Facebook saving face when it comes to energy efficiency?
Facebook has kind of taken it on the chin when it comes to publicity about its energy sourcing choices, especially in contrast with some of the other big players staking claim on the cloud service landscape. It simply hasn't been as vocal or as specific as companies like Google or Microsoft about environmental issues Which is a shame, considering the enormous influence it wields. Greenpeace, in particular, has questioned its choice of location for new data centers. But now, It looks like the social network is looking to change that perception, leaning on a new partnership with Alliance to Save Energy to help spread the message of the money that could be saved through energy efficiency effort.
Facebook is the newest Associated member of the Alliance, which describes itself as a coalition of business and consumer leaders focused on promoting both energy efficiency and clean energy. The social network is donating roughly $500,000 worth of Facebook advertising to help promote the Alliance's new web site, called LivingEfficiently.org, which is (in turn) sponsored by Dell. The site is intended to offer up specific tips for energy efficiency, shared by both celebrities (ala the first
In a statement, Facebook's vice president of technical operations, Jonathan Heiliger, says that Facebook believes "environmental responsibility starts with living efficiently. That's why we have invested thousands and tens of millions of dollars into efficiency technology for our operations."
Joining an alliance, of course, is just one small step in the scheme of things. But the company is definitely trying to shore up its energy efficiency credentials. One example, technically speaking, is its development of something called HipHop for PHP. This is a programming language that helps reduce the CPU usage on its web servers by up to 50 percent. According to Facebook, that means fewer servers needed, henceforth less energy expended.
Facebook is actually giving this software away, so that others can take advantage of it.
I personally believe that the giant cloud software companies have a responsibility to think this way, especially as more and more computing applications move into public or private cloud clusters and away from individual corporate data centers. The fact is, Facebook will find itself increasingly scrutinized for things like this as it matures. It could learn a lot from Google in that regard.