all participant responses, as shown in Eq. (2)(2) $\mathrm{GM}={\left(\mathrm{a}1\mathrm{i}\mathrm{j}\times \mathrm{a}2\mathrm{i}{\mathrm{j}}^{\ast }......{ }^{\ast }\mathrm{akij}\right)}^{(1/\mathrm{m})}$(2) .

(2) $\mathrm{GM}={\left(\mathrm{a}1\mathrm{i}\mathrm{j}\times \mathrm{a}2\mathrm{i}{\mathrm{j}}^{\ast }......{ }^{\ast }\mathrm{akij}\right)}^{(1/\mathrm{m})}$(2)

where m represents the number of participants in the questionnaire. (Table 5) shows the geometric mean of all questionnaire responses sample.

Table 4. Consistency Index and consistency ratio calculations sample

Item Description	Construction Activity Pollution Prevention	Site Assessment	Site Development- Protect or Restore Habitat	Open Space	SUM	SUM/Weight
Construction Activity Pollution Prevention	0.43	0.62	0.45	0.30	1.80	4.19
Site Assessment	0.20	0.28	0.42	0.29	1.19	4.20
Site Development- Protect or Restore Habitat	0.18	0.13	0.19	0.27	0.76	4.08
Open Space	0.14	0.10	0.07	0.10	0.41	4.07

Table 5. The geometric mean of all questionnaire responses sample

Item Description	Construction Activity Pollution Prevention	Site Assessment	Site Development- Protect or Restore Habitat	Open Space
Construction Activity Pollution Prevention	1.00	2.19	2.38	2.99
Site Assessment	0.46	1.00	2.23	2.86
Site Development—Protect or Restore Habitat	0.42	0.45	1.00	2.65
Open Space	0.33	0.35	0.38	1.00

4. Main proposed categories for leed for telecommunication towers

As LEED is considered the most widespread green rating system based on the number of adopted countries (Doan et al., 2017), it will be the guideline for proposing LEED for towers. In this section, the main categories and subcategories for the proposed LEED for telecommunication towers are discussed in detail. The selection criteria are based on the relevance to the communication tower, literature review, and experts’ opinion

5. Location & transportation

The main aim of this category is to minimize the vehicle travel needed time to reach the destination and use land efficiently (Litman, 2015). Energy saving by reducing vehicle travel time has much more benefits than saving energy through using alternative energy sources or increasing building energy efficiency (Litman, 2015). Therefore, the more the tower is accessible to be constructed, operated, and maintained, the more sustainable it will be. In addition, the tower location should consider the protection of sensitive land and high-priority sites. Therefore, the following are the subcategories selected from LEED that are mostly related to communication towers:

1. Sensitive Land Protection

2. High Priority Site

3. Surrounding Density and Diverse Uses

4. Access to Quality Transit

6. Sustainable sites

The main objective of this category is to limit the use of undeveloped land to reduce the negative impacts on the ecosystems. In addition, this category promotes taking decisions from the onset of the project before any actual activities on site to alleviate negative impacts on the environment (University, Marshall, 2022). This category ensures that the building and its landscape don’t harm the ecosystem of the location they are built on. This category encourages the early planning of the building location and its assessment to avoid causing any harm to habitats or water bodies (Makous, 2017). (Ismaeel, 2021) stated choosing the optimum location for the building can lead to earning 63% of the project’s available points which qualifies the building for the Golden certificate. The optimum location enhances points related to energy, indoor environmental quality, materials and resources, and water efficiency respectively. Therefore, the following subcategories are included

1. Construction Activity Pollution Prevention

2. Site Assessment

3. Site Development—Protect or Restore Habitat

4. Open Space

7. Energy & atmosphere

The main objective of this category is to conserve the use of energy in an efficient way and to enhance the use of alternative renewable energy sources (University, Marshall, 2022). (Tillekeratne et al., 2020) stated that with the expansion of mobile usage and the need for connectivity, there is an expansion in the off-grid or low-quality grid towers. The off-grid towers are towers that are not connected to a national electrical grid. A bad grid tower is a tower that has unreliable electrical power. These towers depend on diesel generators for operation, which not only harms the environment but also has considerable costs. Therefore, investments in renewable energy sources would reduce reliance on diesel generators and enable cost savings that would facilitate the expansion of mobile networks into more rural and low-population-density areas (Ike et al., 2014) and (Tillekeratne et al., 2020). Solar energy is the most common type of green energy used. Other alternatives include wind, battery, biomass, and hybrid systems. Revayu Energy company provides a hybrid wind-solar solution for communication towers to eliminate the use of diesel as solar power will be used mainly in the daytime while wind power will be used at night time (Solar Impulse Foundation, 2022). This solution enables reliable and sustainable towers. Therefore, the following subcategories are included for LEED for Towers

