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What is the Carbon Footprint of Data Storage?
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Photos, videos, emails, text messages – many of us use our phones so often these days, that we rely on “the cloud” to store much of our precious memories. As more people utilize cloud storage to gain access to their personal files across their various devices, data cloud storage has become more widespread – and so has its impact.
Evidently, all of this additional electrical consumption as a result of storing information on the cloud isn’t good for the environment.
In this article, we’ll explain what data storage is, its pros and cons, and what are the most sustainable alternatives for storing your digital information.
What is Data Storage?
Data Storage, often referred to as “the cloud” is a method of storing documents, videos, photos, and all other kinds of various files on an internet server rather than on a backup hard drive, flash drive, or hard drive on a phone or computer itself.
💡Ergo, the term “the cloud” comes from the idea that your information is stored “in the air” or in an intangible place, unlike a hard drive or flash drive where the information can literally be held in your hands.
“ Data Storage has grown in popularity over the last decade, especially with the use of smartphones and interconnected devices: such as Apple devices like the iPhone, iMac, and Apple Watch. ”
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Many people use services for data storage such as iCloud by Apple to:
- Sync contacts
- Calendars
- Photos
- Word documents
- Videos between devices
👉 In addition to Apple’s iCloud, other popular data storage services include Google Drive and Dropbox – with Google’s G Suite acquiring over 2 billion users.
| Cloud Storage Platform | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Apple iCloud |
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| Google Drive |
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| Dropbox |
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Energy Consumption of Data Storage
While we often refer to data storage as being “on the cloud” but it’s actually not the case – when you decide to save a file using data storage, your information is then stored in massive buildings filled with hard drives. These hard drives have to be running at all times, in the event you want to retrieve the files you’ve saved via data storage – contributing to the extensive electricity usage used by data storage.
“ The hard drive on your computer only requires a fraction of a kilowatt to save your information, whereas the electricity required to save a gigabyte (GB) of data to the cloud is around 0.0078 kWh per month, totaling to almost 0.1 kWh per year. [This average was derived by Greenly via evaluating various server LCAs, such as the DELL PowerEdge R730, various declared Power Usage Efficiencies by cloud services providers such as AWS, and average storage use rates suggested by the Natural Resources Defense Council.] ”
We devised this figure in-house at Greenly by using the average emissions factor for electricity in the United States, which according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) – was around 0.4419 kgCO2e/kWh in 2021, this would come to 0.04 kgCO2e per year per GB – or 40kgCO2e per TB stored in a US datacenter. [Result derived from a direct Greenly calculation based on the quote above and the IEA emission factor]
💡 It is important to note that our estimates account for significant improvements in energy efficiency of datacenters compared to previous estimates from educational institutions, such as 7 kWh per year as explained in Stanford magazine. Furthermore, the carbon impact of data storage per year is subject to change depending on the local electricity mix– as the impact could be divided or multiplied by 10.
For instance, a household with 2 people using 1 TB of data storage comes out to roughly 100 kWh per year – which would account for a whopping 5% of their typical annual energy consumption.
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Imagine the carbon footprint of someone who has to store and send large files, such as a photographer or a video editor. Maybe some aren’t commuting to work anymore, but they are creating a large enough carbon footprint just by storing data on the cloud as if they were still driving to work – such as is depicted in our white paper on employee emissions. In our white paper, we explain how employees can emit between 0 and 200kgCO2e per year. This is approximately the same amount of emissions created for storage 1TB of data according to estimates above.
Precisely what happens when someone decides to save something on data storage like iCloud or Google Drive, is once you upload the particular file you wish to save, it is stored at a data center – somewhere in the world, and not necessarily geographically close to you. The reason why data storage creates such a large carbon footprint is because data centers use copious amounts of energy to keep their servers running: for switches, lights, HVAC and other special equipment and emergency power banks. Retrieving your data from the cloud may seem like a simple task on the outside, but in reality – significant amounts of energy are used incessantly to ensure a user’s 24/7 access to their data.
“ However, data storage is climbing the ladder on the list of sectors responsible for the largest carbon footprint. In fact, data storage now accounts for more carbon emissions than the commercial airline industry – and a single data center uses the same amount of electricity that can power up to 50,000 homes. Keep in mind, there are over 8,000 data centers all around the world, and as the need and desire for data storage continues to grow – so do the amount of data centers, eating up electricity, across the globe. ”
When you pay for a subscription to use data storage, you are basically paying “rent” on your allotted amount of space in the data storage center. That’s why the pricing for amounts of data differ. Just like an apartment – if the apartment you rent is smaller than in turn – you pay less. If you decide to move to a bigger apartment, the price of rent goes up. The logic works the same way with data storage.
