The race to decarbonize IT

First-mover advantage is real. Whether it’s a product launch or a branding initiative, being recognized as the first to achieve an important milestone helps businesses define their branding, cement their credentials, and become known for something tangible. With sustainability becoming established as a growth metric, companies are hoping to gain a competitive advantage by being the first to offer decarbonization of their services.

Decarbonization is the process of eliminating preventable carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from human activity and potentially finding ways to extract harmful carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Google is one of the leading voices in decarbonization and has put a deadline on their efforts by stating:

“We’re decarbonizing our energy consumption so that by 2030, we’ll operate on carbon-free energy, everywhere, 24/7.”

To achieve decarbonization, businesses and hardware users are rethinking how they produce and consume energy resources in a race to lead the wave of the decarbonized IT industry.

spend now; save later

The race to decarbonize IT is part of wider shared global goals to reduce carbon emissions and keep global heating to a maximum of 1.5C. But greater environmental responsibility is typically associated with increased costs or a slowdown in operations, even if temporary. However, despite added costs, companies can financially benefit from opting to decarbonize in the long run.

These financial benefits can include potential future government support for research and development, fiscal subsidies, and procurement standards, as governments will likely give preferences to decarbonized organizations. Additionally, businesses switching now can benefit from pre-empting regulation as governments could eventually prohibit the use of fossil fuels, require the use of low-carbon technologies, or increase taxes. Moreover, businesses that stop relying on carbon-producing energy sources may avoid facing higher costs as future shortages could lead to higher carbon prices.

Companies can also benefit by maintaining and encouraging a wider client base, as decarbonizing will help to ensure continued use from environmentally conscious consumers. Companies who choose to act now to decarbonize their operations will be able to establish a brand identity as an emission-neutral operator and gain a competitive advantage over companies still producing emissions.

To stay in the black, businesses need to think green.

decarbonization means more than just using green electricity

Getting to zero net emissions focuses primarily on switching to clean energy sources and shifting from fossil fuels to electricity. However, the environmental impact of the IT industry stretches beyond the power needed to operate server racks. When it comes to decarbonization, we will need to rethink the way we operate.

For some time now, enterprises and hardware users started to transition to renewable energy sources (such as wind and geothermal electricity) to power their operations. However, due to the limited availability of these power sources, companies not only need to evaluate how they can implement renewal sources in their operations but also how they can optimize their available resources to reduce emissions. More than a simple switch to green electricity, businesses must dig deeper into rethinking the strategies and processes needed to obtain and use it in the most efficient way possible.

Renewable energy procurement is one such strategy that allows large cloud providers to run a technically decarbonized infrastructure. Long-term Power Purchasing Agreements (PPA) with electricity providers mean that these companies are not strictly running on decarbonized energy; they are offsetting their use with renewable energy that will be used elsewhere in the system. It’s not possible to physically trace renewable electricity from a producer to consumer so these agreements ensure they buy as much renewable energy as they use.

While strategies such as renewable energy procurement demonstrate potential increases in complexity while decarbonizing IT, it is an example of how companies and hardware users across the IT industry are challenging the status quo while achieving greater efficiency at a lower cost.

solutions for decarbonization

While switching to renewable energy is a start towards the decarbonization of IT, it’s just the beginning. The impact of IT extends beyond its energy consumption, as the terminals used in its operation (antennas, satellites, servers, etc.) are physical objects with material impacts.

With this in mind, hardware users can take various measures to decarbonize their IT, which incorporate all stages of the hardware lifecycle.

circular economy

To achieve a carbon-neutral directive in more aspects of their operations, hardware users should find ways to reduce secondary emissions along the production line where possible. An effective way to achieve this is by reducing their reliance on new assets by switching to practices that support the circular economy.

The circular economy replaces the linear model of creating, consuming, and replacing with a model that prioritizes maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, and recycling. This allows useful assets to be given a second life which extends beyond the Original Equipment Manufacturer’s (OEM) End of Service Life (EOSL) dates and destabilizes the concept of planned obsolescence. Within the circular model, companies prioritize buying refurbished equipment to prevent the production of new assets and recycle equipment for components and materials to be recovered and used again.

Using third-party maintenance (TPM) can contribute towards decarbonization by keeping existing systems in operation for longer. TPM can limit the unnecessary release of emissions by decreasing the need to manufacture new equipment. As an IT service provider, Ynvolve acts as a single point of contact to extend hardware lifecycles and maximize their value by repairing, reusing, and recycling equipment.

Moreover, Ynvolve’s Buyback as a Service (BBaaS®) aims to reuse or refurbish storage, servers, and networking equipment to help companies repurpose unwanted hardware, increase their ROI, and reach their sustainability goals.

backup power supplies

For businesses operating hardware, backup systems are essential but commonly run using diesel. To take steps towards decarbonization, it is important to also adapt to carbon-minimal backup solutions that can be more effective and dependable.

While not a fully carbon-free solution, hardware users can switch to using lithium-ion batteries for their backup power supplies, which can be used as an uninterrupted power source with faster switching from grid to storage during outages. This helps stabilize operations faster, with no operational emissions, and a smaller physical footprint, cutting the cost and impact of power outages.

The need to cut emissions can provide the opportunity to rethink the standard practices and help companies find solutions that are carbon neutral. In the long run, innovation and development will be key factors in finding increasingly effective and environmentally positive solutions to reduce carbon emissions.

energy-efficient cooling systems

Finally, decarbonization needs to do more than cover energy-intensive processes with sources of renewable energy. It also needs to incorporate more efficient solutions to reduce overall consumption.

When operating hardware, data center, and hardware users should consider partnering with data center providers that are already implementing more energy-efficient operations, such as using liquid cooling. Liquid cooling is a more efficient method of heat transfer than a mechanical chiller system, it offers decreased operational costs and environmental impact. According to VP of thermal management, John Neimann, a 3-megawatt data center operating in Ashburn, Virginia improved the power usage effectiveness (PUE) of the air-cooled system by approximately 0.01, which equates to 208,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year.

conclusion
There are many routes to decarbonization, each offering a unique set of benefits for companies looking to make their operations more sustainable – both environmentally and economically. Primarily, decarbonizing IT can contribute towards global goals to reduce carbon emissions and keep global heating within livable thresholds.

In addition, by embracing decarbonization, hardware users help to create an economically viable business model as they futureproof their operations and ensure their brand image remains on the right side of the energy revolution.

While the scale and complexity of the industry show that this transition will require a series of steps, not always in unison, with innovation, hardware users can pave the way to a decarbonized future.