Apple scrubs dirty iCloud data centre with second solar wash
2012 clean date stated
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Apple is flying the green flag on the North Carolina data centre that will power iCloud – the very same one that was slammed by Greenpeace for being dirty.
The iPad shop has disclosed information on a second solar-power generation facility at the data centre in Maiden, North Carolina, while also launching a a new page to explain its plans for its consumption of renewable energy.
Apple is building two solar array installations at the billion-dollar site. When it first detailed Maiden in February, the fondleslab-maker spoke of just one.
The "new" renewable energy page says there will be two high-efficiency solar cells with solar tracking systems on separate 100-acre sites at Maiden, along with biogas-powered fuel cells. The companies supplying the solar systems to both sites are SunPower and start-up Bloom Energy.
The renewable energy page states Maiden will be powered using nothing but renewable sources of electricity by the end of 2012. Apple has not given an actual date for when Maiden will be completed.
Otherwise, the site repackages Apple’s response to the Greenpeace report last month that criticised Maiden for consuming watts generated using coal- and nuclear-fired power stations owned by the local power utility.
Apple’s site restates its earlier claim that 60 per cent of the power at the Maiden site would be generated using renewable sources.
The site seems a more measured and coordinated response beyond the simple PR statement Apple produced after the Greenpeace report was first released.
The remaining 40 per cent of electricity at Maiden will be generated offsite through a deal with NC GreenPower, a non-profit whose goal is to increase renewable energy production in North Carolina. ®
