Meta drops out of a major clean energy pact as its natural gas buildout accelerates
Meta drops out of a major clean energy pact as its natural gas buildout accelerates
Meta 退出一项主要清洁能源协议，同时其天然气设施建设正在加速
Over the past year, Meta has funded the construction of at least a dozen natural gas power plants, including one project that alone will burn enough natural gas to generate as much electricity as the entire state of South Dakota uses. Now Meta is no longer part of the RE100, a corporate renewable energy initiative, after a decade of membership, the company confirmed to TechCrunch today. The breakup was mutual, according to a Meta spokesperson. The exit caps months of Meta expanding its bet on fossil fuels to power its AI data centers and begs the obvious question: What does “clean energy” actually mean to a company that keeps building gas plants while still calling itself renewable?
在过去的一年中，Meta 资助了至少十二座天然气发电厂的建设，其中仅一个项目所消耗的天然气产生的电力，就足以供应整个南达科他州的用电量。Meta 今日向 TechCrunch 证实，在加入十年后，该公司已不再是企业可再生能源倡议 RE100 的成员。据 Meta 发言人称，双方是“和平分手”。此次退出标志着 Meta 在过去几个月里不断加大对化石燃料的投入，以支持其人工智能数据中心的运行，这也引出了一个显而易见的问题：对于一家不断建设天然气发电厂却仍自称“可再生”的公司来说，“清洁能源”究竟意味着什么？
RE100 is a project of the Climate Group, a U.K.-headquartered nonprofit co-founded by former prime minister Tony Blair. The initiative provides policy and technical support to corporations seeking to transition to 100% renewable energy. Meta competitors Apple, Google, and Microsoft remain among the group’s 444 members. Recharge News was first to report Meta’s departure. While Meta wouldn’t comment on the reasons behind the departure — and the Climate Group did not reply to TechCrunch’s inquiry — the nonprofit recently updated its guidance for companies, enforcing more rigorous reporting on progress toward renewable energy goals. Previously, Meta told RE100 that it would “run its entire operations on renewable electricity by 2020.”
RE100 是气候组织（Climate Group）旗下的一个项目，该组织总部位于英国，由前首相托尼·布莱尔共同创立。该倡议为寻求向 100% 可再生能源转型的企业提供政策和技术支持。Meta 的竞争对手苹果、谷歌和微软仍是该组织 444 个成员中的一部分。Recharge News 最先报道了 Meta 的退出。虽然 Meta 未就退出原因发表评论，气候组织也未回复 TechCrunch 的询问，但该非营利组织最近更新了针对企业的指导方针，要求对可再生能源目标的进展进行更严格的报告。此前，Meta 曾向 RE100 表示，它将在 2020 年前“实现全部业务使用可再生电力”。
Like many tech companies, Meta’s embrace of AI has pushed it to secure large amounts of power for its data centers, and while the company continues to procure renewable energy, it has embraced natural gas like few others. Meta’s toe in the water was a 200-megawatt behind-the-meter gas power plant in Ohio, announced in June of last year, that will power one of its data centers. Two months later, Meta said it would build three large natural gas power plants in Louisiana to supply electricity to its Hyperion data center. Then in April, the company announced that it would fund seven more natural gas power plants for the same project. Combined, the 10 power plants will generate 7.5 gigawatts, enough electricity to power South Dakota and then some.
与许多科技公司一样，Meta 对人工智能的拥抱迫使其必须为数据中心获取大量电力。尽管该公司仍在采购可再生能源，但它对天然气的依赖程度远超其他同行。Meta 的首次尝试是去年 6 月宣布在俄亥俄州建设一座 200 兆瓦的表后（behind-the-meter）天然气发电厂，用于为其数据中心供电。两个月后，Meta 表示将在路易斯安那州建设三座大型天然气发电厂，为旗下的 Hyperion 数据中心供电。随后在 4 月，该公司宣布将为同一项目再资助七座天然气发电厂。这 10 座发电厂总计将产生 7.5 吉瓦的电力，足以供应南达科他州甚至更多的地区。
Meta, through a spokesperson, told TechCrunch that it remained committed to matching its data center electricity usage “with 100% clean and renewable energy.” That’s a lot to promise. While natural gas burns more cleanly than coal, it still produces significant amounts of pollution. A single 1-gigawatt data center running 24/7, powered exclusively by natural gas, will release 438 metric tons of nitrogen oxides, 149 metric tons of fine particulate matter, 61 metric tons of sulfur oxides, and 298 metric tons of carbon monoxide. Those pollutants contribute to a range of diseases, including asthma, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and dementia, among many others.
Meta 通过发言人告诉 TechCrunch，公司仍致力于将其数据中心的用电量与“100% 清洁和可再生能源”相匹配。这是一个宏大的承诺。虽然天然气燃烧比煤炭更清洁，但它仍会产生大量的污染物。一座 1 吉瓦的数据中心如果 24/7 全天候运行且完全由天然气供电，将排放 438 公吨氮氧化物、149 公吨细颗粒物、61 公吨硫氧化物和 298 公吨一氧化碳。这些污染物会导致多种疾病，包括哮喘、癌症、心血管疾病和痴呆症等。
Meta can still claim to be 100% renewable by purchasing environmental attribute certificates. These allow companies to invest in a solar farm in Arizona, for example, while building a data center in Ohio. As long as the solar farm makes enough energy in one year to offset the data center’s use, Meta counts that as 100% renewable. Most companies have tackled their renewable power goals using annual matching, but some, including Microsoft, are striving to match their electricity use on an hourly basis. This more stringent approach would bring power production more in line with how data centers use electricity. It also encourages companies to invest in projects that pair renewables with batteries, like Google did earlier this year in Minnesota, rather than polluting ones like Meta’s Hyperion power plants.
Meta 仍然可以通过购买环境属性证书（EACs）来声称自己是 100% 可再生的。这些证书允许公司在俄亥俄州建设数据中心的同时，投资亚利桑那州的太阳能发电场。只要太阳能发电场一年内产生的能源足以抵消数据中心的用电量，Meta 就将其计为 100% 可再生。大多数公司通过年度匹配来实现其可再生能源目标，但包括微软在内的一些公司正在努力实现按小时匹配用电。这种更严格的方法使电力生产与数据中心的实际用电方式更加一致。它还鼓励公司投资将可再生能源与电池相结合的项目（如谷歌今年早些时候在明尼苏达州所做的那样），而不是像 Meta 的 Hyperion 发电厂那样投资污染性项目。
Meta isn’t alone in pursuing natural gas — both Google and Microsoft have recently invested in large fossil fuel projects — but it has placed the biggest bet. Withdrawal or removal from a voluntary industry group isn’t always big news, but the timing, amid Meta’s fossil-fuel buildout, makes the change hard to ignore.
Meta 并非唯一追求天然气的公司——谷歌和微软最近也都投资了大型化石燃料项目——但 Meta 的赌注下得最大。退出或被移出一个自愿性行业组织并不总是大新闻，但在 Meta 大规模建设化石燃料设施的背景下，这一变动让人难以忽视。