Unfriend dirty coal, Greenpeace asks Facebook

BANGALORE, INDIA: Backed by over half a million Facebook users, Greenpeace asks Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to phase out the use of coal-fired electricity in its data centre.

Facebook recently chose to operate its first data centre, located in Prineville, Oregon, US, with energy from Pacific Power, a utility that is fueled primarily by coal. Adding to the agony is Facebook's announcement to double the size of its data centre.

Also Read: Facebook: You say coal. How can then it be green?

A recent Greenpeace report finds that at current growth rates, data centres and telecommunication networks will consume about 1,963 billion kilowatts hours of electricity in 2020, more than triple their current consumption.

Referring to Google's decision to buy wind power from NextEra Energy, for the next 20 years, to power its data centres, executive director of Greenpeace, Kumi Naidoo asks Facebook, "Other cloud-based companies face similar choices and challenges as you do in building data centres, yet many are making smarter and cleaner investments.”

Greenpeace’s “Unfriend Coal” drive targeting Facebook falls under the environmental group’s larger Cool IT campaign, where Greenpeace is calling on information technology giants to become climate champions.