guardian.co.uk,
James Meikle, Thursday 15 December 2011
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| Facebook director of operations, Tom Furlong, announces plans to build a 'green' datacentre in Lulea, northern Sweden. Photograph: Susanne Lindholm/AFP/Getty Images |
Facebook
has announced it will move away from coal and power its operations – including
datacentres – with clean and renewable energy.
The move
follows a two-year campaign by environmental group Greenpeace, which argued
that the company's massive energy consumption was contributing significantly to
climate change.
The
agreement comes after Greenpeace united 700,000 supporters behind its Unfriend
Facebook campaign to lobby the company to change its energy policies.
"This move sets an example for the industry to follow," said Tzeporah
Berman, co-director of Greenpeace's international climate and energy programme.
"This shift to clean, safe energy choices will help fight global warming
and ensure a stronger economy and healthier communities."
In April
2011, a Greenpeace report, How Dirty is your Data?, calculated that 53.2% of
Facebook's electricity was generated by coal. Energy consumption by datacentres
is growing rapidly and each of Facebook's US datacentres is estimated to
consume the same electricity as 30,000 US homes.
Facebook
said it wanted to develop its platform to work more closely with Greenpeace to
"promote environmental awareness and action" after the two
organisations published a joint statement on future collaboration.
Marcy Scott
Lynn, of Facebook's sustainability programme, said it looked forward "to a
day when our primary energy sources are clean and renewable, and we are working
with Greenpeace and others to help bring that day closer. As an important step,
our datacentre siting policy now states a preference for access to clean and
renewable energy."
She added
that Greenpeace had been "particularly effective" in using Facebook,
saying: "We are excited to work with them to explore new ways in which
people can use Facebook to engage and connect on the range of energy issues
that matter most to them – from their own energy efficiency to access to
cleaner sources of energy."
Facebook's
commitment to renewable energy "raises the bar for other IT and cloud
computing companies such as Apple, IBM, Microsoft, and Twitter", said
Casey Harrell, senior IT analyst for Greenpeace International.
The
environmental group has argued that IT companies, by increasing their
electricity consumption while avoiding increasing demand for coal, could become
a strong force in helping move countries to low-carbon economies.
In October,
the company announced plans to build a "green" datacentre in Lulea in
northern Sweden that would handle all data processing from Europe, the Middle
East and Africa. Powered primarily from renewables, the planned facility will
cover 30,000 square metres - about the size of 11 football pitches.
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Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California. The internet
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| (Photo: RNW) |
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