Facebook’s decision to more than double the floor space in its first own data center, does not sit well with Greenpeace, especially since Facebook is relying on coal to power its infrastructure.
Facebook said that instead of the originally planned 147,000 square feet, the new building’s shell will be expanded to add another 160,000 square feet. The company said that the first phase of the building should be completed in the first quarter of 2011, while the second phase will be finalized by early 2012. Facebook said that the data center will create 35 jobs, while about 150 to 200 people are currently working in construction.
Greenpeace, which criticized Facebook’s power source before, is targeting the company again: “With Facebook’s announcement, it has irresponsibly chosen to double-down its bet on dirty energy while other IT companies such as Google are buying renewable energy because it is sound, long-term business investment,” said Greenpeace Climate Policy analyst Gary Cook. He noted that rumors about a new clean energy policy at Facebook are not enough and the new announcement “shows that this policy does not have any teeth.”
“Given that Facebook, along with cloud-based computing as a whole, is projected to quadruple in size over the next ten years, it’s critical, both for the environment and the financial viability of the industry, that Facebook and other major cloud based companies such as Google and Microsoft build a green cloud, not a brown one that increases demand for coal,” Cook said.
