14 DAY TRIAL // Environmental advocacy group Greenpeace has released its newest report titled “Clicking Clean: How Companies are Creating the Green Internet, April 2014.” Looking at Internet and computer giants in particular, the report ranks Apple highest on the list of companies managing data centers (cloud services).
Greenpeace states, “Apple is the most improved company since our last full report, and has shown itself to be the most innovative and most aggressive in pursuing its commitment to be 100% renewably powered.”
At almost a hundred pages long, the PDF document has no shortage of details regarding the environmental efforts of Apple, Google, Facebook, eBay, Amazon and other technology giants that use various ways to power their big server farms.
Of these technology behemoths, the iPhone maker is top dog. Greenpeace says, “Apple has done the most of any data center operator to make its part of the internet green through the on-site installation of renewable energy, particularly solar power.”
“For both its Maiden, North Carolina and Reno, Nevada data centers, Apple is deploying large solar farms on site or at nearby locations to provide a significant amount of new renewable energy to meet its data center electricity needs and fulfill its goal to be 100% renewably powered and coal-free.”
Apple reportedly helped propel North Carolina to the third place among US states in solar growth, mainly thanks to its large-scale solar investment “made economically feasible in part by its ability to leverage tax incentives against other parts of its business,” according to the report.
The Cupertino giant’s solar installations and other energy options applied in tandem with neighbors Facebook and Google, reportedly forced Duke Energy to offer a new range of services based on renewable electricity.
“Duke’s new Green Source Rider program is geared to prevent losing additional business to increased solar investments from customers like Apple,” Greenpeace notes.
The Reno, Nevada-based data center built by Apple a couple of years ago also whipped NV Energy ento shape. The company agreed to work with the Mac maker and co-develop a solar project to adopt a Green Energy rate tariff.
This led to other companies exploring renewable energy options, “showing the catalytic power that data center operators can have when they push for more renewable energy,” Greenpeace says.
The environmental advocacy group concludes, saying “Apple’s aggressive pursuit of its commitment to power the iCloud with 100 % renewable energy has given the company the inside track among the IT sector’s leaders in building a green Internet.”