Facebook Petition Emerges To Halt Facebook Coal Power Usage
Facebook’s just built it’s first custom data center to keep up with the demands of being the world’s second most popular website. But according to a report from Fast Company, that shiny new data center may be powered by some old, black coal.
Fast Comapny reports on a petition circulating to stop Facebook from using coal power, a petition that at this point has 227 members. How’s this square with the corporate image? Not well, which is why company spokesperson Lee Weinstein shot back at the claim, stating that the data center will be getting power from a company that uses “hydro, geothermal, wind and coal power. ” What Lee didn’t say was that the company, Pacificorp, generates 83% of its power from coal, geothermal and natural gas – this means Facebook probably won’t be drawing much power from the greener of the company’s sources.
Additionally, both Microsoft and Google have touted their company’s use of hydroelectric power in data centers, which is a much cleaner source of power than coal.
Will Facebook switch over from coal to something less sooty? Check out the petition and judge for yourself – visit the petition for the dirty details.
Source & Photo Source: Fast Company
