Greenpeace International new reported that Apple was making progress with its clean energy efforts but not enough to satisfy the environmental group.
In a report card on Apple’s energy practices for its data centers, the power hungry server factories from which iCloud and other online Apple services run, Greenpeace was somewhat kinder to the company than it had been in an earlier assessment raising its overall clean energy score to 22.6% from its previous dismal rating of 15.3%.
To put the change in more familiar terms, Apple improved to C ratings from D ratings in a couple of Greenpeace categories like Renewables and Advocacy and Energy Efficiency and Greenhouse Gas Mitigation. Greenpeace made the changes after Apple committed in May to running its data centers entirely on coal free renewable energy. Greenpeace though, criticized Apple for not saying enough about how it intends to reach those goals.
Mr Gary Cook Greenpeace International’s senior information technology analyst said that “Apple has the potential to set a new bar with its coal-free iCloud commitment but its plans to reach this goal are still mostly talk and not enough walk.”
Apple has been fairly specific about its clean energy plans, even if it has not provided the level of detail Greenpeace is looking for. The company has pledged that its data center in Maiden, NC will run entirely on renewable energy sources by the end of 2012 with 60% of that coming from on site power generation through a large solar array and fuel cells.
The other 40% of its needs will come from other local, renewable energy sources like wind farms. This is the portion of Apple’s energy plans that Greenpeace is especially eager to know more about.
Ms Kristin Huguet an Apple spokeswoman said that another Apple data center in California would be coal free in February of next year while newer data centers in Oregon and Nevada will be designed to meet that standard from Day 1.
She said that we’re committed to building the world’s most environmentally responsible data centers and are leading the industry in the use of renewable energy including the nation’s largest private solar arrays and nonutility fuel cell installation.
Source - Nytimes.com
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