Storage to energy: Modeling the carbon emission of storage task offloading between data centers

Storing data in the cloud is becoming a common trend, for both end-customers and data center operators. We propose a method for deciding where to host data storage tasks under the constraint of minimal greenhouse gas emission. The decision on whether to store data locally or store it remotely at a cleaner data center relies on the models for the local and remote data centers and the network connecting them. We conclude that the transport network that connects a local node and a 'cleaner' remote data center plays a significant role in the decision of where to store data, and that the frequency of access of the data is an important and related factor. © 2014 IEEE.