6 ms·

Alright, I'll drink the Kool-Aid. I think this is an excellent strategic investment for Microsoft that also aligns with timely ethical priorities. I didn't read

Alright, I'll drink the Kool-Aid. I think this is an excellent strategic investment for Microsoft that also aligns with timely ethical priorities. I didn't read the post and think "this is corporate glossy bullshit," I read it and thought "this is an actual strategic initiative that is driving broad organizational alignment, which has measurable success criteria, and which makes sense." I am genuinely surprised by the sincerity, cogency, and aspirational nature of this initiative and its associated PR glossies. I am measurably more likely to work at and invest in Microsoft after reading this. I guess they've hacked my demographic?

linuxftw 7y ago
> I guess they've hacked my demographic? Your demographic doesn't understand corporate propaganda.
- SuoDuanDao 7y ago
  If the actions are actually taken, I don't care if they were taken for propaganda purposes.
- jknoepfler 7y ago
  Quite the opposite... I grew up in the 80's thinking everyone was a brainless moron and all corporations were intrinsically evil. Corporate messaging was unbelievably, brazenly disingenuous, and political speech was worse (!) than it is today. In my dottage (lol), I believe that it's wiser and more honest to praise meaningful virtuous action than to dismiss it out of hand as "PR." I'd think about whether and how you disagree with that statement carefully, particularly re: how you think knee-jerk cynicism improves the world you live in. In my experience, blind cynicism is a shield for people who are terrified of being duped because they are, at heart, deeply insecure (and possibly also exhausted, justifiably, by glossy PR bullshit). For my part, I don't mind taking calculated risks when I see action I agree with. If I were never right, I'd stop pretty quickly. But I find I'm right more often than I'm wrong, and I'm willing to tolerate a few mistakes in the process.
derptron 7y ago
>Hacked my demographic I hope you can hear my groan and perceive my eyes rolling over the internet
jbob2000 7y ago
It's a fancy blog post designed to hide the somewhat milquetoast announcement: > By 2025, we will shift to 100 percent supply of renewable energy, meaning that we will have power purchase agreements for green energy contracted for 100 percent of carbon emitting electricity consumed by all our data centers, buildings, and campuses. > We will electrify our global campus operations vehicle fleet by 2030. > We will pursue International Living Future Institute Zero Carbon certification and LEED Platinum certification for our Silicon Valley Campus and Puget Sound Campus Modernization projects. They're going to sign some contracts, buy some electric vehicles, and outfit their buildings with LED lights and recycled toilet paper. If they truly wanted to make an impact, they'd lobby the government for proper environmental regulations instead of pursuing these vane corporate projects.
- TheOperator 7y ago
  The biggest way Microsoft realistically could make an environmental impact is having its products run more efficiently. Not attempting to regulate the world through lobbyists which in the first place is practically impossible politically without its shareholders crying foul.
nscalf 7y ago
Should I be satisfied if you're doing the right thing for the wrong reasons? I'm always unsure about this. If a politician is making all the right noises, but clearly doesn't care about the topic, should I be satisfied? I really don't know. That's how I feel about this, it's clearly a PR move, but I think I'm happy about that?
- baddox 7y ago
  > Should I be satisfied if you're doing the right thing for the wrong reasons? I tend to think YES, assuming you're actually doing the right thing instead of just saying you're doing the right thing. For example, when good ideas happen to coincide with profit motive, I think that's a wonderful thing, and really the best-case scenario in a market economy. Apple's seemingly genuine focus on privacy is a perfect example: many people criticize it as being driven only by profit (perhaps as a way to compete with Google), while I say it's great if that's true!
  - anko 7y ago
    I just want to mention that apple has been 100% renewable for a while now, and publish a detailed environmental report; https://www.apple.com/au/environment/pdf/Apple_Environmental_Responsibility_Report_2019.pdf https://www.apple.com/au/environment/pdf/Apple_Environmental...
    - umvi 7y ago
      Yeah but they rely heavily on Chinese companies that are not 100% renewable. That's like someone saying they have never murdered anyone while routinely paying for hit men to get their hands dirty. Technically correct, but misleading.
      - anko 7y ago
        I'm not sure what you're arguing, that nobody's perfect? Microsoft is aiming here to be carbon neutral in 2030. In ten years. From my linked report; A more energy efficient supply chain. In 2015, we started engaging directly with suppliers to help them reduce their energy use. We aim to educate them about energy efficiency, identify energy efficiency project opportunities, and manage those projects to completion. We prioritize facilities with the highest energy use and potential for improvement. Then we conduct energy audits and train suppliers to uncover opportunities for energy efficiency—like replacing outdated or inefficient heating, cooling, and lighting systems; repairing compressed air leaks; and recovering waste heat. The assessments provide suppliers with a cost-benefit analysis for implementing energy efficiency improvements. Since the inception of this program in 2015, we have engaged 59 suppliers at 85 facilities. In 2018, our program implemented energy efficiency measures that prevented 466,000 metric tons of CO₂e from entering the atmosphere. So they are working with suppliers and have been for the past 5 years. They also have been cleaning up the chemicals their suppliers use. You can't compare what they are doing to murder; it's legal for starters. But if you're relying on all the companies you do business with to make up your definition of 100% renewable, it's likely you'll never get there. They don't say anything about the energy used by the banks they do business with either.
soperj 7y ago
They are based in the pacific northwest. Electrical is mostly hydro. I wonder if they take into account the carbon footprint of that?
- localhost 7y ago
  Azure datacenters are worldwide.
  - soperj 7y ago
    Sorry. they talk about making up for the entire carbon footprint of their existence, most of which is solely in the pacific north west.
    - triceratops 7y ago
      I imagine business travel is a fair chunk of a company's carbon footprint? That's unrelated to them being in the PNW.
      - soperj 7y ago
        okay. How's that have anything to do with what I'm commenting on?
        triceratops 7y ago
        > They are based in the pacific northwest. Electrical is mostly hydro.
    - shmed 7y ago
      Microsoft has over a 100 massive data centers throughout the world. The carbon footprint of their head quarter is just a small fractions of the massive amount of energy needed to power the millions of machines Microsoft deployed across the globe.
- wang_li 7y ago

