Monitoring environment metrics in IBM Storage Insights

On the Environment metrics page, you can view and manage Carbon Emission Factor (CEF) and Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) at different levels. These values are crucial for calculating carbon emissions within your environment.

Go to Settings > Environment metrics to access the Environment metrics page.

Carbon footprint is the measurement of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) emissions for a specific entity.
  • IBM Storage Insights collects the power consumption data from the storage systems and calculates the carbon footprint by using the following formula:
    CO2e = Energy consumption * PUE * CEF
    Where, 
    Energy consumption = Average power consumed * Number of hours
    • PUE is a ratio that describes how efficiently a computer data center uses energy. Specifically, how much energy is used by the computing equipment. PUE is the ratio of the total amount of energy used by a computer data center to the energy delivered to computing equipment. The closer PUE is to 1, the more efficient the computer data center.
    • CO2e factor (kgCO₂e/kWh) that is Carbon Emission Factor (CEF), is a measurement of how clean the electricity is. It refers to how many kilograms of carbon dioxide are released to produce 1 kilo watt-hour (kWh) of electricity. Electricity generated by using fossil fuels is more carbon intensive as the process emits the carbon dioxide. Renewable energy sources, such as wind, hydro, or solar power, does not emit carbon dioxide. So, their CEF is lower and often zero. Country specific CEF value is taken from Carbon Database Initiative website.
  • Example: If energy consumption of a storage system is 0.05 kWh, carbon footprint is calculated as follows:
    Carbon footprint = 0.05 * 1.5 * 0.25 = 0.01875 kgCO₂e
Note: The carbon emission information is available only for the IBM Storage Virtualize systems with version 8.6.2.0 or later, connected through Call Home with cloud services and DS8000 storage systems with firmware version 7.7.2.0 or later.

Default CEF and PUE values

The CEF and PUE values are available at default, location, and country levels. If you have the Admin role, you can edit these constants at any of these levels.

  • By default, PUE is set to 1.5 and CEF is set to 0.25 kgCO₂e/kWh for your IBM Storage Insights tenant.
  • User with the Admin role can set custom values for CEF and PUE at the default level. Generally the CEF value lies in between 0 to 2 and the PUE value from 1 to 5. Modify these values based on your preference. Click the edit icon toward the right side in the Default section.
  • If the data center having the storage systems uses the renewable energy sources, such as wind, hydro, or solar power, then set the CEF value as zero.
  • If energy given to the computing unit is equal to the energy generated by it, then set the PUE value as 1.
  • Editing the CEF and PUE constants is audited and the audit log is available for your reference. For more information, see Audit actions.

Location and country specific CEF and PUE values

You can view CEF and PUE values that are categorized by both location and country, giving you a comprehensive understanding of your environment impact. Use the Location and Country tabs to switch between views. Locations are set by the Administrator when editing storage system properties.

  • The table in the Location tab displays the location, number of storage systems at that location, the CO₂e factor (CEF), the power usage effectiveness (PUE) ratio, and the last modified date.
  • The location appears in the table only if you manually set it as a storage system property, and its specific CEF and PUE values are empty unless you manually enter them.
  • Location specific CEF and PUE values override the default and country level environment metrics for carbon emission calculation.

The table in the Country tab displays the country name, number of storage systems at that country, the CEF, the PUE, and the last modified date.
  • IBM Storage Insights collects country name through the metadata collection for IBM Storage Visualize devices. If country name is not available, then it is collected from Entitled System Support.
  • For DS8000 storage systems, country name is collected from Entitled System Support.
  • Country specific CEF value is taken from Carbon Database Initiative website and PUE at country level is set to 1.5. These CEF and PUE values override the default environment metrics for carbon emission calculation.
  • You can edit the CEF and PUE values at country level if you are in the Admin role.
Working with the table:
  • Search: Click in the search bar to quickly find a specific location, country, or the constants.
  • Export report: Click Export report to export the data displayed in the table in CSV, PDF, or HTML format.
  • Items per page: Use the Items per page drop down to change the number of items displayed on the page.
  • Edit: Click the edit icon corresponding to each row to modify the values.

Precedence of CEF and PUE values

When calculating carbon emissions, IBM Storage Insights considers the following precedence for CEF and PUE values, from highest to lowest:

  1. Location (Only if you have manually entered the CEF and PUE values at location level)
  2. Country (CEF value is taken from Carbon Database Initiative website and PUE is set to 1.5, or your manually entered CEF and PUE values at country level)

  3. Default CEF and PUE (Only if location and country level constants are not available)

This precedence ensures that the most specific values are considered for the accurate carbon emission calculations.