Remember when Greenpeace totally didn’t like Facebook and its use of ‘dirty energy’ in its datacenters? Well, they’re best buddies now. Greenpeace and Facebook this morning announced that they’re teaming up on the promotion of renewable energy and “develop programs that will enable Facebook users to save energy and engage their communities in clean energy decisions”.
Facebook also committed to using clean and renewable energy to power its own operations. → Read More
On Thursday, Greenpeace published a study on energy consumption and choices made by IT companies including Akamai, Amazon.com (Amazon Web Services), Apple, Facebook, Google, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Twitter, and Yahoo, entitled “How Dirty Is Your Data?”. The study roundly criticizes the sector, especially Facebook, for using “dirty energy” — power produced from hydrocarbon based sources, especially coal — to meet growing IT demand. It also criticized companies for concealing details about their own, overall energy footprint and practices.
Greenpeace specifically noted (excerpt from the environmental activists’ own summary): Data centers, which house the explosion of virtual information, currently consume 1.5 to 2 percent of all global electricity and are growing at a rate of 12 percent each year; Companies in the sector, as a whole, do not release information on their energy use and its associated global warming emissions… → Read More
Greenpeace just released its latest snapshot of major corporation’s impact on the planet with IT data centers the main target. The 35 page report [PDF link] details just how much energy is required to run the massive centers powering the so-called cloud. It’s huge according to Greenpeace, consuming 1.5%-2% of the world’s total power consumption and growing at a rate of 12% a year. Somewhat surprisingly Greenpeace sort of applauds the virtues of living in a massive data cloud, pointing to the advent of the smart grid and increased amount telecommuting. Even digital streaming music gets props for having a smaller carbon footprint than physical media.
But this is Greenpeace and so there has to be some finger pointing and letter grading. The main purpose of this report is to reveal top company’s impact on the environment by mainly examining their dependency on fossil and nuclear fuels rather than using renewable sources. However, even Greenpeace notes that these numbers might not be exact since they were calculated without all the facts. Simply put, these ten companies didn’t divulge this info; Greenpeace pieced together their data. It’s a bit dirty itself, actually. → Read More
The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) — which makes specialty materials and chemicals for electronics, automotive, water, energy and agricultural sectors — today announced that it aims to green its own operations, in part, by investing $100 million in internally pitched projects that will reduce the company’s energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Doug May, vice president of energy and climate change at Dow, noted in a press statement that a focus on “carbon management” and reduced energy consumption would deliver favorable financial returns for the Midland, Mich. company that has, of late, rebounded from mid-2010 losses… → Read More
Underwriters Laboratories’ UL Environment group — which validates claims, through lab testing, that a company or its product is environmentally sustainable, and helps thwart “greenwashing” — today reported that its first-ever Gold level Sustainable Product Certification (SPC) for a laptop was given to the forthcoming, Lenovo ThinkPad T420.
According to a UL press statement, the SPC Gold certification indicates “a product has met the most stringent and prestigious of three levels of compliance in the industry-wide sustainability standard for laptops, IEEE 1680.1…including reduction or elimination of environmentally sensitive materials in product and packaging, energy conservation, end-of-life management and corporate environmental practices.” In 2007, Lenovo began formal Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting…. → Read More
Greenpeace‘s latest Guide to Greener Electronics shows that great progress in greenification has been made by some companies, but that other companies are still lagging behind. Philips and HP are applauded for their efforts, while Microsoft and Toshiba have been called out for either backtracking on their promises or misleading the public “about its commitments” to making green products. → Read More
Environmental organization Greenpeace has released a video harshly criticizing Facebook’s use of coal-fuelled electricity in its Oregon-based data center, singling out founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The organization calls Facebook a “so coal network”.