linuxftw 7y ago

> I guess they've hacked my demographic? Your demographic doesn't understand corporate propaganda.

SuoDuanDao 7y ago
If the actions are actually taken, I don't care if they were taken for propaganda purposes.
jknoepfler 7y ago
Quite the opposite... I grew up in the 80's thinking everyone was a brainless moron and all corporations were intrinsically evil. Corporate messaging was unbelievably, brazenly disingenuous, and political speech was worse (!) than it is today. In my dottage (lol), I believe that it's wiser and more honest to praise meaningful virtuous action than to dismiss it out of hand as "PR." I'd think about whether and how you disagree with that statement carefully, particularly re: how you think knee-jerk cynicism improves the world you live in. In my experience, blind cynicism is a shield for people who are terrified of being duped because they are, at heart, deeply insecure (and possibly also exhausted, justifiably, by glossy PR bullshit). For my part, I don't mind taking calculated risks when I see action I agree with. If I were never right, I'd stop pretty quickly. But I find I'm right more often than I'm wrong, and I'm willing to tolerate a few mistakes in the process.

derptron 7y ago

>Hacked my demographic I hope you can hear my groan and perceive my eyes rolling over the internet

jbob2000 7y ago

It's a fancy blog post designed to hide the somewhat milquetoast announcement: > By 2025, we will shift to 100 percent supply of renewable energy, meaning that we will have power purchase agreements for green energy contracted for 100 percent of carbon emitting electricity consumed by all our data centers, buildings, and campuses. > We will electrify our global campus operations vehicle fleet by 2030. > We will pursue International Living Future Institute Zero Carbon certification and LEED Platinum certification for our Silicon Valley Campus and Puget Sound Campus Modernization projects. They're going to sign some contracts, buy some electric vehicles, and outfit their buildings with LED lights and recycled toilet paper. If they truly wanted to make an impact, they'd lobby the government for proper environmental regulations instead of pursuing these vane corporate projects.

