CloudIQ - Carbon Footprint Analysis
Wed, 04 Oct 2023 16:03:26 -0000
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In this blog post, we’ll cover a topic that is top of mind for all organizations, small and large--Energy Efficiency. I’ll also highlight how Dell Technologies helps customers increase energy efficiency using our vast portfolio. First, let’s define what Energy Efficiency is.
“Simply put, energy efficiency means using less energy to get the same job done
– and in the process, cutting energy bills and reducing pollution.”
Reference: Energy Efficiency | ENERGY STAR
As organizations undergo digital transformation and modernization, there is a massive explosion in the amount of data that needs to be stored. This data expansion is driven by technologies like Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, and streaming services, just to name a few. This in turn impacts how much power organizations are now consuming in their data centers, which forces IT vendors to make their solutions more efficient and reduce emission and carbon footprint.
Dell Technologies has been helping customers harness the power of technology to drive human progress for several decades. Our latest Environmental, Social and Governance report focuses on the investments Dell has made to support these initiatives.
If you’re interested in delving deeper, check out Dell's FY23 Environmental, Social and Governance.
Energy concerns were of paramount importance for our customers in 2022, not only in response to rising energy costs but also as they worked toward reducing emissions. As a leader in sustainable technology, Dell partnered with customers to make the transition to more energy efficient data centers with advanced cooling and thermals, power management tools, and as-a-Service (aaS) solutions to “right size” data storage. With the cost of energy commodities expected to be on average 46% higher in 2023, we will continue to set the standard on data center infrastructure solutions to drive efficient operational and environmental outcomes for our customers.
Dell reinvests over $4B in R&D on an annual basis, continuing to lead the market with our innovation in storage and data reduction efficiencies to save energy and reduce our carbon and hardware footprint.
Dell’s commitment to reducing carbon footprint is exemplified by the introduction of innovative ideas to optimize our portfolio. Recognized as one of the winners of Fast Company’s 2023 World Changing Ideas Awards, Dell’s Concept Luna was designed to showcase how the future of electronic devices can be one where they’re repaired instead of thrown out. Feel free review the full article, How Dell is infusing sustainability across its businesses, to learn more
Based on what we covered so far, we truly believe that informing our customers of critical data points that contribute to overall awareness of power, energy consumption, and carbon footprint is essential.
CloudIQ Carbon Footprint: integrating energy efficiency across systems
Several years ago, Dell Technologies developed a product called CloudIQ, the cloud-based AIOps proactive monitoring and predictive analytics application for Dell systems. CloudIQ leverages machine learning and other algorithms, notifications, and recommendations to help customers optimize compute, storage, data protection, and network health, performance, and capacity. CloudIQ supports a broad range of Dell Technologies products, including:
- Servers -- PowerEdge
- Storage -- PowerStore, PowerMax, PowerScale, PowerVault, Unity, Unity XT, XtremIO, and SC Series
- Data protection -- PowerProtect DD and PowerProtect Data Manager
- Converged and hyperconverged infrastructure -- VxBlock, VxRail, and PowerFlex
- Networking -- PowerSwitch and Connectrix, plus Dell Technologies APEX Data Storage Services
Over 90% of our customers actively use CloudIQ as their centralized dashboard to inform them proactively about KPIs across their Dell Technologies estate.
Introducing Carbon Footprint, an additional capability within CloudIQ designed to provide insights for power, energy consumption, and carbon footprint forecasting across all systems. At the time of the initial release, we are supporting the following products from our portfolio:
- PowerEdge
- VxRail
- Unity
- PowerScale
- Connectrix Systems
and focusing on the following KPIs:
- Total carbon emissions for this year (YTD)
- Energy consumption trends (monthly and YTD)
- 24H power consumption, 24H load on average
- Historical and forecast data for energy and carbon footprint
Later in 2023, we will also add support for PowerSwitch.
Having Carbon Footprint enabled and KPIs exposed within CloudIQ is beneficial to internal stakeholders within an organization and allows you to make confident decisions when optimizing your environment.
