Seagate Report Highlights Strategies to Reduce Energy Use in Data Centers

A recent survey and report commissioned by Seagate explores the role of digital storage in creating more sustainable and energy-efficient data centers. This initiative comes in response to the increasing energy demands of AI-driven businesses and the projected 165% rise in global data center power consumption by 2030, according to Goldman Sachs Research. The study collected insights from 330 data center professionals across 11 global markets. Key findings reveal that 94.5% of respondents report growing data storage needs, while 97% expect AI to further increase this demand. Despite 95% expressing concern about environmental impacts, only 3.3% prioritize sustainability in their purchasing choices. Major obstacles to green data centers include high energy consumption, material and space constraints, and infrastructure costs. Although over 92% value the extension of storage equipment life cycles, just 15.5% rank it as a purchasing priority. The report stresses solutions such as storage tiering, lower-power storage technologies, and extending device life cycles. It also compares carbon footprints of different storage media, showing SSDs have up to 200 times more embodied carbon per TB per year than HDDs. Efficient storage strategies can thus help control costs and emissions simultaneously.