Facebook Spokesman Defends Coal-Powered Data Center

When Facebook’s VP of Technical Operations, Jonathon Heiliger, recently announced their first custom data center, did he expect a “green” backlash would follow? According to Treehugger, the Prineville, Oregon based server center is mostly powered on coal power. So are Facebook users too complacent to care, or are they simply unaware of the choice of energy?

The bottom line is that Google’s data center in Oregon was based on “cheap, green hydro power”, so why isn’t Facebook doing the same thing for their data center in Oregon? According to Search Data Center, it all boils down to cost, and avoiding tiered energy rates for new customers, thanks to the BPA (Bonneville Power Administration), “the federal agency that operates dams on the Columbia River and sells the power at cost to utilities.”