When Facebook was seeking a location for its newest data center, a deciding factor was the potential to help develop a new wind farm. The social media company managed to satisfy this desire in Altoona, Iowa where Facebook is building a data center and partnering with MidAmerican Energy, the local utility, which will build, own, and operate a new 138 megawatt (MW) wind farm in nearby Wellsburg, Iowa. Facebook will buy renewable energy certificates (RECs) produced by the wind farm to match 100 percent of the data center's electricity use, and the wind farm is likely to generate more electricity than the data center will need. Facebook has set a goal of powering its data centers with 25 percent clean and renewable energy by 2015. In 2012 Facebook's data centers used 678,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) and the company sourced 19 percent of its total energy, 134,000 MWh, from clean and renewable resources.

Press Release - Bringing New Wind to Iowa

Additional Information - Facebook's Carbon Energy Impact

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