We all use social networks today to get in touch with our long lost friends and meet new people as well. Within the social network circuit, Facebook has definitely made its mark by providing a more engaging platform to its 500 million + active users all across the world.
But did we ever stop to think that what seems very friendly on our computers might be burning a lot of coal in some part of the world to keep those servers running 24 hours?
Last year, Facebook announced its plans to build a massive data centre using the latest energy efficient computers to serve the hundreds of millions of us on their near-addictive website. However, though the computers are more energy efficient, Facebook plans to power the place by burning huge amounts of coal. Coal, the dirtiest source of energy and largest single source of global warming pollution on this planet. Read more...
Facebook can choose how to power its infrastructure and how to use its brand image to take a stand against dirty coal and promote clean energy instead. Given the support Facebook would get from all the friends it connects, the company can lead the IT sector to a greener future.
When more than 500,000 Facebook users asked the company to use clean energy, we got Randi Zuckerberg, Director of Marketing at Facebook, to have an interview with Greenpeace.
With Randi getting a t-shirt from Kumi, hopefully she'll wear it to work and spread the message to others in her office. This year all we want from Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, is a greener Facebook. We want renewable energy to power our favourite website, not dirty coal.