The world's largest social networking site, Facebook, is currently building their first data storage center in Oregon. The company utilized two Business Oregon programs with their choice of a state certified industrial site that was located in a long-term rural enterprise zone in Prineville. The 147,000-sq-ft facility is expected to create more than 200 jobs during its 12-month construction phase and when finished, the data center will employ at least 35 full-time workers and dozens more part-time and contract employees.

Business Oregon, Crook County, the city of Prineville and the team at the Economic Development for Central Oregon were instrumental in negotiations and bringing the $190 million Facebook Data Center to Prineville. The project is underway and is scheduled to be completed early in 2011.

Consistent with Oregon's sustainable focus, the data center will be one of the most energy efficient facilities of its kind with a goal to achieve LEED gold certification. Its green mechanical strategies include an efficient evaporative cooling system that will be operated up to 70 percent of the year, for the rest of the year an outside air economizer will be utilized. A portion of the heat generated by the project's thousands of servers will be captured and re-used to heat office spaces. Other sustainable features include the use of rainwater for landscaping and gray water; low-VOC finishes; use of Energy Star-compliant appliances; and low-flow fixtures and toilets.