高盛调研（Goldman Sachs Research）预测，到2030年，全球数据中心的电力需求将比2023年增长高达165%。希捷最新报告显示，53.5%的企业领导者将能源使用视为首要关注问题。数据量的不断增长、电力效率提升的放缓，以及人工智能的加速应用，使得企业在碳排放管理、基础设施扩张和总体拥有成本（TCO）方面面临多重压力。
Key points of the report：
AI will drive a new round of surging demand for data storage: 94.5% of respondents indicated that their demand for data storage is constantly increasing, and 97% of respondents expect that the development of AI will further impact storage demand.
Environmental impact and total cost of ownership: Nearly 95% of the respondents expressed concern about environmental impact, but only 3.3% of the respondents regarded it as a priority factor in their purchasing decisions.
The main obstacles to promoting the sustainable development of data centers are: high energy consumption (53.5%), raw material demand (49.5%), physical space limitations (45.5%), infrastructure costs (28.5%), and procurement costs (27%).
Disconnection in lifecycle management: 92.2% of the respondents recognized the importance of extending the lifecycle of storage devices, but only 15.5% regarded it as the top purchasing factor.
"Data centers are facing unprecedented scrutiny, not only because they support modern artificial intelligence workloads, but also because they are becoming one of the most energy-intensive areas in the digital economy," said Jason Feist, senior vice president of Cloud and Core product marketing at Seagate Technology. This means that we need to fundamentally change our perception of data infrastructure - not viewing it as a trade-off between cost and sustainability, but as an opportunity to optimize both simultaneously.
With the continuous expansion of data capabilities, enterprises are faced with three choices: enhancing the efficiency of existing infrastructure, expanding the scale of data centers, or migrating workloads to the cloud. Each option involves trade-offs among cost, carbon emissions and control, which indicates that total cost of ownership and sustainability can be compatible and coexist as goals. Nowadays, decisions regarding energy consumption, space utilization, raw material usage and infrastructure investment not only affect corporate performance but also relate to the impact on the environment.
To help the industry cope with this transformation, the "Data Decarbonization" report Outlines three strategic pillars for building a more sustainable data future:
Technological innovation: Technological innovation remains a key driving force for sustainable transformation. Advancements in computing power, storage area density, and energy-efficient technologies such as liquid cooling/immersion cooling and HVAC systems can significantly reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, thereby effectively addressing the growing demand. Seagate's Mozaic 3+ platform based on heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology has now entered mass production. Within the same floor space, it can achieve up to three times the storage capacity, reduce the hidden carbon emissions per TB by more than 70%, and lower the cost per TB by 25%.
Committed to extending the life cycle and the circular economy: Refurbishing, reusing and maintaining storage devices not only prolongs the service life of the equipment, but also reduces resource waste. Real-time environmental monitoring and transparent reporting can promote the implementation of responsibilities in the data center environment.
Ecosystem responsibility sharing: To achieve the significant emission reduction targets mentioned in Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 in this report, close collaboration across the entire value chain is required, including suppliers, manufacturers and cloud service providers.
Sustainable development is not an isolated and independently solvable problem. We need an overall solution that encompasses infrastructure, lifecycle management, and industry-wide responsibility mechanisms, so as to ensure that the growth of artificial intelligence and data center businesses does not come at the expense of the environment. Jason Feist said.
"Data Decarbonization" Report: Overview of the Chinese Market
Key Points of the report
Artificial intelligence has triggered a wave of demand for data storage
In China, 83.4% of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their companies' demand for data storage services had increased.
The feedback from Chinese respondents was the most diverse. 86.7% of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that artificial intelligence would significantly affect the demand for data center operations, while 10% of the respondents were uncertain and 3.3% disagreed.
Environmental impact and total cost of ownership
96.6% of Chinese respondents mentioned the environmental impact of data storage practices, among which 23.3% expressed strong agreement and 73.3% agreed.
63.3% of the respondents indicated that carbon emissions caused by high energy consumption were the most concerning issue, and this proportion ranked first among all the surveyed markets.
However, "low environmental impact" ranks very low in procurement decisions - none of the respondents listed it as a procurement priority.
Compared with other markets, the views of Chinese respondents are the most diverse - 20% of the respondents indicated that the data storage operations of their companies are currently unsustainable or very unsustainable, while 6.7% of the respondents expressed uncertainty about the sustainability of their operations.
Ten percent of Chinese respondents believe that their operations will become more unsustainable in the next five years - China is the only market expressing this view.
In China, 73.3% of the respondents believe that regular reports will help measure the environmental impact of data storage operations. However, 16.7% of the respondents indicated that their companies did not have sufficient resources to conduct such a measurement, which was the highest proportion of disagreement among all the surveyed markets.
The main obstacles to promoting sustainable development
In China, respondents pointed out that the costs of building data storage infrastructure (36.7%) and purchasing data center components (36.7%) are the main obstacles to sustainable data storage, a proportion higher than the global average of 28.5% and 27% respectively.
On the issue of power sources, the opinions of respondents in China are divided - 36.7% of them said that their companies have no choice, while another 36.7% believe that they can choose more sustainable energy sources.
Respondents in China estimated that achieving more sustainable data storage would require a budget of 2.3 billion US dollars (compared with the global average of 4.9 billion US dollars).
Life cycle management is disconnected
In China, 96.7% of respondents agree or strongly agree that extending the life cycle of data storage devices or infrastructure has a significant impact on the sustainability of data center operations - this proportion ranks among the top in all surveyed regions and exceeds the global average of 92.2%.
However, when purchasing storage infrastructure, only 10% of Chinese respondents regarded it as a key factor (the global average proportion was 15.5%).
The factors driving sustainable applications
Financial incentives are regarded as the primary driving force for practicing environmental protection, and 60% of Chinese respondents mentioned this.
56.7% of Chinese respondents believe that AI-based solutions can optimize data storage operations and are the most effective way to enhance sustainability in the future.
Seventy percent of Chinese respondents believe that customers' viewpoints can significantly influence whether data storage suppliers move towards green development.
66.7% of the respondents indicated that customers could promote the adoption of green solutions by "actively requesting sustainable options".
