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THE WITNESS
The race to be the cleanest and greenest in our virtual world is definitely on. Facebook announced today that it is building another data center, a big one, this time in the windy state of Iowa, which currently leads the nation in electricity generated from wind with an eye-popping 25 percent! Continue reading
Apple announces commitment to power data centers with 100% renewable energy
There’s more good news to report from the clean energy revolution that’s spreading like wildfire among the biggest technology companies in the world: Apple released an environmental report today showing that it has made real progress in its effort to power the iCloud with renewable energy, and not coal.
Apple is growing its facilities that store your music, photos and videos at a rapid pace, and those buildings, called data centers, use massive amounts of electricity. Because of pressure from hundreds of thousands of Greenpeace supporters and Apple customers, Apple committed last year to providing 100 % of the power to those data centers with renewable energy. Greenpeace released a report in July mapping out the pathway Apple should take to meet its ambitious goals.
Today, Apple’s report disclosed some new details about how it has made real progress in many of the ways that we laid out then:
Of course, there’s still plenty of work left for Apple to do. As it keeps growing the cloud, Apple still has major roadblocks to genuinely meeting its 100 % clean energy commitment in North Carolina, where renewable energy policies are under siege and electric utility Duke Energy is intent on blocking wind and solar energy from entering the grid.
Apple Data Center in Maiden, NC. March, 2012. © Jason Miczek / Greenpeace
Duke Energy is Apple’s only option for buying electricity in North Carolina, and it makes electricity primarily from dirty sources of energy that cause global warming, like burning coal and gas, as well as dangerous nuclear power plants. Duke has shown no signs of changing, and organizations allied with Duke like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) are trying to change state laws to make it even harder for forward-thinking companies like Apple to buy clean energy there.
To show how it can help remove those roadblocks in North Carolina, Apple has an opportunity to work together with Google, accepting its challenge to the sector to develop a consortium among IT companies to help green the grid. Apple, Google, and Facebook working together in North Carolina would be a potent force in asking Duke Energy and state government officials to help bring more renewable energy on the grid in North Carolina for everyone.
We’ll keep urging Apple to do those things, just as we’ll keep pushing other, slower technology companies like Amazon and Microsoft to follow the good example that companies like Google, Facebook, Salesforce – and now more every day, Apple – are setting by their adoption of renewable energy.
Apple promised in May – thanks in part to pressure from its customers and Greenpeace supporters – that all of its data centers would become “coal-free” and powered by 100% renewable energy. However, rumors are circulating about a new data center that Apple is said to be building in Hong Kong. Continue reading
Every day, you rely on your computer, mobile phone, or tablet to be more productive, or just to have fun. Gadgets can make our lives better, but the rate at which we collectively purchase and discard them is having a serious impact on our planet.
So people often ask us: “Who is the greenest tech company?” These queries only intensify as we head into the winter holiday shopping season. And we answer this question carefully, with lots of analysis and interaction with consumer electronics companies. Continue reading
by David Pomerantz
Apple’s clean energy plans still cloudy despite coal-free pledge
Apple’s clean energy policies have significantly improved, but the company still gets low scores for its energy choices when compared with sector leaders, according to a new Greenpeace International analysis released today.
Despite a welcome commitment by Apple in May that its data centers will be coal-free and powered by 100% renewable energy, the analysis reveals that Apple still lacks a plan that outlines a realistic path to eliminate its reliance on coal to power its iCloud. Continue reading
by Emily Euchner
Throughout high school, I swam in Mountain Island Lake and the Catawba River every summer. It was only within the last year, after I graduated just a few miles from there, that I learned what a risk I had been taking with those swims, thanks to the pollution from Duke Energy’s coal ash ponds.
Coal ash – the waste produced from coal burnt at the Riverbend power plant – sits in unlined ponds next to the Catawba River, which provides much of Charlotte with drinking water. In addition to having to worry about contamination, two of the plant’s coal ash impoundments have been rated as high hazards by the EPA, meaning that a dam failure will “probably cause loss of human life”. Continue reading
Post Authored by Gary Cook, Greenpeace International
Apple has made a bold claim to make all three of its data centers “coal free” and has doubled the amount of solar energy powering its data center in North Carolina. Apple’s customers certainly appreciate boldness, and will love the ambition to be “coal free.”
“All three of our data centers will be coal free, which is an industry first for anybody of our size,” Apple’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer said last Thursday when announcing that the company is doubling the amount of solar energy powering its data center in North Carolina.
This is a clear sign that Apple is listening to the 220,000 customers who have asked for a clean iCloud. Apple now needs to show those customers how it will turn that rhetoric into reality, with further action and changes to its plans.
The April Photo of the Month by Michael Nagle shows the above ground entry way of Apple’s Fifth Avenue Store in New York after Greenpeace activists released black balloons with the message “Clean Our Cloud.”
I like the way the reflection of the black balloons trapped inside the glass cube seem to trail away from the Apple logo like dark sooty smoke merging with clouds outside and framed by the streetscape. The balloons evoke the air pollution caused by burning coal to create electricity. Continue reading
Guest blog by Gary Cook
The first step to solving most problems is admitting that you have one. Apple has a growing coal problem, and once they come clean about that, they can start applying their renowned innovation to solving it. Unfortunately, Apple has been less than forthcoming about the source and amount of energy that will be needed to power the iCloud. Now, Greenpeace has found new evidence (Apple’s permit application and permit) that provides additional clarity on Apple’s iCloud plans, and clearly shows that the company’s coal problem is on a trajectory to grow far beyond what Apple is currently willing to admit.
by Gary Cook, Greenpeace International
Apple’s “iCloud” is making lots of headlines this week, first with new details of renewable energy investment attached to the company’s massive “iCloud” data center in North Carolina, followed a day later by news that Apple has bought land next door to Facebook’s data center in Oregon for a second facility that is likely to be powered by dirty energy. The announcements have drawn a lot of attention because data centers use a huge amount of electricity to deliver our photos, videos, and music to our “iDevices.” Continue reading