1. Fundamental Commissioning and Verification

2. Minimum Energy Performance

3. Building-Level Energy Metering

4. Enhanced Commissioning

5. Optimize Energy Performance

6. Advanced Energy Metering

7. Demand Response

8. Renewable Energy Production

9. Green Power and Carbon Offsets

8. Material and resources

The main aim of this category is to minimize the embodied energy and other negative impacts attributed to extracting, processing, transporting, maintaining, and disposal of building materials (Gurgun et al., 2015). Steel is the most common material used for communication towers. When compared to other structural materials, structural steel has the highest embodied energy, surpassing that of concrete (Elsayed et al., 2021). Therefore, different searches have been conducted to investigate different alternatives for the use of steel in communication towers. These alternatives are such as bamboo which was used instead of steel for Rooftop low-height telecom towers (Ahmad et al., 2020). Another alternative is lightweight fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) that was used by (Alshurafa & Polyzois, 2018) in an 81 m guyed tower. Recycled wood is also used (European Commission, 2020) to replace steel in communication towers; therefore, reducing carbon footprint.

In addition to the tower structure itself, the tower foundation is usually made of concrete. Cement is responsible for the emission of 7% to 8% of CO₂ globally which has negative environmental impacts and increases global warming (Sumadi et al., 2012). Therefore, to limit the consumption of cement in concrete, waste products could be used to replace portions of cement such as silica fume, fly ash, and slag (Sumadi et al., 2012). Fly ash not only reduces the cement content in concrete and ensures better waste management for the coal industry, but it also enhances concrete properties as in searches done by (Nath & Sarker, 2011), (Szcześniak et al., 2020) and (Feng et al., 2016). Similarly, silica fume and slag enhance concrete properties as proved in searches done by (Panjehpour et al., 2011), (Firdous et al., 2017), (Al-Baijat & Sarireh, 2019), and (Parron-Rubio et al., 2019). Silica fume and fly ash not only enhance concrete properties but are more cost-effective as proved in searches done by (Hameed et al., 2022) and (Hameed et al., 2021).

Aggregates consist of 60 to 70% of the concrete mix. Successive use of aggregates leads to a reduction in its supply. Therefore, recycled aggregates should be used to minimize the consumption of raw materials. Different materials could replace partial aggregates in the concrete mix such as recycled aggregates from construction demolition, granulated plastics, and waste fiberglass (Sumadi et al., 2012).

Therefore, the subcategories are proposed to limit such effects:

1. Storage and collection of recyclables

2. Construction and demolition waste management planning

3. Building life cycle impact reduction

4. Building product disclosure and optimization- environmental product declaration

5. Building product disclosure and optimization- sourcing of raw materials

6. Building product disclosure and optimization- material ingredients

9. Health of surrounding occupants

Different searches have been done to correlate living nearby a communication tower and health hazards. There is no clear evidence that being exposed to Radio Frequency (RF) waves from communication towers causes any negative health impacts as most of the negative effects on health to exist when exposed to high levels of radio frequency waves. However, it is not proven completely safe either. Radio Frequency (RF) waves are used to transfer voice information back and forth between the base stations during calls. These waves are given off to the environment to which people may be exposed. If the towers are located on the ground, the RF waves produced are considered less than the safety limits set by the US Federal Communication Commission (FCC). If the tower is mounted on a roof of a building, the RF waves are more than that encountered on the ground. However, the exposure levels will exceed or approach the limits of the US Federal Communication Commission (FCC) guidelines only very close to or directly in front of antennas. Inside buildings where telecom towers are mounted, the waves are considered much lower than outside the building as its construction material will hinder and reduce the energy passing from these waves. Therefore, the exposure limits will be lower than the recommended limits. (The American Cancer Society Medical, 2020). On the other hand, (Hardell et al., 2018) stated that RF radiation was classified as a potential human carcinogen Group 2B in 2011 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization. The authors stated that being exposed to non-thermal exposure levels resulted in biological effects in humans and animals and increased cancer risk. (Meo et al., 2019) studied the effect of having a cell phone base station tower nearby a school building on the student’s cognitive health. The authors investigated 217 students aged between 13 and 16 years in two different schools where one was having a lower radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) from the nearby base stations than the other. The authors concluded that the students exposed to higher RF-EMF suffered from delayed fine and gross motor skills, delayed spatial working memory, and delayed attention. (Meo et al., 2015) investigated the correlation between being exposed to radiofrequency electromagnetic field radiation from mobile phone base stations and the glycated hemoglobin and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. The authors tested the effect of RF-EMF on 159 students from 2 different schools. The authors concluded that students who are exposed to higher frequencies are more prone to a higher risk of type 2 diabetes and elevated level of glycated hemoglobin. (Zothansiama et al., 2017) studied the effect of radiofrequency radiations from cell phone base stations on DNA damage and the status of antioxidants in the blood lymphocytes of people living nearby cell phone towers. It is concluded that residing within a perimeter of 80 m of mobile base stations leads to a higher frequency of micronuclei compared to the control group residing 300 m far from mobile stations. Micronuclei are “extranuclear bodies that contain damaged chromosome fragments and/or chromosomes that were not incorporated into the nucleus after cell division” (Luzhna et al., 2013). In addition, when analyzing the plasma of these individuals, significant attrition in glutathione, a rise in lipid peroxidation, and superoxide dismutase was detected when compared to the control group (Zothansiama et al., 2017). Therefore, there is a tendency that living near a communication tower would affect the life of occupants. Accordingly, the following subcategories are proposed to limit such effects:

