Greenpeace efforts for green power use by Amazon, Twitter

Greenpeace is launching a new online video campaign featuring Reggie Watts, musician/comedian to encourage tech players like Amazon and Twitter to make maximum utilization of renewable energy sources.

The ClickClean campaign, created by Via Agency in Maine, has taken this initiative after Greenpeace report on little usage of renewable energy by Amazon, Twitter and some others to power their data centers.

Those companies were found using relatively minor renewable power or have been reluctant to disclose where they get power.

Following a similar initiative by Greenpeace and Via two years ago, Apple promised to get 100 percent of power from renewable sources while Facebook and Google made substantial progress.

The new campaign will include paid social-media ads with humorous and positive theme. There will not be any negative contents or preachy moments, said, Steve Street, creative director, Via.

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Web services and cloud service of Amazon including their Netflix, music and photo libraries will be the primary target, said, Dave Pomerantz, senior campaigner, Greenpeace.

On the other hand, Amazon faces pressure from competitors who already have shifted to clean energy and Greenpeace is concerned that because of this reason they are going to lose some customers.

Earlier, Greenpeace has tried a similar approach to changing palm-oil sourcing in the packaged-goods industry, targeting Unilever, Nestle and Procter & Gamble in serial fashion.

Greenpeace protests companies that respond slowly and praises on others such as Apple, P&G and Kimberly-Clark who have cooperated fully.

Meanwhile, Amazon issued a statement stating that the report has made false assumptions.

They claimed that two of its 10 regions use 100 percent carbon-free power and that cloud services are integrally more energy efficient.

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