In considering our need for green energy, consider the energy it now takes just to have an online social life.
Social networking is far beyond a fad and definitely more than a cultural phenomenon. Hundreds of millions of people have joined Facebook and Twitter, among others, and users have never had so many choices that require nothing more than a computer and a few peripherals -- hardware they owned before signing up. There are many discussions about whether these networks have economically sustainable business models. Like other industries with exponential growth, some are going to fall by the wayside.
But there is another question regarding sustainability and that is: how does social networking impact the environment? On the surface, friending and twittering seem like environmentally kind if not neutral endeavors. They don't require printing and computers don't eat up very much energy. But if one digs down and learns what it takes to sustain these monstrous websites, the cost is quite high.
Facebook reported in May of 2007 that it was hosting 10 billion photos and had just over one petabyte of photo storage (its obviously much greater now). Since Facebook stores 4 sizes for each stored picture, this translates to 40 billion files, of which 33.2 billion were added within the prior 17 months. Doug Beaver of Facebook said that over 300,000 images are served per second. If Facebook were a nation, it would be the world's 12th most populous. Accordingly, "Facebook requires 10,000 servers as well as the 300,000 users' PCs. Conservatively, a PC consumes 120 watts and a server consumes 200 watts." Plus another 50 watts per server for data-center air conditioning is required. Trendspotting reported in October of 2008 that in round numbers, "Facebook daily consumes 924,000 KiloWatt-Hours with per capita of 3.08 KWh. Annually the per capita figure would be 1,124 KWh /year or equivalent to emission of 0.75 ton of green house CO2 (Carbon footprint) which is half of NY city's carbon footprint." And they're adding another 50,000 servers to keep up with its hyper growth.
And now there is the Twitter effect. Another blog, earth2Tech.com, which covers startups and entrepreneurs focused on fighting climate change, has looked at the environmental impact of Twitter, calling attention to the continuous use of the network: "Users generally keep an open connection with the server in order to get a constant stream of updates, even if the same information (such as your latest tweet) is going to multiple users." This requires more and more servers to keep up with the increased demand.
These numbers are overwhelming, numbing, difficult to digest and need further investigation. As more people get more and more comfortable using these social networking websites to stay in touch, connect, conduct commerce and enjoy community building, we must address the huge impact on our environment and continue the move toward greener forms of energy.
Jonathan A. Schein is publisher of MetroGreenBusiness.com and GreenBusinessCareers.com