The social networking site, Facebook, is currently under fire for its intention to run a huge data centre principally on coal-powered electricity.
The social networking website is actually experiencing unparalleled pressure from its users to change to renewable energy. This environmental campaign is one among the fastest-growing one on the web. In accordance to Greenpeace international, at least 500,000 persons have already protested against the organisation’s idea to operate its massive new data centre chiefly on electricity that is produced through burning coal power.
While Facebook will not admit the quantity of electricity that it makes use for streaming video, storing information as well as connecting its 500 million users, the industry’s estimations imply that at their actual growth rate, the totality of the data centres and telecommunication networks on in the four parts of the world will consume around 1,963 billion kilowatt hours of electricity by the year 2020. This consumption is greater than triple their actual consumption. It represents more electricity that is used by Germany, Brazil, Canada and France combined.
In February, Facebook had announced that it was planning to construct what is anticipated to be the world’s leading centralised data storage centres found in Poland, Oregon. Even though it will comprise of the computers that will be most energy-efficient in the world, the mere scale of the Facebook operation will almost surely use more electricity than the majority of developing countries.
The company has stated that Pacific Power will be supplying the electricity. The latter makes use of coal power; the most unclean way of generating power. It makes use of renewable sources to produce less than 12 percent of its electricity. Pacific Power will be providing 67 % of the company’s use in terms electricity. While the company has declared that it intends to produce more electricity from renewable sources in the times to come, it has not given any detailed information in this regards.
In a declaration Facebook stated that it is exact that the local utility that has been chosen, Pacific Power, has an energy blend that is weighted a bit more in relation to coal compared to the national average. Nevertheless, they are of view that the efficiency that they are able to attain due to the climate of the region and the reduced energy usage that result diminishes their carbon footprint in general.
Another way of looking at it will reveal that if the company located the data centre in other places, it would require mechanical chillers, use greater amount of energy and be accountable for more overall carbon in the atmosphere – even if that region was powered by more energy from renewable sources.
The director of Greenpeace International, Kumi Naidoo, recommended the CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, to pledge his company to a plan to phase out the use of unclean coal-fired electricity. In a letter addressed to Facebook, Naidoo stated that Facebook is distinctively positioned to be a really influential and visible leader to lead the deployment of clean energy.
Previously this year, Greenpeace acknowledged that a number of its own web hosting operations are housed in data centres that are powered principally by nuclear and coal power too. The environmental group said that it compensate for all the energy used to power its chief website in Amsterdam and made use of renewable energy where possible. In Washington, its servers also used wind power to a great extent.
Source: Guardian.co.Uk
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