Social media goes green

13:30 2nd December 2009

One of the world's most popular social networking sites is looking at ways to reduce its impact on the environment.

In a move that could provide a new avenue for those working in IT careers, Facebook is seeking to significantly cut its carbon emissions from its data centres.

The company is seeking to reduce energy loss in its servers from 35 to 15 per cent, engineer Amir Michael told delegates at a conference in Palo Alto, California.

Such a development could result in more organisations seeking to tackle their carbon emissions in data centres and servers, creating a greater demand within the IT industry for experts in eco-friendly technology.

Facebook is seeking to remove its data centres' uninterruptible power supplies and power distribution units and replace them with a server-based 12 volt battery, which it says will also boost the power usage effectiveness of its servers.

Social networking is currently one of the most popular trends to hit the internet and many businesses are eager to find IT industry experts who are able to make the most of the technology to boost client and customer relationships.

By Paul Jarvis

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