Reducing Carbon Emissions

Deploying renewed video management and AI analytics servers for video management applications should be core to an authentic, low-carbon emissions strategy. It is one of the most effective ways for companies to lower their carbon footprint - avoiding new equipment manufacture where possible.

Manufacturing new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) equipment, such as the servers and client PC’s used in CCTV video management and AI analytics solutions, accounts for an estimated 4% of global carbon emissions. Renewing ICT equipment, wherever possible, reduces costs and carbon emissions, but VMS Co can also give assurance that the renewed equipment it sells is hugely reliable, with little increased risk of failure over new.

VMS Co. has two product ranges based on renewed servers. These are the MOSS™ (Managed On-Site Servers) subscription service where VMS Co. owns, manages, maintains, and warranties the renewed servers at a customer's site, operating like an on-site data centre. The second is a renewed server range for outright purchase - typically sold at half the new price. Both MOSS™ and the renewed server ranges come with up to 7-years, next-business-day warranties and field engineer support.

Embodied carbon and the waste hierarchy

The waste hierarchy for cutting carbon emissions ranks the priority as follows:

reduce > reuse > refurbish > recycle > dispose

Approximately 80% of a servers lifetime carbon emissions occur during its manufacture, not from its use. This is known as "embodied carbon", and includes raw material extraction, component production, and assembly, with long, global supply chains, such as mining in one country, assembly in another, and shipping worldwide. The renewal of servers as a whole, or the components and boards within them, reduces the environmental impact of embodied carbon emissions compared to purchasing new items.

VMS Co’s MOSS™ and renewed servers firmly target the ‘reduce > reuse > refurbish’ part of this hierarchy, where ‘embodied carbon’ emissions reduction has the greatest impact. This delays the need for recycling and reduces disposal pressure on waste systems and landfills.

VMS Co. can offer long warranties because server failure rates are not linear, but more typically follow a "bathtub curve" failure rate. This is where there are initial high failures, followed by stable reliable performance for many years, before a gradual increase in failures as the equipment ages.

The stages of the bathtub curve are:

1. Burn-in: where the stress during first power cycles reveals hidden weaknesses, such as from manufacturing defects, assembly, handling, design flaws etc
2. Useful life: the stable, low failure rate part of the product lifecycle, which can often be over 7 years.
3. Wear-out: where failures increase again as equipment ages and components degrade.

VMS Co. uses equipment and parts that are in their optimal Useful Life stage, balancing reliability and cost. For CCTV applications, the server does not often need to be cutting-edge, but it does need to be dependable for many years. Our equipment selection is focused on long-term reliability and maximum useful life.

Recycling and offsetting is not good enough

Recycling can offset about 2–3% of embodied carbon emissions. Carbon offsetting, which involves supporting nature-based or renewable projects to offset emissions, also contributes to reductions. However, this approach offsets but does not directly address or tackle the root cause of the problem. 

Assurance

The lifespan of servers depends on critical parts within the server, like batteries, HDDs, SSDs, and cooling systems, not the entire product. Replacing these key parts, along with cleaning and reusing CPU/GPU boards and chassis, allows servers to perform like new. VMS Co monitors component and board longevity in the field and selects known reliable parts for reuse. This can sometimes prove to be the better choice over new parts when targeting longevity, as they are proven to last.

VMS Co recognizes that customers need assurance that renewed servers are of no greater reliability risk when deployed in CCTV applications. To address this, VMS Co. provides up to 7-years, next-business-day warranties and field engineer support for its renewed servers, ensuring reliability and continuity on site. These are levels of support and warranty that surpass the standard warranties offered by most new, branded server manufacturers.

The embodied carbon in new verses renewed servers is as follows: 

New: 300 kg CO₂e per Kg of servers.

Renewed: 50 kg CO₂e per Kg of servers, including the impact of cleaning, testing, replacing components, PSUs and HDDS.

Example: What are the carbon emissions savings by using 1000Kg (1 tonne) of renewed servers instead of new (this is around 50x, 2U servers or 1000x laptops)?

Savings are 250,000 Kg CO₂e (250 tonnes), which is the equivalent to:

• Driving a petrol car approximately 1 million km
• Charging around 30 million smartphones
• Avoiding 150 transatlantic flights
• Offsetting the annual emissions of 25 people (global average)

Video Management Servers Co. - Making VMS and analytics simple, affordable, and sustainable.