Microsoft is working with scientists to find a way to reuse decommissioned servers
- GreenSKUs redefine server design for sustainable cloud computing efficiency
- Energy-efficient GreenSKUs address the growing carbon costs of cloud computing
- Microsoft is leading the way in reusing server components to reduce emissions
Servers consume enormous amounts of energy while operational and generate significant carbon emissions during production.
To address this challenge, researchers from Microsoft, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Washington have developed “GreenSKUs,” a sustainable approach to server design.
Unlike the standard practice of discarding components after three to five years of use, the GreenSKUs framework focuses on reusing components such as random access memory (RAM) modules and solid-state drives (SSDs) from decommissioned servers.
Backwards compatibility allows reuse
The foundation of GreenSKUs lies in leveraging backward compatibility. Technology advancements such as Compute Express Link (CXL) controllers enable compatibility between different generations of memory modules, such as DDR4 and DDR5, making it feasible to reuse older components without significant performance loss.
To ensure reliability, the researchers created a framework that evaluates components for reuse, identifying parts that do not cause unacceptable performance degradation or excessive energy consumption.
The team’s efforts extend beyond hardware and introduce a software layer to further fine-tune performance that determines which compute tasks are best suited for GreenSKUs compared to standard Azure servers.
The GreenSKUs feature energy-efficient AMD Bergamo processors alongside repurposed RAM and SSDs sourced from defunct servers, reducing emissions associated with hardware production.
According to the Association for Computing Machinery, the carbon footprint of cloud computing will increase significantly, potentially contributing 20% of global emissions by 2030. Currently, cloud operations consume approximately 3% of global energy annually.
The GreenSKUs project aligns with these efforts, and researchers estimate an 8% reduction in physical and operational CO2 emissions for servers using this approach. On a large scale, the technology could reduce global CO2 emissions by 0.1 to 0.2%, a reduction comparable to the emissions from all smartphone use in the United States.
However, reusing older components is not without challenges. The reused RAM modules introduced latency and reduced memory bandwidth, which researchers overcame with memory pooling techniques. Similarly, slower read/write speeds in SSDs were addressed using RAID striping.
However, not all limitations had solutions. For example, AMD Bergamo processors, while energy efficient, had reduced cache performance. Researchers have integrated such tradeoffs into their broader framework to ensure that any server configuration can still meet Azure requirements.
Via IEEE spectrum