Facebook is facing an online social campaign of protest on its very site. The social networking major is facing some heat over its massive data center being run on electricity generated from coal powered thermal plants.
Greenpeace international says at least 500,000 people have voiced their protests at Facebook (and on Facebook). They are demanding that the social networking site turn over a greener leaf. The number of protesters matches the number of Facebook users.
Facebook’s data center is the nodal point that handles the site’s entire database. Though energy consumption figures are not publicly available, industry estimates suggest that all the data centers and telecommunication networks in the world will consume about 1,963 billion kilowatt hours of electricity by 2020. That is more than what is used by France, Germany, Canada and Brazil combined.
To handle expected traffic loads, Facebook plans to setup the world’s ‘largest centralized data storage centers’ in Portland, Oregon. The company has said that it will source 67% of its electricity from coal fired electricity and 12% from renewable sources. It is this disproportionate ratio that has raised the hackles of environmentalists.
Facebook in its defense says that it does not have a say on power sources. Facebook responded –
“It is true that the local utility for the region we chose, Pacific Power, has an energy mix that is weighted slightly more toward coal than the national average. However, the efficiency we are able to achieve because of the climate of the region and the reduced energy usage that results minimizes our overall carbon footprint.
Said differently, if we located the data centre most other places, we would need mechanical chillers, use more energy, and be responsible for more overall carbon in the air – even if that location was fuelled by more renewable energy.”
Kumi Naidoo, director of Greenpeace International urged Facebook to set a visible benchmark for environmental responsibility.
“Facebook is uniquely positioned to be a truly visible and influential leader to drive the deployment of clean energy.”
Data centers are energy expensive affairs. Computing and data processing digests a major chunk of energy and large scale data centers would be hard pressed to meet it entirely from renewable energy. But companies like Yahoo, Google, and Facebook also have a financial interest in pursuing alternative forms of energy and reduce their bills.
