Photo by Hush Naidoo 

TL;DR: A single search server with SeekStorm technology equals the energy saving of switching off 1,000,000 lightbulbs

Sustainability and the reduction of the carbon footprint is a giant, global task. We will succeed only if we all do our best within our domain, where we are experts and at home, to reduce the footprint of the technologies we are using, developing, and deploying to make business and serve our customers. That is one of the reasons we are building SeekStorm, a high-performance & high energy efficient search-as-a service.

Methods for sustainable search

1. Serving more users per server

Being able to serve much more users per server not only dramatically reduces hardware costs and all the energy and raw material that went into it, but also to save the energy that is required to operate the servers every day, which now are no longer needed due to a much more efficient technology.

SeekStorms SSD-based indices allow hosting 1000x more indices on a single server compared to RAM-based search technology, with comparable performance.

Source: Architecture A single SeekStorm search server can serve as much customers/indices that previously required operating 1000 RAM-based search servers — saving orders of magnitude in cost and energy. Besides contributing to sustainability by saving energy and resources this also allows to offer lower prices to the customer and increase profitability at the same time.

2. Reducing required searches to find information

Spelling correction, auto-completion, faceting, and customizable ranking help the user finding what he is looking for faster, in fewer steps and searches.

Energy Saving

The LED light bulb (60W) vs. incandescent light bulb (12W) energy efficiency ratio is 1:5. The SeekStorm search technology vs. RAM-based search technology energy efficiency ratio is 1:1000, and a single server (850 W, 24/7) uses 1000x more energy than a light bulb (12W, daily usage 1.6 hr).

So the resulting saving is dramatic: A single search server with SeekStorm technology equals the energy saving of switching off 1,000,000 lightbulbs.

For more information visit SeekStorm — Search-as-a-service