Greenpeace Has Issues With Facebook's New Coal-Powered Data Center

According to officials at Greenpeace, Facebook needs to change its environmentally unfriendly ways. As the AP reports, more than 500,000 users have joined Greenpeace-sponsored groups calling for the social network to use renewable energy to power its new U.S. data center. On Wednesday, Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo sent a letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, reminding him that Facebook would be putting its reputation and integrity on the line if it powers its new Oregon offices with coal. "Facebook is really out of step with the trend," Naidoo told the AP, adding that the company made an "active choice to lean in the direction of dirty coal."

Facebook, of course, denies the allegations that it voluntarily chose to use coal at its new facilities, which company spokesman Barry Schnitt calls, "one of the most efficient in the world." In fact, the social network claims that it deliberately chose the Oregon locale precisely because its cool desert climate would allow the center to operate without energy-inefficient "chillers," which are typically used to cool the buildings that house servers. Because Prineville's temperature drops precipitously at night, Facebook claims that such mechanisms would be rendered redundant.

Greenpeace claims that utility provider PacifiCorp will use a mix of 83-percent coal in delivering energy to Facebook's data center. PacifiCorp, however, disputes that figure, arguing that only 58-percent of its energy mix is coal, with natural gas and hydro or renewable energies comprising the rest. Considering how many members have already joined Greenpeace's anti-Zuckerberg groups, though, Facebook will likely have to do a lot more than simply refute statistics if it wants to defuse this mini-controversy.

Tags: coal power, CoalPower, data, data center, DataCenter, environment, environmental, facebook, greenpeace, Mark Zuckerberg, MarkZuckerberg, oregon, pacificorp, social network, social networking, SocialNetwork, SocialNetworking, top