After measurement has been carried out, it will become clear where the pain points are and what needs to be done to improve energy use and reduce emissions. It's often cited that energy reduction isn't possible because of the carbon hungry and inefficient existing technologies. Not only do they hold back progress and innovation, they could block improvements in emission reduction. However, some technology changes have such a significant cost saving in terms of the energy they use, it's part of the value proposition in implementing new infrastructure. For example, Admiral, a Pure Storage customer in the UK, saw data centre power and cooling costs cut by 74%, and reduced power consumption by 56% upon moving to Pure Storage. Italian customer, Elmec, a Managed Service Provider, reduced data centre footprint by 85%, cut power usage in half and has seen faster return on investment due to the reduction in data centre costs.
In addition, as organisations start to look beyond Scope 1 and 2 emissions and consider Scope 3, it will become clearer that not only do they need to look inwards, but find out about external providers' energy use. Ignorance will no longer be an option and it's vital to know the specifics. Legacy equipment will have a large impact on scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions so it will pay to address these issues in the short term for long term reductions.
E-waste is another important consideration. What happens at the end of a product's life? Legacy hardware is often shredded after three or four years, creating a big addition to the environmental impact of technology. It's important that hardware longevity is built in and not designed for periodic obsolescence. Rather than changing it every few years, upgrading to ensure optimum conditions are met is key. We practice this ourselves with our customers -- 97% of our arrays purchased six years ago are still in service.