The EPA is working on an Energy Star specification for storage systems, much like they’ve developed for servers.

Unlike the server specification, the EPA is focusing on power consumption by storage systems as they read and write data, vs. while they are idle.  Big mistake.  Storage is mostly about…well, storing.  The biggest impact comes from the steady-state power draw over the hours, days, months and years the storage system operates – not the relatively rare moments when data is coming in or going out. 

That’s like measuring the energy efficiency of a refrigerator only when you open the door.

Storage read/write utilization time varies by application of course.  But on average it is low.  Maybe we need a Mega Data Center specification and a more mainstream specification.

What am I missing here? Why focus on active storage power consumption vs. idle? 

Comments welcome.