Facebook vows to be 100% renewable energy by 2020

Internet giant Facebook has vowed to source 100 per cent of its considerable electricity needs from renewable energy by 2020, extending the goal from numerous data centres to its entire operations.

Facebook’s shift to renewables coincides with that of other major data-dependent internet giants such as Google and Apple and Amazon, and comes as other big energy users, such as the global brewery giant AB InBev that includes Australia’s CUB, go down the same path.

“We are committed to powering our operations with 100 per cent clean and renewable energy,” Facebook says in a blog post announcing the commitment.

“We exceeded our goal of reaching 50 per cent clean and renewable energy in 2017 – a year earlier than we targeted.

“Building on that success, we are now aiming for 100 per cent across all facilities, including office and data centers — our goal is to be at 100 per cent renewable energy in our company-wide energy mix by the end of 2020.”

Facebook has been building numerous wind and solar farms in north America and Europe to match its new data centres, and says it is  one of the largest corporate purchasers of renewable energy.

“Since our first purchase of wind power in 2013, Facebook has signed contracts for over 3 gigawatts of new solar and wind energy, that includes over 2,500 megawatts in just the past 12 months,” it says.

“All of these wind and solar projects are new and on the same grid as our data centers,” Facebook says.

“That means that each of these projects brings jobs, investment and a healthier environment to the communities that host us — from Prineville, Oregon, and Los Lunas, New Mexico, to Henrico, Virginia, and Luleå, Sweden.”