Facebook: coal with a human face


    For some 6 years, social networks have evolved from the unhealthy passion of computer nerds and schoolgirls to the most important social institution, and when in July 2010 Facebook exceeded 500 million accounts, people thought that every microscopic comment on the site also eats up electricity and that if you count the megawatts that data centers consume, it turns out that the massive "frivolous" hobby rests on the body of an insatiable monster, which requires more and more fuel to digest countless pictures, so scheniya, status and views, views, views.

    Ecological fighters haven't missed a reason to work - I suggest extracts from the New York Times :

    “Greenpeace International launched a campaignagainst Facebook. The social network is building a new data center in Oregon, which is powered by PacifiCorp, known for generating 58% of its electricity by burning coal. ”

    “In its anti-corner campaign, Greenpeace uses a two-minute video that warns Zuckerberg that if he continues to heat the server with coal, 500,000 people will leave the network forever - the number of Facebook users who joined the campaign at the time the video was made in September. According to the Greenpeace, since then another 100,000 wrestlers have pulled themselves together. ”

    A little household futurology:

    “Data centers today consume 1.5% of all US electricity, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. By 2020, carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere should grow 4 times, to the level of 580 megatons per year, which will even surpass the aviation industry. ”

    “According to Greenpeace, if two key components of Facebook’s business - data centers and telecom networks - continue to grow at their current pace, then by 2020 they will triple, reaching two trillion kilowatt / hour. This means consuming more electricity than all of modern Brazil, Canada, France and Germany combined. ”

    Facebook shrugs - coal is unlikely to be found in the near future, it remains only to reduce the amount of fuel that just flies into the pipe:

    “Responding to green attacks, Zuckerberg defends his company's charter. "Some of the old data centers that we rent still use coal, but most of the data centers have already turned green," Mark writes in his message to the Greenpeace, which was later published on the Greenpeace website. “The new data center we are building in Oregon will be powered by a hydropower plant. We are on the right track, comrades. ” PacifiCorp confirms that the fuel for the generators in their data center is 10% hydro and other renewable energy, 20% natural gas and 58% coal. ”

    The need for digital infrastructure is growing rapidly with a jack. But it is obvious that uncontrollably increasing the megawatt iron, we will feed the planet to the data center:

    “Greenpeace has been working with various IT companies for 5 years, including Hewlett Packard and Toshiba, helping them turn to the truth of green energy. Green people praise Google, which has invested $ 38 million in two wind farms in North Dakota, and praises Yahoo, which promises to reduce the environmental impact of its data centers by at least 40% by 2014. "

    Driven by responsibility to the world (or PR plans?), The global “buttons” of IT and telecom recognize the social significance of their sector.
    And judging by the ongoing construction of data centers in the Volga region and other regions of the Russian Federation, not only Yahoo with Google understands this.

    Obviously, data centers are not only the melting of icebergs in Antarctica (without going into the contradictions of this discourse), but the necessary foundation for the development of modern business, education, and cultural development of society.

    Leaving aside the "green horror stories", it is obvious that civilized principles for the development of digital infrastructure are needed. It is necessary to identify development scenarios, consider possible threats and find a solution.

    It would be interesting to know the opinion of the habralum, how will the situation in the country's information sphere change with the advent of a whole series of modern data centers?

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