Facebook

ProBy Paul Mathew

Corporate Goals & Initiatives

In a departure from most of the other companies we have studied, Facebook does not have a publicly available Corporate Social Responsibility policy, and does not respond to the annual Carbon Disclosure Project surveys. However, Facebook’s sustainable activity appears to be broad-based, although they do not seem to publicize it as much as organizations such as Adobe. Their “Green on Facebook” facebook page has information on their enterprise wide initiatives. Most notably they provide real-time data on the energy and water efficiency of their data centers, which comprises the majority of their energy footprint (96% of their total energy use in 2013). The real-time energy information appears to be an element of their Open Compute Project. A 2012 article in The Guardian noted that Facebook revealed the carbon footprint of its operations, and that it was much lower than Google’s. For datacenters, they had a fleet-wide PUE of 1.09 in 2013. Facebook also hosts sustainability-related events such as their Sustainability @scale conferences. They received the Silicon Valley Business Journal 2014 Structures Awards for Best Innovative/Sustainable Design for Facebook's new West Campus. Facebook participates in a 25-company initiative championed by the World Wildlife Fund and World Resources Institute to promote Corporate Renewable Energy Buyer's Principles, setting aggressive renewable energy goals, addressing barriers, and collaborating to drive change in policy.

Flagship Project: Facebook Headquarters

• Project type: retrofit

• Address: 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, US [Map]

• Number of buildings: 8

• Floor area: 1.1 Million sf

• Occupants: n/a

• Site: 57 acres

• Walk Score: 21/100*

• Summary Table

Facebook moved into a campus previously occupied by Sun Microsystems and renovated it, achieving LEED-CI (commercial interiors) Gold certification. The project profiles on the USGBC website indicate that the buildings obtained high points in lighting power, lighting controls, HVAC, equipment and appliance, commissioning, and green power (Figure 1). An application for an Environmental award from City of Menlo Park indicates the following measures were implemented:

• • 15 to 20% reduction in energy use via energy efficient lighting and ballasts (LEDs and T-8s), occupancy sensors, windows films, HVAC controls, commissioning, BMS.

  • Over 50% reduction in indoor water use through low flow fixtures/aerators, efficient cafeteria dishwashing, and low-volume toilets.

  • 60% reduction in outdoor water use through Bay-friendly landscaping, lawn removal, and weather-based irrigation.

  • 208 kW DC PV system (Figure 2).

  • 34,714 kWh of thermal and electric energy saved through a solar PV and thermal co-generation system (Figure 3).

  • 80% campus wide waste diversion.

  • Over 40% alternative commuting (shuttles, vanpools, bicycling) - not clear in source docs whether this is number of employees, person-miles, or some other metric.

  • 25 electric vehicle charging stations (Figure 4).

Figure 1. LEED Scorecard for Facebook Menlo Park Building 14.

Figure 2. Facebook headquarters with 208 kW DC solar system.

Figure 3. 44-module solar cogeneration system on the roof of one of the cafes. The system has a capacity of 106 kW thermal and 20 kW electrical and will substantially offset the energy required to produce hot water for the cafe.

Figure 4. One of 25 electric vehicle charging stations.

Facebook is committed to providing electric vehicle charging for employees, and recently joined 15 other companies in the Department of Energy’s Workplace Charging Challenge. The campus currently offers employees all available options, including DC fast charging, Level 2 charging, and Level 1 (trickle) charging.

Documentation

• Facebook's green initiatives website - https://www.facebook.com/green

• Facebook headquarters website - https://www.facebook.com/fbmenlopark

• Carbon footprint - https://www.facebook.com/green/app_439663542812831

• Lubell, Sam. 2012. "High Tech Headquarters" Greensource Magazine. http://greensource.construction.com/features/currents/2012/1207-High-Tech-Headquarters.asp

• Realtime energy data for datacenters - https://www.facebook.com/PrinevilleDataCenter/app_399244020173259

• World Wildlife Fund and World Resources Institute, Corporate Renewable Energy Buyers’ Principles http://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/powering-businesses-on-renewable-energy