👉 As of today, once you include all the devices that make use of data storage – these enters are responsible for 2% of global carbon emissions. However, besides the evident and enormous carbon footprint created by the use of data storage – there are a few other caveats to be considered.
Additional Environmental Impacts of Data Storage
In addition to excessive electricity and energy consumption, the use of data storage can impact the environment in the following ways:
- E-Waste Generation – As a result of the need for frequent upgrades and replacements of hardware in data centers – this creates e-waste, which can emit toxic substances into our atmosphere and compromise our air quality. Furthermore, this electronic waste adds to our already-overflowing landfills – which contributes to the same amount of GHG emissions as 24 million gasoline powered vehicles.
- Water Usage – Many data centers utilize water-based cooling systems, which can deplete local water resources – especially in areas such as California which already suffer from wildfires and droughts due to scarce water availability. In fact, data storage centers in Europe alone will use an average of 3 liters of water per day on data by 2030 – illustrating the vast amount of water required to power data centers.
- Land Usage – Data centers require large amounts of land, which could destroy surrounding habitats and compromise existing biodiversity.
Building and expanding data centers require substantial land, which can lead to habitat destruction and biodiversity loss. - Impact Created via Supply Chain – The need for serves and storage device alike requires mining and processing various metals, which further contributes to air pollution and deforestation.
- Transfer Emissions – According to our estimates at Greenly, storing or retrieving data from the cloud requires further energy consumption – up to 0.066kWh per gigabyte transferred. However, this depends on download frequency – as these emissions can become substantial compared to those linked to storage.
- Refrigerant Gas Leaks – Data centers require massive cooling facilities, and the refrigerants used to cool data storage centers consist of greenhouse gases. Although gases are supposed to be used in closed-loops, leakage is often inevitable and happens more often as the equipment in data storage centers become outdated. Our estimates at Greenly account for an additional 3kgCO2e emitted for each kWh consumed by the data center as a result of refrigerant leaks.
👉 Despite the colossal negative impact created by data storage centers, they remain an accessible and convenient way for people to store additional information for both their professional and personal lives.
What are the advantages of data storage?
The most overarching benefit to data storage is the convenience of it. If I film a video on my iPhone, I can go home and it shows up on my iMac and my Macbook Pro. If I am in the middle of writing my book on a word document on my laptop, I can get up and walk to my desktop and pick up exactly where I left off.
💡Data storage doesn’t require lugging around an external hard drive. If something is to happen to one of your devices and the device can’t be repaired, all of your information is readily available to be downloaded again onto the new device.
In addition to this, data storage makes it easy to share files with co-workers around the world – something that has become increasingly useful as many businesses have shifted to full-time remote work following the pandemic. (to be deleted after re-write below is approved)
Despite the growing trend in countries such as the U.S., U.K., and France for employees to return to the office – many companies have decided to shift their operations to full-remote work. This demonstrates how data storage can prove useful for companies that have maintained employees from around the world, across various time zones – as it makes sharing files with co-workers easier and can help to ensure their work is continuously synchronized.
“ Data storage has provided a convenient way for co-workers to grant access to read, edit, or share files amongst the company or potential business partners. Data storage offers the opportunity for your co-workers to be able to easily collaborate and work together from afar. ”
👉 In short, data storage is a simple, mindless way of ensuring that all of your important files are accessible regardless of the state of your device. It is a seamlessly integrated method of storing files so that you don’t have to think twice about backing up your devices, which many of us are guilty of forgetting to do.
What are the downsides of data storage?
There are several downsides to the use of data storage, such as needing to pay for the subscription service, additional energy consumption, the need for an active Wi-Fi connection, depending on the server’s speed and availability.
💡 While data storage centers can help avoid the need to store your information on an external hard drive, it also requires recurring costs and an active connection to access your files – making it inconvenient for those living and working in rural areas.
Here are some of the downsides to using data storage centers:
Privacy
One of the greatest concerns when it comes to users who decide to store their data using data storage is the lack of privacy. When you opt to store your information on your laptop’s hard drive, external hard drive, or flash drive – it’s more difficult for a hacker to gain access to your information.
