The Environmental Impact of Digital Preservation

At Digital Bedrock, sustainability is a core pillar of our organization. Our commitment to a green architecture is foundational to our work — and by lowering our carbon footprint, we are directly lowering our clients’ footprint as well.

How We Help:

  • Intentional preservation and lifecycle planning eliminate the environmental impacts of digital hoarding.

  • Once client data is securely written to tape, it is immediately deleted from our servers, ensuring no unnecessary energy consumption from redundant storage.

  • Our low-power dark archive storage system utilizes LTO tape - the most sustainable archival option available in both how it is manufactured and how it is used.

  • LTO requires no power when idle and delivers long-term preservation with minimal environmental impact.

  • By operating within a shared data center, we leverage large-scale infrastructure efficiencies, conserving energy and reducing waste.

Environmental Impact Resources

Presentation Slides

Presentation slides from talks on the environmental impact of digital preservation given by Linda Tadic at various conferences around the world. The presentation slides will be updated periodically and are available for download.

The last update is from April 2025: The Environmental Impact of Digital Preservation Download the slides here.

Conference presentations: AMIA conferences (Portland, Oregon November 2015; Pittsburgh, 2016; keynote, virtual, November 2021), the Southeast Asia-Pacific Audio Visual Archives Association (SEAPAVAA) conference (Singapore, April 2015; keynote, virtual, June 2021), International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA) conference (Paris, September 2015), and the IV Congreso Internacional de Archivos Digitales (keynote, virtual, November 2021); online webinar for the American Library Association (April 2022), FIAT/IFTA FRAME Expert workshop (October 2022); SMPTE Technical Conference (October 2022); Virtual SARBICA International Symposium presentation (November 2022); TBW Advisors, Earth Day Technology Panel (April, 2025).

Other Resources

SEAPAVAA 2021 keynote: Watch it here.

IV Congreso Internacional de Archivos Digitales keynote (November 2021) — Spanish-language slides: Archivos Digitales Keynote Download the slides here.

— Link to the video presentation:  "La relación entre los archivos audiovisuales digitales y el medio ambiente” ("The Relationship Between Digital Audiovisual Archives and the Environment”)   Watch here.

Association of Moving Image Archivists 2021 Keynote with Henry Newman and Tre Berney: “Environmentally Sustainable Preservation: Challenges, Solutions, and What’s Ahead.” Watch it here.

PUBLICATIONS

The book “Digital Asset Management for Museums,” edited by Margaret McKee and Jessica Herczeg-Konecny, contains two sections written by Digital Bedrock CEO Linda Tadic.

Within Chapter Two: Getting started: Putting DAM principles into practice with or without a Digital Asset Management System, she contributed the sections on digital preservation, and a spotlight on DAM and the environment.

Published by Bloomsbury in 2025.

Find it here.