Global digital data generation has been growing at a breakneck pace. Although not all generated data needs to be
\nstored, a non-trivial portion does. Synthetic deoxyribonucleotide acid (DNA) is an attractive medium for digital
\ninformation storage. If kept under appropriate conditions, DNA can reliably store information for thousands of
\nyears. It also has a practical estimated density of 1 Exabyte per cubic inch, which is much higher than commercial
\ndata storage media.<\/p>\n
Buildings, infrastructure, electronic computing, storage, and networking equipment, and other physical resources
\nall contribute to the environmental impacts, particularly, emissions, energy and water consumption, and waste
\ngeneration of digital data storage. DNA data storage has the potential to limit these impacts by drastically reducing
\nthe resources required to maintain very large volumes of data.<\/p>\n
In this paper, we describe how to store digital information in synthetic DNA, present a cradle-to-grave life cycle
\nassessment (LCA) of archival DNA data storage, and compare the resulting environmental impacts with those of
\ntraditional hard disk drives (HDDs) and tape storage based on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, energy usage,
\nand blue water consumption (BWC). We conclude that DNA shows promise when compared to HDDs and tape,
\nand we follow that conclusion with a discussion of how further innovation in biotechnology could be used to
\nimprove the sustainability of future datacenters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Global digital data generation has been growing at a breakneck pace. Although not all generated data needs to be stored, a non-trivial portion does. Synthetic deoxyribonucleotide acid (DNA) is an attractive medium for digital information storage. If kept under appropriate conditions, DNA can reliably store information for thousands of years. It also has a practical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"msr-url-field":"","msr-podcast-episode":"","msrModifiedDate":"","msrModifiedDateEnabled":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"msr-content-type":[3],"msr-research-highlight":[],"research-area":[198583,13552,13547],"msr-publication-type":[193716],"msr-product-type":[],"msr-focus-area":[],"msr-platform":[],"msr-download-source":[],"msr-locale":[268875],"msr-field-of-study":[246847,246850],"msr-conference":[],"msr-journal":[],"msr-impact-theme":[],"msr-pillar":[],"class_list":["post-710224","msr-research-item","type-msr-research-item","status-publish","hentry","msr-research-area-ecology-environment","msr-research-area-hardware-devices","msr-research-area-systems-and-networking","msr-locale-en_us","msr-field-of-study-storage","msr-field-of-study-sustainability"],"msr_publishername":"IEEE","msr_edition":"","msr_affiliation":"","msr_published_date":"2020-9-1","msr_host":"","msr_duration":"","msr_version":"","msr_speaker":"","msr_other_contributors":"","msr_booktitle":"","msr_pages_string":"","msr_chapter":"","msr_isbn":"","msr_journal":"","msr_volume":"","msr_number":"","msr_editors":"","msr_series":"","msr_issue":"","msr_organization":"Fraunhofer IZM","msr_how_published":"","msr_notes":"","msr_highlight_text":"","msr_release_tracker_id":"","msr_original_fields_of_study":"","msr_download_urls":"","msr_external_url":"","msr_secondary_video_url":"","msr_longbiography":"","msr_microsoftintellectualproperty":1,"msr_main_download":"","msr_publicationurl":"","msr_doi":"","msr_publication_uploader":[{"type":"file","viewUrl":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/uploads\/prod\/2020\/12\/2020_07_13_EGG2020_Paper_Final.pdf","id":"710233","title":"2020_07_13_egg2020_paper_final","label_id":"243109","label":0}],"msr_related_uploader":"","msr_attachments":[{"id":710233,"url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/uploads\/prod\/2020\/12\/2020_07_13_EGG2020_Paper_Final.pdf"}],"msr-author-ordering":[{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Bichlien Nguyen","user_id":35942,"rest_url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Bichlien Nguyen"},{"type":"text","value":"Julie Sinistore","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Jake Smith","user_id":40891,"rest_url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Jake Smith"},{"type":"text","value":"Praneet S. 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