image by Blake Burris (blakeburris on Flickr CC)

Things have not been looking good for the world’s favorite technology company.

They seem green and ethical and liberal and just plain cuddly-cute, but Apple has fallen from the tree and landed in last place on Greenpeace’s “How Dirty is Your Data” table of tech firms. Cloud computing and our increasing reliance on energy intensive data centers are fueling this change in the way we use energy (for information) and the trend is set to rise 4 fold in 10 years time.

From the Guardian:

The report estimated dependence on coal for Apple’s data centres at 54.5%, followed by Facebook at 53.2%, IBM at 51.6%, HP at 49.4%, and Twitter at 42.5%. Top marks in Greenpeace’s clean energy index went to Yahoo, followed by Google and Amazon. Greenpeace is also campaigning for Facebook to “unfriend coal” and use cleaner energy to power its servers.

This is not necessarily an exclusively negative trend. Purchasing products by downloading information is less energy intensive than buying physical products like CDs, which need to be manufactured and shipped as well as sometimes picked up at a shop and taken home. It would be interesting to know how much Apple’s iTunes has saved in energy and emissions vs. how poorly the company it is doing vis-à-vis it’s coal consumption.

Image Source: Flickr

Are you a fan of Facebook? If so, you may be interested in knowing that their data center is now powered by coal. Yes, that’s right. This leading social network is powered by the number one cause of climate change.

Last month, Facebook vice president, John Heiliger, announced they would be building their first data center in Oregon. Given the amount of renewable energy available throughout the state, many figured that was the direction this social network giant was headed in.  Unfortunately, that wasn’t entirely the case.

Pacific Power, a division of PacifiCorp, is providing the electricity to the data center. According to a Data Center News article written by executive editor, Matt Stansberry:

“While Pacific Power gets some hydropower from BPA, its primary power-generation fuel is coal, according to Jason Carr, the manager of the Prineville office of economic development for Central Oregon.

With the price of hydropower increasing in the Northwest, Facebook opted to bet on the incremental price increases associated with coal rather than face tier-two pricing from BPA.”

In other words, because coal power is simply cheaper, that’s what they’re going with. Granted, they are using an outside-air intake system, which will keep the data servers cool while leaving a much smaller carbon footprint; but considering all the pollution and gases that will be unleashed by the coal plants, well, there’s really no comparison.

I am sure some of you may want to look for a social networking site that is a bit more environmentally friendly. You can find a good list of them on the directory at GreenMaven.com.

By Heidi Marshall