Facebook befriends clean energy

BANGALORE, INDIA: Social networking giant Facebook announced that it will start running clean, renewable energy in its data centres, calling a truce over its two-year conflict with Greenpeace regarding the use of clean power in data centres.

Moreover, Greenpeace and Facebook will collaborate in the promotion renewable energy and encourage major utilities to develop renewable energy sources. Facebook has also committed to develop programmes with Greenpeace so that its users can save energy and engage their communities in clean energy decisions, says a report on Greenpeace UK.

Also Read: Google abandons cheap renewable energy project

The campaign to green Facebook took off in February 2010, just after the company announced its plan to build a data centre that would run on electricity made primarily by burning coal. It attracted some 700,000 supporters on Facebook

The energy used to power data centres, such as those which run the websites and online services of Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Twitter and other major IT companies is enormous, totalling more than 2 per cent of US electricity demand, and is projected to grow 12 per cent or more each year.

If all the internet giants unfriended coal, it would send a message to utilities and investors that couldn't be ignored, adds the report.