After several attacks on Apple’s policy from
Greenpeace, the company has decided to clean up its act by making their entire
iCloud facility run on green energy by the end of 2012. Greenpeace’s attack
accused Apple of not taking advantage of several green energy alternatives used
by companies like Facebook or Google. Originally, Apple fought back by trying
to disprove the studies that backed Greenpeace’s articles and publications,
until they had no choice but to back down and start using green energy.
The cloud facilities used by technology use up
tremendous amounts of energy. Apple’s facility, for example, needs 84 million
kilowatt hours per year to operate its machinery, servers, and basic building
operation. This makes these cloud facilities important targets for green energy
alternatives, as they’re using a much greater percentage of the energy.
Duke Energy’s coal based power plant is currently
supplying the facility with electricity, and Apple will maintain that contract
until the two massive solar arrays are ready to come online and power the
buildings. They will be supplemented by green energy power cells, which will be
fueled solely by biofuel, produced by burning renewable materials for energy.
Whatever the impetus in the decisions, it’s good that
Apple is going to such lengths to get on renewable energy. It’s highly
encouraging to see a company put our environment before their own profits.
Hopefully other cloud based businesses, like Microsoft, will take the hint and
start working on converting to renewable and green energy.
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