Facebook, this week on Wednesday, revealed data containing details of its total carbon footprints for the year of 2011 including all its data centers and globally operating offices, which connect 900 million users from all over the world. Every user adds to carbon footprints while he surfs through the FB pages using any electronic device. After all, electronics need power and therefore, it has to be generated through various means like coal, fuels, renewable methods etc.



The social networking giant revealed the details of its carbon footprint believing in the power of being transparent to the world. Although, the performance wasn’t good enough, still Greenpeace appreciated FB for its transparency. The data shows that Facebook’s annual emissions were 285,000 metric tons of CO2 in 2011 as compared to google’s huge number of 1.5m tons in 2010. Out of total energy that the Facebook’s data centers consume is derived from a mix of energy sources and a major part, 27% comes from coal, 23% from renewable energy sources, 17% from gas, 13% from nuclear power and remaining 20% couldn’t be categorized.

It’s quite apparent that maximum energy is consumed by thousands of data centers serving an enormous group of users and for FB it’s, 72%. Well, that was about the Facebook’s carbon footprints, but what about the carbon footprint of a single user active on Facebook. Fortunately, it remains near about 269 grams, equivalent to carbon footprint of a cup of coffee, in a month.

It’s a great step to reveal details of carbon footprint so honestly, especially, by giants like Facebook. The details would help encouraging others big names like the microsoft. However, as the number of active online users is definite to increase in the coming future, the thirst for energy is obvious to increase. Moreover, In the case of Facebook, it needs to pay attention to renewable energy resources and measures that helps reducing the overall energy consumption like the one Facebook had proposed during 2011, in which it mentioned the plans to built Europe’s biggest green datacenter outside US in Sweden as there it’ll need less energy to cool down.Facebook had committed to go green after Greenpeace targeted the giant back in 2010 asking for the responsibility of increase in carbon footprint as its number of users goes up to 900 million all over the globe. Earlier Greenpeace had made Apple do the same and we hope the organisation would keep reviewing major companies in the future too. After all, no one wish to face energy crisis as well as climate change.

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