💡 However, when your personal photos or sensitive information is stored “on the cloud” – there’s always a chance of someone being able to gain access to your information, such as by accidentally responding to a phishing email or other misbehavior on behalf of the user.
Internet Connection & Server Crashes
In the event of a server crash, it’s possible that one could lose all of their data or temporarily lose access to it – whereas with a solid state drive or external hard drive, that would never be the case.
“ Data storage requires constant internet access – meaning that if you’re on a train or somewhere without WiFi, you won’t be able to access your files unless you’ve copied them onto an external hard drive or are connected to the internet. ”
Data Storage is Expensive
Data storage can also be costly. For instance, 2 terabytes of iCloud storage costs $10.99 a month – a total of $132 USD per year. It may not seem like a lot, but it’s definitely an expense I wish I didn’t have.
👉 The environmental impact of data storage is evident and hard to ignore, but its convenience is what keeps people subscribed to data storage services. Is there a way to get the best of both worlds in terms of external storage without subscribing to the possible negative outcomes of data storage?
What are sustainable alternatives to using data storage?
The most sustainable and viable alternative to using data storage is to opt to store your excess files on an external hard drive, such as by using SSDs or HDDs for local data storage.
👉 External hard drives still require power to function, but they require a significantly less amount of energy to write your files and store them onto the disk in comparison to data storage.
“ In addition to this, hard drives are a more cost-effective per gigabyte of storage you pay for in comparison to data storage subscriptions – and they are faster as they do not require an internet connection. ”
The other more sustainable alternative to data storage, is to purchase a device with more storage to begin with. Many people opt for the least amount of storage when they buy a new phone or laptop because they don’t believe they will go through it all, or decide to rely on data storage for what their devices can’t handle.
However, if more people took the plunge and bought a device with more storage capability – then the demand for data storage would decrease, and everyone would indirectly be reducing their carbon footprint.
Additional options include:
- Network-Attached Storage (NAS)
- Flash Drives
- Peer-to-Peer Network Storage
- Data Compression (to consolidate large files)
- Digital Minimalism (deleting old, un-used files)
Environmental Impact of External Hard Drives
It is important to remember that although the hardware found in data storage centers produce emissions, manufacturing individual hard drives also has a negative impact on our climate – seeing as hard drives require rare minerals to be extracted.
💡 In fact, according to Boavista’s database, hard drives can contribute anywhere between 10 to 100 kgCO2e per unit depending on the model chosen and its storage capacity.
While these profound environmental impacts are created by both the hardware found in data and personal external hard drives, the hardware in data storage centers is typically more efficient.
Additionally, data centers often optimize their resource use better – as they account for unused storage space, unlike individual external storage disks. Therefore, in this sense – purchasing an external hard drive can be more emissive than cloud storage.
Additional Drawbacks to the Use of External Hard Drives
Furthermore, there are many additional downsides to external hard drives as well that data storage usually solves – such as:
- Loss of Data – For instance, if you lose your external hard drive – all of your data is gone and permanently irretrievable. It isn’t mindless in the way that data storage is; it requires effort and time on your behalf to copy and move files.
- Inconsistency – External hard drives can be moody, and fail to properly mount onto your disk or eject themselves in the middle of working on an important project. This is uncommon with data storage.
- Lack of Convenience & Work Efficiency – External hard drives can overheat, and have to be taken with you anytime you want to access your files – both of which aren’t a problem with data storage.
Ultimately, it is best to look for data on environmental practices from cloud provider or LCAs of individual hard drives – such as by conducting ideally do a comparative study of both options to determine which is the least carbon intensive mode of storage.
💡 Remember, we can also reduce our impact from data storage by deleting or refining unused and duplicated data.
Overall, there's no perfect solution to mitigate the current environmental impact of data storage, as every modality has some type of effect on the environment – but we can take small steps as households and businesses alike to reduce our carbon footprint created by data storage.
What about Greenly?
If reading this article about the carbon footprint of data storage has made you interested in reducing your carbon emission to further fight against climate change – Greenly can help you!
It can be overwhelming to figure out how to effectively reduce emissions from data storage within your business, but don’t worry – Greenly is here to help. Click here to schedule a demo to see how Greenly can help you find ways to ensure your company’s IT systems are running at tip-top speed while still keeping energy efficiency in mind.
Click here to learn more about Greenly and how we can help you reduce your carbon footprint and help you discover the green possibilities for IT.
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