Saving energy?
Tell your friends about it!

Facebook, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and clean-tech startup Opower are working together on a new app to help consumers monitor and compare their home energy use with their friends on Facebook, and share tips and stories to improve their energy efficiency. Get the app

100,000 strong – and growing –
for Facebook.com/green

Support for, and interest in, how people and organizations are using Facebook to promote environmental sustainability continues to grow. Facebook.com/green, which highlights how the Facebook platform is enabling environmental action, awareness and education, has more than 100,000 fans and continues to grow organically.

Environmental efforts
are thriving on Facebook

From the World Wildlife Fund’s environmental advocacy app that allows people on Facebook to directly contact world leaders about environmental issues to National Geographic’s conservation-themed Facebook game EcoCity, to the more than 1000 unique Facebook groups and pages dedicated to sustainability topics, Facebook is enabling, extending and expanding grassroots environmental action around the world.

“A Billion Acts of Green” on Facebook

In 2011, Facebook partnered with Earth Day Network (EDN) to create a Facebook app for EDN’s “A Billion Acts of Green” campaign – an effort to encourage people all over the world to pledge their own “act of green” leading up to the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development.

The Audubon Society brings environmental conservation to Facebook with “Birding the Net”

In 2011, the Audubon Society created the interactive Facebook game “Birding the Net.” Thousands of people played the game, which encouraged them to learn about birds and the important role they play in environmental conservation.

Open source hardware
becomes a reality with the
Open Compute Project

In 2011, Facebook launched the Open Compute Project (OCP) and formed the Open Compute Foundation. OCP opens up the specifications and design documents for energy efficient servers and data centers.

Facebook’s Prineville, Oregon data center is designed using OCP specs, leading to 38% more energy efficiency and a 24% cost savings. The Open Compute Foundation hands OCP over to the industry so that it is not a proprietary Facebook effort.

The initial slate of directors and advisers includes Andy Bechtolsheim as an individual contributor, Don Duet from Goldman Sachs, Frank Frankovsky from Facebook, Mark Roenigk from Rackspace, and Jason Waxman from Intel.

Facebook joins The Green Grid

In 2010, Facebook joined The Green Grid, a leading global consortium of data center users, policy makers, technology providers, facility architects and utility companies that helps push the boundaries of energy efficiency in the data center.

Facebook opens
state-of-the-art data center
in Prineville, Oregon

In April 2011, Facebook opened a data center in Prineville, Oregon We focused on sustainability as a key feature of this facility and in October 2011 it was recognized with LEED® Gold Certification.

By designing the servers and data center holistically – using OCP server designs and advanced cooling technology, the Prineville data center has a PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) of 1.07 at full load, well below a typical data center.

We also installed a solar panel array, which powers the office operations of the facility.

“Cool” Sweden data center
to utilize hydropower

In October 2011, Facebook announced plans to build a brand new data center in Lulea, Sweden, its first outside the US. Because of its location – close to the Arctic Circle – it will be powered almost entirely by existing hydropower.

The design of the data center will also take advantage of Lulea’s cool climate – the seaside town sits at the same latitude as Fairbanks, Alaska.
See the Lulea data center’s Facebook page.

Facebook states a preference for renewable
energy in our data center siting policy

When Facebook announced our Lulea data center, we made a commitment to include a clean energy component to any new data center we build.

In some cases we may build our own installation, as with the small solar array at our Prineville, Oregon site.

Sometimes we may be able to site a data center in an area with robust renewable energy availability, as is the case in Sweden.

And in some cases we may invest in local renewable energy generation or a promising new technology. We believe this can help facilitate

further innovation while also advancing our own understanding of what these kinds of investments mean for our business. In December 2011,

as part of our ongoing engagement with Greenpeace, Facebook amended our data center siting policy to include a preference for access to clean

and renewable energy. Our long-term goal is to be able to have a significant portion of our data center energy needs met using clean energy sources.

Facebook brings “green” home

Facebook’s new home in Menlo Park, California is
state-of-the-art when it comes to conserving energy and promoting sustainability. Every aspect of the campus was developed with sustainability in mind – from campus bikes and commuter shuttles, to a robust waste management strategy and solar cogeneration system (hot water and electricity) for the fitness center and kitchens – and Facebook is pursuing LEED® Gold CI™ certification for the whole campus.

Facebook receives
“Greener Purchasing” Award

In December 2011, Facebook received an award from Office Depot for "Leadership in Greener Purchasing." We received special recognition for end user engagement after working with internal partners to ensure that the switch to more environmentally friendly office products would be smooth and successful.

Facebook joins Zimride

Facebook joined Zimride, the popular online ridesharing service that uses social networks to enable real connections. Our employees use Zimride to arrange carpools with co-workers, reducing the carbon footprint of their commutes.

Facebook also brought Zimride to the city of Menlo Park so our new neighbors can take advantage of the service, too.

Facebook “Friends” Greenpeace

In December 2011, Facebook and Greenpeace agreed to collaborate on a range of sustainability-related initiatives. Together we’ll be working to increase the availability of clean and renewable energy to power Facebook’s data centers.

We’ll also work together to explore new ways in which people can use Facebook to engage and connect on the energy issues that matter most to them.

Solar hot water system at Facebook’s Menlo Park campus

Facebook is installing a solar cogeneration system at our Menlo Park campus, beginning with an array on the roof of our renovated fitness center. The initial 24-module installation totals 60kW of combined electric and thermal output.

It will produce renewable hot water and electricity and will displace more than 60 percent of the fitness center’s natural gas needs. Our goal is to expand the use of this technology to include our foodservice kitchens.

Facebook “hacks” energy efficiency

In keeping with Facebook tradition, our real estate team hosted an energy efficiency hackathon in July 2011. Employees stayed up all night developing new solutions and technologies targeted directly at energy efficiency on our campus, many of which have already been implemented.

Employees establish Facebook “Green Team”

In early 2011, Facebook employees created the Green Team – an internal group of Facebookers helping to drive sustainability forward on campus.

A different kind of internship at Facebook

In summer 2011, Facebook appointed three Environmental Defense Fund Climate Corps fellows who chronicled their journey in a series of blog posts we posted on facebook.com/green. The three graduate students were tasked with developing practical, actionable energy efficiency plans for our real estate portfolio, some of which we have already begun implementing.

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