US-based social networking service company Facebook aims to use 100% of renewable-based energy to power its global operations by 2020 and vows to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 75%. As of 2017, the company's electricity mix already includes renewable energies (51%), but also coal (14%), nuclear power (14%) and natural gas (13%).
Some of the company's data centres are already 100% renewable-fired, notably in Los Lunas (New Mexico), Papillion (Nebraska), Luleå (Sweden), Altoona (Iowa), and Fort Worth (Texas). Since its first purchase of wind power in 2013, Facebook signed off on contracts for 3 GW of solar PV and wind energy, of which 2.5 GW in the last 12 months.
Giant web companies such as Google and Apple and non-tech US giants such as Walmart, Starbucks and General Motors are also moving ahead quickly with this issue and are signing an increasing amount of purchase agreements to run their activities on renewables.
Interested in Global Energy Research?
Enerdata's premium online information service provides up-to-date market reports on 110+ countries. The reports include valuable market data and analysis as well as a daily newsfeed, curated by our energy analysts, on the oil, gas, coal and power markets.
This user-friendly tool gives you the essentials about the domestic markets of your concern, including market structure, organisation, actors, projects and business perspectives.