Based on the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model and agile development methodology employed by CloudIQ, you’ll benefit from having access to new features as soon as they become available.
Most Dell Technologies products supported by CloudIQ leverage our call home functionality called SupportAssist / Secure Connect Gateway. Depending on the product, you will need to enable the CloudIQ feature, after which the CloudIQ dashboard will populate with data.
For the full overview of the CloudIQ product, please see the detailed review whitepaper here.
Accessing and using Carbon Footprint
To access the Carbon Footprint feature in the CloudIQ dashboard, select Monitor > Carbon Footprint on the left-hand side of the CloudIQ console, as shown in the following figure.
On this screen, CloudIQ users with the CloudIQ Admin role will be able to adjust and personalize their geographical location metrics, such as CO2E and PUE, as illustrated in the following figure. The location labels reflect the specific locations where the physical assets are installed.
Side note: What do these metrics mean?
- Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) refers to the number of metric tons of CO2 emissions with the same global warming potential as one metric ton of another greenhouse gas. Other greenhouse gases, like methane, have different global warming potentials--a measurement of the potential impact a greenhouse gas has on global warming over a given period--compared to carbon dioxide. By converting all greenhouse gas emissions into CO2e units, it becomes easier to compare the impact of different types of emissions and to create strategies for reducing GHG emissions.
- Power usage effectiveness (PUE) is used to determine the energy efficiency of a data center. The best PUE ratio is 1.0, indicating a perfectly efficient data center in which 100% of the facility's power is delivered to IT equipment. This means that no power is used for any other purpose in the facility such as cooling, lighting, or any other overhead that supports the equipment.
The Total Carbon Emissions CO2e section can be displayed using either a Bar Chart or a Line Chart. Simply select the gear wheel on the right-hand side and pick your preferred view.
The Total Carbon Emissions CO2e chart can increase or decrease based on how the system’s energy / emission factor / PUE changes over time. If new systems are added, the total will increase. Similarly, the total can decrease if power is capped (as is available for PowerEdge), workloads are reconciled, and/or some systems are shut down.
For larger environments with multiple assets, applying filters is a breeze. The following example shows the system filtered based on Unity arrays only.
This table displays several columns that represent the asset itself, its location, site name, etc. In addition, we show the following data points:
- YTD Energy (kWh) - YTD value is from when power consumption data collection started, which may not have been the start of the calendar year
- Energy Forecast (kWh) - Forecasted energy consumption at the end of the year (December 31st) in Kilowatts (kWh)
- YTD CO2e (kg) - YTD value of carbon emissions measured when data collection started, which may not have been the start of the calendar year.
- CO2e Forecast (kg) - Forecasted CO2 (carbon dioxide) equivalent produced at the end of the year (December 31st) in Kilograms (kg)
The entire table with all assets or a subset thereof can be exported into a CSV file.
To see more details for each of the assets and how they perform in comparison to historical data, select the details icon next to the asset itself. As displayed in the following figure, the two graphs will display data points over the last seven (7) days and forecasted data points for the next thirty (30) days. By toggling the radio button, you can switch from one view to another. The grey area shows a range based on historical data collected for the previous seven (7) days, and the blue line is charted based on the last seven (7) days. If the blue line is within the boundaries of the grey area, this means there have been no unforeseen changes in Energy Consumption or the CO2e in the past seven (7) days.
What we’ve shown here is just the beginning. We will continue improving and enhancing CloudIQ capabilities to ensure you enjoy the most relevant and accurate KPIs and can act upon them expeditiously.
Where do we go from here?
Dell has several other tools and assessments that you can benefit from. For example, we can run a tool called Live Optics that collects configuration and performance data from your Dell and third-party products and produces a report that can be analyzed to propose options like optimization, consolidation, or a refresh with a new technology. The other option is to request a #GetEfficient report, which will be directly focused on reduction in physical footprint and power consumption.
Resources
- Dell CloudIQ: A Detailed Review
- How Dell is infusing sustainability across its businesses
- Dell FY23 Environmental, Social and Governance - Executive Summary
Author: Michael Aharon & Derek Barboza