TheOperator 7y ago
The biggest way Microsoft realistically could make an environmental impact is having its products run more efficiently. Not attempting to regulate the world through lobbyists which in the first place is practically impossible politically without its shareholders crying foul.

nscalf 7y ago

Should I be satisfied if you're doing the right thing for the wrong reasons? I'm always unsure about this. If a politician is making all the right noises, but clearly doesn't care about the topic, should I be satisfied? I really don't know. That's how I feel about this, it's clearly a PR move, but I think I'm happy about that?

baddox 7y ago
> Should I be satisfied if you're doing the right thing for the wrong reasons? I tend to think YES, assuming you're actually doing the right thing instead of just saying you're doing the right thing. For example, when good ideas happen to coincide with profit motive, I think that's a wonderful thing, and really the best-case scenario in a market economy. Apple's seemingly genuine focus on privacy is a perfect example: many people criticize it as being driven only by profit (perhaps as a way to compete with Google), while I say it's great if that's true!
- anko 7y ago
  I just want to mention that apple has been 100% renewable for a while now, and publish a detailed environmental report; https://www.apple.com/au/environment/pdf/Apple_Environmental_Responsibility_Report_2019.pdf https://www.apple.com/au/environment/pdf/Apple_Environmental...
  - umvi 7y ago
    Yeah but they rely heavily on Chinese companies that are not 100% renewable. That's like someone saying they have never murdered anyone while routinely paying for hit men to get their hands dirty. Technically correct, but misleading.
    - anko 7y ago
      I'm not sure what you're arguing, that nobody's perfect? Microsoft is aiming here to be carbon neutral in 2030. In ten years. From my linked report; A more energy efficient supply chain. In 2015, we started engaging directly with suppliers to help them reduce their energy use. We aim to educate them about energy efficiency, identify energy efficiency project opportunities, and manage those projects to completion. We prioritize facilities with the highest energy use and potential for improvement. Then we conduct energy audits and train suppliers to uncover opportunities for energy efficiency—like replacing outdated or inefficient heating, cooling, and lighting systems; repairing compressed air leaks; and recovering waste heat. The assessments provide suppliers with a cost-benefit analysis for implementing energy efficiency improvements. Since the inception of this program in 2015, we have engaged 59 suppliers at 85 facilities. In 2018, our program implemented energy efficiency measures that prevented 466,000 metric tons of CO₂e from entering the atmosphere. So they are working with suppliers and have been for the past 5 years. They also have been cleaning up the chemicals their suppliers use. You can't compare what they are doing to murder; it's legal for starters. But if you're relying on all the companies you do business with to make up your definition of 100% renewable, it's likely you'll never get there. They don't say anything about the energy used by the banks they do business with either.

soperj 7y ago

They are based in the pacific northwest. Electrical is mostly hydro. I wonder if they take into account the carbon footprint of that?

localhost 7y ago
Azure datacenters are worldwide.
- soperj 7y ago
  Sorry. they talk about making up for the entire carbon footprint of their existence, most of which is solely in the pacific north west.
  - triceratops 7y ago
    I imagine business travel is a fair chunk of a company's carbon footprint? That's unrelated to them being in the PNW.
    - soperj 7y ago
      okay. How's that have anything to do with what I'm commenting on?
      - triceratops 7y ago
        > They are based in the pacific northwest. Electrical is mostly hydro.
  - shmed 7y ago
    Microsoft has over a 100 massive data centers throughout the world. The carbon footprint of their head quarter is just a small fractions of the massive amount of energy needed to power the millions of machines Microsoft deployed across the globe.
wang_li 7y ago