A programmer claims that Facebook.com can save 75% of CO2 emission just by converting most of the web application’s code from PHP to C++. Now the question is whether he is correct. Facebook runs 30,000 servers, 24×7. As per the logic, if the company brings down the number of servers to just 7500, it will “trim 49,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions from its footprint.” That is a big number. On an average a server consumes about 200 Watts of power.

But re-coding what you already have in PHP to C++ is no joke. Ofcourse from a programmer’s perspective, an app will be much shorter/smaller if you use C++, but it will be ridiculously painful and ofcourse hard to code. Time for PHP programmers to fight back this claim…I guess.

[source: treehugger.com]