Facebook makes a partial bow to green pressure

Facebook Coal Power Controversy spotlights Greenpeace pressure for renewable energy, clean power, and sustainable data centers as Prineville, Oregon relies on a coal-heavy grid, prompting climate policy advocacy and corporate energy transparency.

Facebook launched a new site in October, called Green on Facebook, in order to track its efforts to be more sustainable. Many say this act is a reaction to recent criticism from the environmental group Greenpeace.

Greenpeace called for Facebook to “unfriend” coal. Its proposed new data center in Prineville, Oregon, receives most of its electricity from coal plants. The Greenpeace site, which provides the public a chance to sign a petition of sorts not to mention “liking” the article on Facebook, states that by electing to build their data center in central Oregon, Facebook is choosing to endorse coal-produced energy.

The conservation organization offered four actions that it wanted Facebook to take:

1. Commit to stop using polluting coal power.

2. Use its purchasing power to choose only clean, renewable sources of electricity.

3. Advocate for strong climate and energy policy changes at the local, national and international level to ensure that as the IT industry's energy demand increases, so does the supply of renewable energy.

4. Share this information publicly on its website so its millions of users know the company is a climate leader.

In October Facebook launched its green page, and it currently has over 50,000 friends. It lists many steps the company is taking to reduce its footprint across its operations, including operational initiatives that have reduced its water consumption by 60 percent, lighting efficiency measures and a transportation-sharing program. The company says it is also taking steps to reduce energy consumed by its data centers, including designing a new programming language that can reduce server use by 50 percent.

Social pressure seems to have increased awareness in this instance, much like investor pressure has for utility climate disclosures. Of course the plant in Prineville is still being built, and it will use mostly coal-produced power for the time being. Using less coal-produced power is at least a step in the right direction.

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