Greenpeace’s Executive Director, Kumi Naidoo, had earlier expressed his concern with the Oregon data center in an open letter to Zuckerberg, kicking off a campaign – on Facebook – to create awareness for the company’s use of “dirty energy”. → Read More
Greenpeace, the organization with noble goals but a prickly way of going about things, has asked Facebook to stop using coal at its new data center in Oregon. Given Greenpeace’s history (seen here annoying Deutsche Bank), I should expect some attention-seeking prank if Facebook doesn’t comply. Watch out, Zuckerberg. → Read More
A handy Greenpeace e-mail popped into my e-mail collector unit that reminded me of this: hey, Apple is a nice company to the environment! While the iPhone 4 may be a flawed hunk of junk, it is constructed out of Earth-friendly materials. Not a stitch of PVC plastic or BFR to be found. Meanwhile, Dell has waffled and waffled for years now, saying that, oh sure, our products will be totally green within a few years. That was in 2005. → Read More
Greenpeace‘s relentless march toward reminding us that we’re killing the planet continues. The organization released its annual “Who’s Green?” list yesterday, and Nokia and Sony Ericsson get A+ marks, while Lenovo and Nintendo are, apparently, the dregs of society. Also on the wrong side of Greenpeace: Dell. The Texas-based company found itself on the wrong end of a rather impressive Greenpeace action yesterday. Oh, dear… → Read More
This may be the greatest sentence ever written in the English language: “As IT industry analysts label 2010 the ‘Year of the Cloud,’ a new report by Greenpeace shows how the launch of quintessential cloud computing devices like the Apple iPad raises fresh questions about how the Internet is powered and whether the IT sector will continue to fuel climate change by increasing demand for dirty coal power.” Dirty Coal Power: on tour this summer (with special guest Limp Bizkit)! In other words, does the iPad hate freedom? Obviously. → Read More
Greenpeacenow officially hates Samsung. The environmental organization has taken issue with Samsung’s inability to remove Brominated Flame Retardants, or BFRs, from its products. BFRs have been linked to environmental damage, and specific types have been banned from Europe altogether because of the potential for human harm. → Read More
I’ve inexplicably become CrunchGear’s go-to green writer. If there’s a “green” tech story out there, I’m on the scene. Why, I don’t know, especially because my attitude toward the environment is, “Meh, I’m lucky if I hit 70 years old, what do I care?” Don’t tell that to Greenpeace though. The activists made famous by that Seinfeld episode will be at next month’s CES (as will all of your friendly neighborhood CrunchGear writers) to give the lowdown on what companies are green and what companies are a bunch of jerks. → Read More
Seemingly overnight, Apple has become the poster child of the responsible, Green company. (Apple recently posted all the details of its efforts; Greenpeace is now BFFs with Apple.) In fact, it’s so pro-enviroment (as if anyone is anti-environment!) that it just quit the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is a huge organization that represents business interests to the various powers that be. The USCC, however, is all up in arms about all this “nonsense” about new laws designed to protect the environment and whatnot, so it’s doing its damnedest to ensure that those laws don’t get passed. That’s what has upset Apple. → Read More
Like many of you, my knowledge of Greenpeace begins and ends with that one Seinfeld episode, the one where the NBC executive, so in love with Elaine, freaks out and joins the organization in order to impress her. That is to say I don’t really understand the “point” of the organization, or who appointed it the protector of the environment. But, it is, somehow, so let’s roll with it. Good news for HP and Apple: Greenpeace hates you two a little bit less today! Break out the champagne! → Read More
It looks like all of Greenpeace’s needling of Apple over the past few years has paid off, as the house that Jobs built is about to announce its successes in becoming a more green company. Think carbon emissions data,all that jazz. Even though Apple is trying plenty hard to assuage the Green Brigade, it thinks it’s being treated rather unfairly. → Read More
Indie rock band Greenpeace has a problem with HP, specifically its broken promises vis–à-vis toxic chemicals in its products. The band’s frontman, Casey Harrell, says that “HP continues to put hazardous products on the market despite promises made years ago to phase out these toxic compounds.” So, to get back at HP, Greenpeace members “climbed to the top of HP’s global headquarters and painted the message ‘Hazardous Products’ in big, bold letters on the roof.” → Read More
[photopress:greenpeacestill.jpg,full,center] How could a company that makes this hate the environment? Greenpeace still hates Nintendo. The environmental organization has once again turned its sights on the Wii maker, which it ranks at the bottom of its latest Guide to Greener Electronics. Unlike last time, when it gave Nintendo a zero rating in all nine categories it rates, Nintendo earns itself a 0.3 (sounds like an IGN rating) for verbalizing a new chemical management policy. Other companies you may care about, like Microsoft and Sony, do somewhat better in Greenpeace’s ranking, with Microsoft coming in at 16th and Sony at 4th. My take is, so what? I saw a program on the History Channel (so it must be true) saying Earth is overdue for a global cooling period, so this whole global warming thing is overblown. I don’t burn tires for fun or anything, but I’m not not gonna buy a video game because the maker isn’t doing “enough” for the environment. Greenpeace: Nintendo Must Clean Up Its Act [Next Generation] Greenpeace Guide (PDF) → Read More
Not long ago we told you that all of your electronics will someday likely kill an asian person? Turns out there’s more you can do about it. Each year, Greenpeace (yes, that Greenpeace,) issues a Guide to Greener Electronics, a report card on who is and isn’t making their stuff responsibly. They took Apple to task, as well as Dell and others. A year later, it looks like Sony-Ericsson is the overall huggy-feely winner, then Samsung, with Dell beating out Apple, and Microsoft doing poorly. Interestingly, Nintendo’s first appearance on the list has them in dead last place, with a score of 0, or “We didn’t even try”. That means hold on to your Wii and never lose it. And dig up that Gameboy you planted, it won’t grow into an SNES, no matter what your jerk older brother said. How the companies line up [hippies] → Read More