1. Simulating signal transmission and its effects on the surrounding occupants: the intent of this subcategory is to do a thorough study on the impact of the communication tower having its intended antennas and microwaves on the surrounding residents to ensure low radio frequencies that would not affect them.

2. Limit combined exposure of radiofrequency: this subcategory intends to ensure during design that the radio frequencies are restricted to the limits set by the US Federal Communication Commission or the country’s code.

3. Ensure using material free from any emissions: this subcategory intends to limit volatile materials that affect human health in the nearby areas

4. Participate in research conducted on the potential health effects of radiofrequency exposure: the intent of this subcategory is to help researchers have proven and trusted results on the impact of living nearby communication towers

5. Monitor that the radiofrequency exposure is not exceeding the limits: this subcategory intends to ensure during the lifetime of the tower that the radio frequencies are restricted to the limits set by the US Federal Communication Commission or the country’s code.

6. Place communication towers away from hospitals and schools: this subcategory intends to protect the most vulnerable class students and patients from any potential harms of communication towers

7. Place communication towers away from the population: this subcategory intends to protect people in general from any potential harm of communication towers.

10. Waste management

Nonhazardous and hazardous waste are expected during the telecom towers construction phase. Waste management should prevent, reduce, and mitigate consequences. Scrap steel, other metal scraps, glass, paper, plastic, and insulation are nonhazardous building wastes. Empty hazardous waste containers used welding materials, solvents, paints, or adhesives, and other hazardous waste from equipment and vehicle operation and maintenance, such as used oils, used lubricant, waste oil filters, batteries, etc., all qualify as hazardous waste (R Myanmar Fiber Optic Communication Network Co. Ltd, 2017).

Improper management of waste, whether they are non-hazardous or hazardous, can have several negative consequences.

Putrescible food wastes handled and disposed of improperly would attract disease-carrying rodents and pests, potentially posing a health risk to workers. Grouting materials, oils, grease, paints, solvents, etc. could potentially contaminate land through accidental release, and surface water through rainwater runoff originating from the construction site. Accordingly, this category included the below elements:

1. offsite containers

2. Disposal of hazardous/ Non-hazardous materials

3. Agreement with local authorities

4. Workforce Training

11. Results and analysis

After analyzing the results obtained from the 21 questionnaires and applying the Analytical Hierarchy Process Analysis, the following Results are obtained. Table 6 summarizes each main category proposed weights. Each main category’s weight resembles the importance of this category relative to other categories.

Table 6. Proposed categories with weights in the telecommunication green rating system

Categories	Weight
Sustainable Sites	29.44%
Location & Transportation	21.41%
Energy & Atmosphere	18.78%
Materials & Resources	13.47%
The health of the surrounding occupants	10.15%
Waste Management	6.74%

Table 7 shows the detailed weights of sub-categories for each main category which indicates the importance of subcategories relative to each other.

