How NetApp cloud solutions help oil and gas organizations reduce their carbon footprint

Are you looking to reduce your oil and gas company’s carbon footprint and join the ranks of the environmentally conscious? A good place to start is your data center. Is it full of hardworking servers and other hardware that use huge amounts of carbon-based electricity? Well, you’re in luck: The cloud is here to save the day (or at least some of your emissions). And NetApp^R cloud solutions help you easily migrate your storage to the cloud and then optimize its energy efficiency.

As oil and gas companies work toward reducing their carbon footprint and become more environmentally friendly, many are turning to the cloud to achieve their goals. According to Gartner, by 2025, carbon emissions from cloud computing providers will be one of the top three criteria that businesses consider when choosing a cloud platform. This increased focus on sustainability is driven by the growing importance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting and by the increasing number of organizations that are investing in sustainability programs.

One of the key benefits of moving to the cloud is the increased energy efficiency of cloud data centers. Let’s take AWS as an example. A study from 451 Research found that “AWS's infrastructure is 3.6 times more energy efficient than the median of the surveyed US enterprise data centers.” AWS achieves this efficiency through a combination of more energy-efficient servers and higher server utilization. In addition, with extensive efficiency programs that consider every aspect of the facility, AWS data centers are also more energy efficient than enterprise sites are.

But what does that energy efficiency mean in carbon footprint numbers? AWS’s reduced carbon-based power usage is a positive step. AWS also invests in the use of renewable energy, which further reduces its carbon emissions. 451 Research considered those two factors and determined that AWS performs the same task with an 88% lower carbon footprint than do the U.S. enterprises that were surveyed.

But those surveyed enterprises must be extremely inefficient to start with, right? Not necessarily. Even for the top 10% most energy-efficient organizations surveyed, moving to cloud could reduce their carbon footprint by 72% on average. That finding suggests that by moving to the cloud, virtually any enterprise would reduce its workload carbon footprint.

NetApp has developed a four-step process to help oil and gas companies like yours move to the cloud as efficiently as possible. 

Step 1: Assess

The first step is to assess how all your IT resources, both on premises and in the cloud (if you have some in the cloud), are being used today. NetApp Cloud Insights gives you visibility across the stack, on your premises and in the cloud. It can connect to NetApp and third-party storage to report on utilization for any element of your service. This ongoing reporting helps your company make better decisions about its emissions and helps you reduce costs and waste.

Step 2: Analyze

The second step is to analyze how your data is being used, including where it sits and how active it is. NetApp Cloud Data Sense helps your company understand what data you have and how it is being used. A whopping 68% of data is cold data. Cloud Data Sense can identify that data so that it can be moved to more sustainable cloud-based cold storage. Cloud Data Sense can also catalog and classify data, so you can make data-driven decisions while meeting data governance and sustainability requirements at the right cost.

Step 3: Move

The third step is to move appropriate data to the cloud through migration, backup, and tiering. Public cloud provider data centers are significantly more energy efficient and sustainable than traditional data centers are. By using the NetApp Cloud Sync service to migrate your workloads to public cloud, you can take advantage of sustainability at scale. NetApp Cloud Backup enables fast, simple backup to the cloud, and with NetApp Cloud Tiering, you can efficiently move your infrequently used data automatically and seamlessly. In combination, you can greatly increase your organization’s sustainability and reduce costs.

Step 4: Store sustainably

The final step is to use energy-efficient storage for the data that remains in your data center. NetApp’s Storage Efficiency Guarantee uses deduplication and compression to store your data as efficiently as possible.

Our ESG Vision

NetApp recognizes the importance of having an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) vision that goes beyond just being a part of our value proposition or a competitive advantage. We believe it is a crucial aspect of our organization's impact on the world. Our goal is to help customers make the most of their data while also considering the environmental impact. We understand that managing large amounts of data has consequences and are taking steps to address them. Additionally, we are aware of the significant energy consumption of data centers and aim to ensure that data management tools are accessible to all populations. Despite the sustainability challenges in the IT industry, such as hardware use and data storage impacts, NetApp is committed to leveraging the power of data and our core values to benefit people and communities and create a more sustainable future. Read the NetApp 2022 ESG report.

Moving to the cloud is an effective way for oil and gas companies like yours to lower their emissions and become more environmentally friendly. Cloud data centers are significantly more energy efficient than traditional data centers are. Your company can take advantage of that efficiency with a methodical process like the one that NetApp has developed: Assess, analyze, move, and store data in a sustainable manner. Not only do you reduce your organizations carbon footprint, but you also reduce costs.

From integrations with hyperscalers to cloud services like Cloud Insights, Cloud Data Sense, Cloud Tiering, and Cloud Backup, NetApp leads the industry in helping customers deliver on their hybrid cloud strategies. At NetApp, we believe that the world’s ongoing energy challenges require innovative solutions. Fortunately, innovation has been in our DNA for 30 years. We’re steadfastly committed to developing energy efficient technologies that help customers like you greatly reduce their carbon footprint. We also know how important it is for you to be fully informed, which is why we are transparent about our product lifecycle carbon footprint. 

 It’s easy. Just four steps, and you can take advantage of the sustainability of the cloud while also reducing costs. It’s a win-win, folks. Contact NetApp’s global energy industry experts and take the first step toward a greener future with NetApp, the leader in cloud and data management solutions.