The Dirty Secret of SSDs: Embodied Carbon

TL;DR

This paper examines the environmental impact of SSD manufacturing, highlighting significant embodied carbon emissions, and proposes strategies to improve the sustainability of storage systems by assessing and reducing their carbon footprint.

Contribution

It provides an analysis of the embodied carbon costs of SSDs versus HDDs and introduces methodologies and strategies to enhance storage system sustainability.

Findings

Manufacturing a GB of SSDs emits about 0.16 Kg of CO2.

SSD manufacturing contributed to 20 million tonnes of CO2 in 2021.

Proposes a framework to assess and reduce embodied carbon in storage systems.

Abstract

Scalable Solid-State Drives (SSDs) have ushered in a transformative era in data storage and accessibility, spanning both data centers and portable devices. However, the strides made in scaling this technology can bear significant environmental consequences. On a global scale, a notable portion of semiconductor manufacturing relies on electricity derived from coal and natural gas sources. A striking example of this is the manufacturing process for a single Gigabyte of Flash memory, which emits approximately 0.16 Kg of CO2 - a considerable fraction of the total carbon emissions attributed to the system. Remarkably, the manufacturing of storage devices alone contributed to an estimated 20 million metric tonnes of CO2 emissions in the year 2021. In light of these environmental concerns, this paper delves into an analysis of the sustainability trade-offs inherent in Solid-State Drives (SSDs) when compared to traditional Hard Disk Drives (HDDs). Moreover, this study proposes methodologies to gauge the embodied carbon costs associated with storage systems effectively. The research encompasses four key strategies to enhance the sustainability of storage systems. In summation, this paper critically addresses the embodied carbon issues associated with SSDs, comparing them with HDDs, and proposes a comprehensive framework of strategies to enhance the sustainability of storage systems.