The race is on for tech giants Facebook, IBM and Apple all announcing their investments in solar power; IBM’s rooftop solar array in India vs. Facebook’s hybrid solar plant at Menlo Park campus vs. Apple’s plans for a giant solar farm in North Carolina.
For Facebook however the decision to go solar was most likely prompted by angry users upset with the company’s decision to use coal as a source of generating energy for its data centres. As a response, Facebook promised its users that their next data centre will have energy generated from a variety of sources, including renewable energy.
Teaming up with Cogenra, the social media giant will have a 60kwh (24-module) cogeneration array installed on the roof of their campus fitness centre. The system will feed hot water and electricity directly to the centre, powering gym equipment and facilities.
The 60kwh system will only be able to generate 10kwh of electricity and 50kwh of thermal energy; this is rather small compared to other commercial systems, however Facebook has mentioned that the system could be expanded later, using solar electricity and hot water in other areas of the campus.
It’s great to see large tech companies leading the way when it comes to Solar Energy. We can only hope other companies follow in the footsteps of Facebook, Apple and IBM, and invest in solar electricity themselves. We should all be working together towards a safer, cleaner environment.
Source: Clean Technica & Crisp Green.
