Apple, targeted by Greenpeace International over its energy consumption, said its 500,000- sq ft data centre in Maiden, North Carolina, will be powered entirely by renewable sources by the end of the year. The move, announced on Apple’s website, follows protests at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, and elsewhere. Greenpeace demonstrators criticized the world’s largest technology company for using too much coal.

None of three Apple’s data centres - including an existing facility in Newark, California, and one being built in Prineville, Oregon - will use power produced by coal, Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said. “We are leading the industry,” he said. “All three of our data centres will be coal free, which is an industry first for anybody of our size.” Apple reiterated its plan to generate 60 % of the Maiden facility’s power itself, through a large deployment of fuel cells at the site and a 100-acre solar farm located across the street. Fuel cells are able to turn biogases, which can be taken from sources such as landfills, into electricity

Source: Detroit News