energy efficiency
StoreVaults Increase Energy Efficiency and Reduce Energy Costs
People, Profit, and Planet
Network Appliance is already a financially profitable company and one of Fortune’s Best Places to Work. With hundreds of StoreVault products shipped and thousands more on the horizon, the StoreVault Division is taking steps to account for our impact on the planet.
- The evidence that human activity is influencing the climate through greenhouse gases is mounting and is increasingly quantifiable
- Most scientists and economists agree that fossil fuel dependence poses some kind of environmental, social, political and long term economic development risk
- 79% of the energy in the United States is produced by coal, oil and natural gas*
- 40% of the nation’s total carbon dioxide emissions are from energy production, and of the total growth in energy-related carbon dioxide emissions from 1990 to 2005, 60% can be attributed to growth in electric power sector emissions
- As much as 70% of other greenhouse gases and toxic chemicals in the US are produced through energy generation
Conservation is the first step towards reducing fossil fuel dependence. Shifting to renewable energy sources is the second step
Step 1: Using Less Energy
StoreVault’s Advanced Protection Architecture includes features that inherently reduce the overall energy footprint in your IT closet and lower power and cooling bills. At the same time, this technology improves system and data reliability.
- Moving to network storage generally results in a higher degree of disk efficiency overall. Replacing multiple direct attached storage arrays with one StoreVault reduces the amount of over-allocation and surplus spinning disks in an environment. This is highly specific to each environment.
- Higher density disks consume about the same amount of energy but decrease the quantity of disks needed to store the same amount of data, improving the ratio of Watts to Gigabytes.
- The cross-platform and multi-protocol capability of a StoreVault means that individual IT functions can be consolidated into one device, typically cutting power consumption by at least 50% (see Table 2).
- NetApp’s FlexVol and RAID technologies are unique among small business storage products. A StoreVault can serve data from a minimum of disks and preserve capacity growth options, and remains in a RAID configuration during expansion operations. This lower disk quantity requirement directly reduces energy costs.
- StoreVault snapshot technology is the most efficient in this market. Multiple complete copies of data can exist in a fraction of the space required by other products or technologies (like tape). This can mean up to at least a 2X improvement over similar products.
- More certifications over more protocols with server virtualization software vendors means that virtualization projects can take advantage of one single efficient and highly flexible storage platform. Eliminate individual hardware servers running at fractional capacity.
Advanced Protection Architecture features like FlexVols save money. Traditional volumes provision capacity for current and future needs, allocating empty space for a rainy day. FlexVol “thin provisioning” automatically frees up this unused space, avoiding unnecessary premature capacity purchases and energy wasted on spinning, empty disks. The sample below compares a traditional storage array hosting Windows Shares, UNIX Exports and an Exchange server to a StoreVault with FlexVols.
Table 1 illustrates how 3 RAID-5 DAS arrays storing data in traditional volumes can be replaced by a single StoreVault with FlexVols, achieving lower power usage. Don’t forget that RAID-DP and snapshots also provide dramatic improvements in data protection over direct attached storage arrays.
Table 1: Relative increased efficiency and data protection
|
3 DAS arrays with 8x120GB drives each, in RAID-5 | One StoreVault with 12 250GB drives, in RAID-DP |
Raw capacity |
2.8TB |
3TB |
Usable capacity (after RAID and other overheads) |
2.268TB |
1.8TB |
Provisioned storage |
2TB |
0TB |
Consumed storage |
1TB (50% wasted) |
1TB (0% wasted) |
Available capacity |
0.268TB |
0.8TB |
Table 2 shows the 66% yearly financial savings achieved by consolidating three DAS arrays into a single StoreVault (before additional cooling and deferred future storage purchase savings).
Table 2: Direct Attached vs. Network Storage energy consumption
|
Three DAS Arrays | One StoreVault |
Typical array power supply: |
500W |
500W |
Power supplies per array |
2@50% utilization |
2@50% utilization |
Total Wattage (450W average) |
1350W |
450W |
Yearly energy consumption |
11826 kWh |
8760kWh |
National power price average |
$0.0951 $/kWhr |
$0.0951 $/kWhr |
Yearly Energy Cost |
$1124.65 |
$374.88 |
Step 2: Moving to Renewable Energy Sources
Beyond just conserving energy, we have decided to account for the way that energy is produced. New StoreVaults are reducing greenhouse gas emissions and changing the way energy is produced – all at no cost to you.
As a division we looked at the impact of energy consumption on the bigger picture for the US and the globe. The single largest segment of fossil fuel use is energy creation.
Table 3: Fossil fuel electricity generation impacts
| What is our share? | Electrical energy produced from Coal, Oil & Gas | Greenhouse gas emissions from energy production |
| USA | 79% | 40% |
| Global | 40% | 25% |
Every new StoreVault ensures that 365 days worth of equivalent renewable energy has been produced and supplied to the national electric grid.
How does this work?
When you plug your StoreVault into an outlet, your local utility provides the electricity. A Renewable Energy Credit (REC) has been purchased by the StoreVault Division to purchase energy produced from renewable sources and replace the energy produced by your local supplier (which probably came from a fossil fuel source).
In the small picture you notice no difference in product price, life expectancy or utility bills. In the big picture your purchase of a StoreVault increases investment and demand for wind farms and biomass generation facilities in the United States.
This process fundamentally shifts energy production towards renewable sources through the existing energy market. You aren’t simply trading cash for carbon, you are permanently modifying the energy production landscape in the United States.
Product design remains a balance of people, profit and planetary requirements. Software and hardware designs that reduce overall energy consumption take time to bring to market. We see our REC program making an immediate impact while we work on engineering thoughtful future solutions.
What happens after the first year?
Additional RECs may be purchased by StoreVault owners or by the division itself. We will gauge the success of the program and the financial impact on our company in a year’s time.
How much does a single wind generator cost?
One wind turbine costs in excess of one million dollars.
Can I buy RECs myself, for my home or business?
Yes! Visit www.renewablechoice.com for information on individual purchases.
Where can I learn more?
Visit www.renewablechoice.com for more information on RECs.
What if I’m already using renewable energy?
That’s great! Now we’ve invested additional money into that market sector to complement yours.
How much extra does it cost me?
Absolutely zero. We’ve already made the purchase but have not changed the product price. If you are skeptical about climate change or renewable energy investment, you can still buy and use a StoreVault without paying a dime extra.
Why not plant a tree or buy a carbon credit instead?
That’s a conversation for another website. In essence, we think this is a more effective way to break the cycle of fossil fuel dependence than using carbon sequestration to put off future accounting.
What if my StoreVault only runs part of the time (for example, I shut it off at night or my firm closes down over a holiday)?
Good for you. We are working on building monitoring tools that will show you how many watt/hours you have consumed, and effectively extending the timing of the REC beyond 365 days.
How do I give you my opinion of this program?
Suggestions are welcome, please send them to StoreVaultGM@netapp.com
*United States Environmental Protection Agency and Energy Information Administration data