Table 7. Proposed telecommunication green rating system with weights

Sustainable Sites
Construction Activity Pollution Prevention	42.85%
Site Assessment	28.25%
Site Development—Protect or Restore Habitat	18.71%
Open Space	10.19%
Location & Transportation
Sensitive Land Protection	37.332%
High Priority Site	30.208%
Surrounding Density and Diverse Uses	20.497%
Access to Quality Transit	11.962%
Waste Management
Offsite containers	37.32%
Disposal of hazardous/nonhazardous materials	32.15%
Agreement with local authorities	18.93%
Workforce training	11.60%
Materials & Resources
Storage and Collection of Recyclables	23.12%
Construction and Demolition Waste Management Planning	29.81%
Building Life-Cycle Impact Reduction	29.31%
Building Product Disclosure and Optimization—Environmental Product Declarations	20.70%
Building Product Disclosure and Optimization—Sourcing of Raw Materials	11.42%
Building Product Disclosure and Optimization—Material Ingredients	7.05%
Health
Simulating signal transmission and its effects on the surrounding occupants	21.08%
Limit combined exposure to radiofrequency	21.35%
Ensure using materials free from any emissions	18.46%
Participate in research conducted on the potential health effects of radiofrequency exposure	13.75%
Monitor that the radiofrequency exposure is not exceeding the limits	10.86%
Place away from hospitals and schools	8.76%
Place away from the population	5.75%
Energy Efficiency
Fundamental Commissioning and Verification	17.79%
Minimum Energy Performance	18.40%
Building-Level Energy Metering	15.89%
Enhanced Commissioning	12.43%
Optimize Energy Performance	10.39%
Advanced Energy Metering	8.28%
Demand Response	6.85%
Renewable Energy Production	5.78%
Green Power and Carbon Offsets	4.19%

The results show that the sustainable sites category has the highest weight followed by location and transportation, and then energy & atmosphere. The last three categories are materials & resources, the health of the surrounding occupants, and waste management. This arrangement is acceptable because everything depends on the site of the tower. Azouz and Galal (2016) conducted a study to improve the concept of sustainability in developing countries, and the research involved studying sustainable sites in various International Certification Systems. Azouz and Galal (2016) concluded that site selection and quality in the pre-design stage are the foundation and starting point for changing the structure design process to more sustainable practices. The potential for an environmental sustainability project will be assessed based on its connections to the surrounding bioregion, watershed, and community. Furthermore, site selection and design are critical in both reducing greenhouse gas emissions and assisting projects in adapting to the effects of climate change.

Additionally, this rating system is designed to suit the environment, culture, and economy of Egypt. Accordingly, energy and materials categories fall in the 4^th and 5^th ranks. According to Khaled Gasser, the director of the Solar Energy Development Association (SEDA), the field of new and renewable energy is gaining popularity and receiving investment around the globe. However, Current conditions in Egypt are not favorable to investment and are stunting the sector’s growth (Salah 2016). A favorable impact on residents’ quality of life can be expected by adhering to sustainable sites and location requirements. The waste management category has the least weight as these activities will be temporary during construction or maintenance.

For the elements (subcategories), the highest weight is the construction activity pollution prevention under the sustainable sites category followed by sensitive land protection under the location and transportation category, and offsite containers under the category of waste management. The reason for this is that construction activities are a large contributor to air pollution while sensitive land protection aims at protecting citizens and property against natural hazards. The least weight is assigned to green power and carbon offsets falling under the “energy & atmosphere” category due to the culture of the developing countries.

12. How to expand the results of this search to other parts of the world

The main objective of the search is to propose guidelines for LEED for telecom towers. The percentages for the main categories and subcategories are based on the Egyptian industry and environment. However, the main framework of the rating system including the main categories and subcategories can be used in any other part of the world because it is based on LEED rating system that is already widespread all over the world. However, adjustments to the categories’ and subcategories percentage weights have to be done to resemble the critical factors in each country based on its environment and challenges.

13. Concluding remarks

With the development of the communication industry, more telecommunication towers are being built. These towers have several negative environmental impacts because of the use of diesel, the use of not environmentally friendly materials in construction, and the waves that are radiating from the tower to the surrounding environment. LEED the most recognized green rating system presents a guideline for making buildings more sustainable; however, it doesn’t consider the case of telecommunication towers. Therefore, this search is proposing a framework for a green rating system that is adopting LEED main categories for making the telecommunication towers more sustainable. A questionnaire is distributed among different engineers in Egypt as it is selected as a case study. The questionnaire is based on the pairwise comparison and analytical hierarchy process. The AHP research results indicate that sustainable sites and location, as well as transportation, are the greatest barriers to the construction of telecom towers. Moving on to energy efficiency, it has a lower weight due to Egypt’s current economic situation and the importance of using renewable energy and green power. The amount of energy supplied to the national network could be significantly increased if the government encouraged small and medium-sized projects by purchasing energy produced by them at the same prices as large projects. The results of this search could be expanded to other parts of the world using the main framework of the categories and subcategories of the proposed rating system with adjusted percentages to reflect each country’s main environmental challenges.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by STIFA under Grant [number 43204].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data used in this article are available upon request. If you need to examine any of the data in this article, kindly contact one of the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This paper is based upon work supported by Science, Technology & Innovation Funding Authority (STIFA) Egypt, under grant no. 43204

Appendices

Appendix (A)

Figure 1. Questionnaire pairwise comparison.