Extending the lifecycle of servers can have a significant impact on reducing CO2 emissions and energy consumption. New studies show that extending a server's lifecycle by one year saves 0.5 tons of CO2, which is equivalent to approximately 2500 kWh of electricity.
An average Third Party Maintenance provider like Hardwarewartung.com maintains about 50,000 servers. This means that by extending the lifespan of these servers, Hardwarewartung.com saves 25,000 tons of CO2 or 125,000,000 kWh of electricity annually.
These Savings in Everyday Terms
To better understand these savings, here are a few comparisons:
CO2 Savings: 25,000 tons of CO2 is equivalent to the annual emissions of approximately 19,230 cars, based on an average mileage of 10,000 km per year and a CO2 emission of 130 g per km. This reduces the emissions of a medium-sized city for a year.
Electricity Savings: 125 million kWh is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of over 31,000 average German households. This is enough to power an entire small town.
Photovoltaic Comparison: To save 125 million kWh, about 312,500 photovoltaic modules would need to be installed. Each of these modules produces an average of 400 kWh per year. This shows the significant energy savings potential through extending server lifecycles.
Green IT: A Key to Sustainability
Extending the lifecycle of servers fits perfectly into the concept of Green IT. Green IT refers to environmentally friendly IT practices and technologies aimed at minimizing environmental impact. By using servers for a longer period, not only is energy consumption reduced, but the need to manufacture new hardware is also minimized, conserving resources and reducing waste.
Hardwarewartung.com plays a crucial role in helping companies make their IT infrastructure more sustainable. They do this by providing regular maintenance and upgrades, which extend the lifespan of servers. This extension leads to significant savings in both CO2 emissions and energy consumption. Additionally, by offering repair services and keeping spare parts available even after the hardware's end-of-life, customers can prolong the lifetime of their hardware even further.
The Enormous Savings Potential alone in Germany
To illustrate the potential impact of extending the lifetime of a server by an additional year, let's consider Germany as an example. Germany has approximately 3.4 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), each operating at least one server. If each of these SMEs extended the lifespan of their server by one year, it could lead to savings of 1.7 million tons of CO2 or an equivalent of 8.5 billion kWh. These savings are enormous and highlight the potential for reducing emissions and energy consumption on a national level.
CO2 Savings in Germany alone: 1.7 million tons of CO2 is equivalent to the annual emissions of about 1.31 million cars. This is comparable to the emissions of a large city for a year.
Electricity Savings: 8.5 billion kWh is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of over 2.125 million average German households. This is enough to power several large cities.
Photovoltaic Comparison: To save 8.5 billion kWh, about 21.25 million photovoltaic modules would need to be installed. This illustrates the enormous savings potential through extending server lifecycles on a national level.
A Call to Action for the EU and other countries
Given this significant savings potential, the EU should promote measures to extend the lifecycle of IT infrastructures. Implementing policies that encourage Third Party Maintenance and support companies in adopting Green IT practices could greatly contribute to achieving the EU's climate goals. Additionally, since many countries look to the EU for regulatory guidance, these efforts could inspire similar actions globally, further amplifying the impact.
"Our mission is to provide sustainable solutions that are both economically and ecologically sensible,” says Yusuf Sar, CEO of Hardwarewartung.com. “We are proud that our services make such a significant contribution to reducing the environmental footprint while supporting the principles of Green IT. I am optimistic that the EU and other countries will soon recognize the potential of simply extending the lifetime of their servers."
About Hardwarewartung.com
Hardwarewartung.com is a brand of Hardwarewartung 24 GmbH and is a leading provider of Third Party Maintenance services for IT infrastructure, such as servers, storage systems, and network hardware. They support all major brands like HPE, Dell/EMC, Fujitsu, IBM, NetApp, Cisco, Supermicro, and Sun/Oracle in over 150 countries worldwide.
Their primary target groups are SME businesses, which usually face pricing disadvantages in hardware maintenance products due to their smaller size. Hardwarewartung 24 precisely closes this pricing gap by offering enterprise conditions to everyone, regardless of the company size.
