Facebook recently responded to a letter by Greenpeace condemning Facebook for it’s use of coal based power at it’s new data center in Prineville, Oregon. In their response they site several other factors as to what else they do to reduce power usage which are all good actions. Facebook is not telling the whole story though. Pacific Powers is the power company for Prineville, Oregon and they offer a blend of all renewable energy for its customers that is available to both home owners and businesses.

The plan is called Blue Sky and this would provide a 100% blend of renewable energy to Facebook if they chose to subscribe to this plan. The renewable blend does cost 10% to 25% more if Facebook wants to pay for it. I know for a home owner Pacific Power is about 6 cents per Killowatt and Blue Sky adds 1.95 cents per Killowatt in a package that is sold in blocks. A business like Facebook could certainly negotiate with them for a highly discounted rate to get that price down as well. If Facebook wanted to avoid coal based power they certainly could, instead they have chosen to go for reduced costs vs reduced carbon footprint.

For more about Pacific Powers Blue Sky Power program- http://www.pacificpower.net/bus/bsre.html

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