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The company has also has joined the Digital Energy Solutions Campaign, a group that works on public policy and setting standards for energy efficiency. “Our ongoing philosophy has been to improve the efficiency of our infrastructure, and we continue to invest tremendous resources to improve our own operations. By creating and sharing innovative technology solutions, we hope to help raise the visibility of the importance of environmental sustainability across all industries,” said Jonathan Heiliger, vice president of technical operations.

In one recent example, programming language designed by Facebook engineers (HipHop for PHP) enabled Facebook to reduce the CPU usage on web servers by roughly 50 percent. Less CPU usage means fewer servers, resulting in less overall energy usage. That is a good thing for Facebook but also useful for many other companies with intense data needs. To spread the benefit, Facebook released the software as open source across the web and shared the story of its success with all peers. Today, Drupal.org, Wikipedia and others are testing their own versions of HipHop and Facebook hopes many more will use it.

Facebook encourages recycling and composting throughout the facilities of as much packing, packaging and other waste materials as possible. The net benefits of our efforts have eliminated 294 tons of CO2 Emissions, comparable to taking 59 mid-sized cars off the road.

Facebook’s various water conservation efforts have reduced the water consumption by nearly 60%, or the equivalent of more than 28 Olympic-sized swimming pools annually. These efforts include Auto/Dual flush toilets (96% savings over older toilets and 26% savings compared to low-flow models), motion sensor faucets (70% reduction in water usage over regular faucets), drought tolerant landscapes and xeriscaping (Reduces landscape water use by 50-70%) and Smart Environment Irrigation Controller (Reduces landscape water use by 50-70%).

Facebook has invested in motion sensor controlled lighting (reduces energy consumption by 60%) and compact fluorescent and photo cell exterior lighting (reduces energy consumption by ~75% compared to standard lighting) for offices and other facilities. These measures have saved enough electricity to power 330 homes for a year.

Facebook’s green transportation program offers shuttles, car and vanpooling, bike racks and subsidized public transportation for employees. These shared, public and green rides are used by more than 40% of all employees, removing the equivalent of 839 mid-sized cars off the road.