Improving Data Center Sustainability with HCI and Hybrid Cloud

Nicolas Leseur

Nicolas Leseur is a seasoned marketing professional with a deep passion for sustainability and a proven track record in driving corporate initiatives that align financial benefits with environmental impact. Since joining Nutanix in 2019, he has been instrumental in demonstrating how modern datacenter technologies can deliver significant energy efficiency and cost savings while supporting climate goals. Collaborating with industry experts and independent researchers, Nicolas combines data-driven insights with real-world evidence to highlight the transformative potential of cloud-based infrastructure. LinkedIn

The demand for digital services is growing exponentially, and with it, the environmental impact of the datacenters that power the digital world. Datacenters currently account for approximately 2% of worldwide energy consumption (Atlantic Ventures, 2024), a figure that continues to rise as industries increasingly rely on cloud computing, AI, and big data. This growing energy demand presents both an environmental challenge and an economic burden for businesses that rely on these critical infrastructures.

The good news is that technologies like hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) and hybrid cloud models offer a powerful solution to reduce energy consumption, improve efficiency, and contribute to more sustainable operations. In this blog, we’ll explore how HCI could significantly lower the energy demand and carbon emissions of datacenters, and how hybrid cloud architectures may contribute to greener, more cost-effective solutions.

The Current State of Datacenters and Their Environmental Impact

As data usage accelerates, datacenters are under increasing pressure to improve their energy efficiency and reduce their environmental footprint. Globally, datacenter CO2 emissions are equivalent to the amount released by air travel (Atlantic Ventures, 2024). In the EMEA region, this is especially evident as energy demand surges with increasing cloud adoption and digital services.

Traditional 3-tier datacenter architectures—which separate compute, storage, and networking resources—are highly inefficient compared to modern solutions. These systems require large amounts of energy for both power consumption and cooling, exacerbating the environmental impact of datacenters. With energy prices rising, especially in regions like Europe, businesses are facing higher operational costs, making it imperative to find more energy-efficient alternatives.

Moreover, the environmental impact of these traditional systems goes beyond electricity consumption. Cooling alone consumes significant energy and water, contributing to both carbon emissions and resource depletion. This is where modern solutions like HCI could play a crucial role in reducing the environmental footprint of datacenters while also driving down operational costs.

The Rise of Hyperconverged Infrastructure in Energy Efficiency

Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) integrates compute, storage, and networking into a single, software-driven system, significantly improving the efficiency of datacenter operations. Compared to traditional 3-tier infrastructures, modern HCI-based solutions could reduce energy demand by over 27% (Atlantic Ventures, 2024), leading to both cost savings and carbon footprint reduction.

The key benefits of HCI include:

• Reduced hardware footprint: By consolidating multiple functions into a single platform, HCI can eliminate the need for multiple, separate servers, reducing the overall power required to run the infrastructure.

• Improved energy efficiency: HCI systems are optimized to ensure that energy is used more efficiently across all resources, which helps cut down on excess energy consumption.

• Lower carbon emissions: When energy usage is reduced, carbon emissions are lower, helping businesses meet their sustainability targets.

In the EMEA region, hyperconverged architectures have the potential to reduce energy consumption up to 92 TWh from 2024-2030 and save up to 25 billion euros in electricity costs in the same period for companies and datacenter providers undertaking a complete transformation towards HCI. This shift would not only lead to massive energy savings but also reduce CO2 emissions by up to 19 million tCO2e during that period in the EMEA region. To put this into perspective, this is equivalent to removing the annual emissions of approximately 4.1 million cars (Atlantic Ventures, 2024).

For dnata Travel Group, Nutanix has significantly helped the company reduce consumption of resources and become more sustainable. According to dnata, “...we have achieved a 75 per cent reduction in rack space and a reduction of 54 per cent in power demand, translating so far to an estimated 18,739kg saving in carbon dioxide emissions per year (enough to charge over 2 million phones).” 

Economic and Environmental Impact of HCI and Hybrid Cloud

The environmental benefits of HCI are substantial, but so are the economic advantages. By reducing power consumption and lowering the need for physical infrastructure, businesses can achieve significant cost savings. Projections show that from 2024 to 2030, the total savings in the EMEA region could reach an impressive €25 billion, driven by lower energy bills and more efficient datacenter operations (Atlantic Ventures, 2024).

In addition to these direct cost reductions, HCI can help businesses scale operations more efficiently. Public cloud providers and co-location services that implement HCI can achieve even greater sustainability benefits compared to on-premises datacenters. This is due to more efficient power usage, on-demand scaling capabilities, and better overall infrastructure management in these cloud environments.

By moving some workloads to the cloud or co-located datacenters, businesses may further reduce their energy consumption and carbon emissions, as cloud providers typically operate on larger, more optimized infrastructure that is more efficient than many on-premises datacenters. This flexibility also enables companies to scale resources as needed without the burden of overprovisioning, ensuring they only use the energy they need.

The impact of HCI and hybrid cloud is further detailed in Improving sustainability in data centers (Atlantic Ventures, 2024), which breaks down how transitioning away from 3-tier architecture could affect specific countries. 

France
Between 2024 to 2030, transitioning from 3-Tier to HCI-based platform could lead to energy savings of 14.2 TWh.

United Kingdom
A complete shift to HCI-based platform could result in over 13.3 TWh energy reduction from 2024 to 2030.

Germany
Given Germany’s strong datacenter industry and high energy demand, the potential energy savings through HCI-based platform are significant, with an estimated 19.3 TWh potential savings between 2024-2030.

Note. Data sourced from Improving sustainability in data centers (Atlantic Ventures, 2024).

Future Trends and Recommendations for Sustainable Datacenters

As sustainability becomes increasingly crucial to business operations, datacenters are facing more stringent regulatory standards and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) requirements. HCI-based architectures are well-positioned to help companies meet these demands by significantly reducing both energy consumption and carbon emissions.

Here are a few trends and recommendations for businesses looking to improve sustainability in their datacenter operations:

• Adopt HCI for energy efficiency: Transitioning to HCI is a proven way to reduce the energy consumption of datacenters while also supporting ESG goals.

• Explore hybrid cloud solutions: By moving workloads to the cloud, companies can scale more efficiently and reduce their reliance on on-premises datacenters, further enhancing sustainability efforts.

• Monitor regulatory changes: As new environmental regulations are introduced, businesses will need to ensure their datacenters meet the evolving standards. HCI offers a flexible, scalable solution that can adapt to changing compliance requirements.

Conclusion

The growing demand for digital services has made sustainability in datacenters more important than ever. By adopting HCI and hybrid cloud models, businesses could reduce their energy consumption, carbon emissions, and overall environmental impact, while also benefiting from substantial cost savings. 

As sustainability continues to be a priority for organizations and governments alike, HCI will play an essential role in helping companies meet both their environmental goals and economic objectives. If you're looking to future-proof your datacenter operations while contributing to a greener future, exploring HCI solutions is a step in the right direction.

Discover how HCI can transform your datacenter into a more sustainable, cost-efficient operation: https://www.nutanix.com/uk/go/improving-sustainability-in-data-centers

References

Atlantic Ventures. (2024). Improving sustainability in data centers (Industry report). Atlantic Ventures. https://www.nutanix.com/viewer/go/improving-sustainability-in-data-centers?noSubmit=true