We assert in this paper that a management architecture has to be added to usual signal processing chain of radio equipment in order to integrate green management capabilities. The proposed architecture is based on our previous work on hierarchical and distributed cognitive radio (CR) architecture management for CR equipments. We assert that, at the level of an equipment, green radio can be considered as a subset of CR. A model‐based approach is derived for the design of green radio equipments. As an example, we address in this paper a green scenario, which consists in bypassing the equaliser in function of signal to noise ratio and inter‐symbol interference levels at a receiver. Then we show how we save energy, thanks to a complexity reduction. Both signal processing and implementations views are given for this scenario, which shows how our approach helps converting principles into reality. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.