Global increases in carbon emissions are allegedly becoming a growing concern surrounding AI development. A report from Blocks and Files reveals that Seagate investigated three of the most popular data storage solutions based on carbon emission output. Out of the three options, SSDs, hard drives, and LTO tapes, hard drives were found to be the most carbon-efficient.
The three storage types were benchmarked under three categories: Embodied carbon by product, Embodied carbon per TB, and Embodied carbon per TB per year. SSDs produced the most carbon emissions, producing 4,915 kg CO², 160 CO² per TB, and 32 CO² per TB per year. LTO tapes came in second place, producing 48 kg CO², 2.66 kg CO² per TB, and <0.6 kg CO² per TB per year. Hard drives won out, producing 29.7 kg CO², <1 CO² per TB, and <0.2 CO² per TB per year.
