As Apple’s social record undergoes continued scrutiny the company just released its 2012 environmental report, which unveils plans to build America’s largest end user-owned onsite solar array at its massive data center in Maiden, North Carolina. The building itself is the world’s only LEED Platinum certified data center, and the 100-acre, 20-megawatt solar farm will supply 42 million kWh of clean, renewable energy annually.
Many people don’t realize it, but processing digital data requires a lot of energy, which is why Apple has committed to such a rigorous renewable program. In addition to the massive solar array, the company plans to build a fuel cell installation later this year. When complete, the 5 megawatt facility will be the largest non-utility fuel cell installation operating anywhere in the country. Located astride the white-roofed data center, it will be powered entirely by biogas and will provide more than 40 million kWh of 24×7 baseload renewable energy every year.
Apple insists that they are “committed to pursuing energy-efficient growth by increasing our renewable energy participation to match the growing needs of our data center—through our own projects as well as partnerships with utilities and renewable energy providers.”
Via Engadget
All data centers should be backed up with solar. Making it mandatory would help keep it secure. Most centers are usually cross-wired for emergency power transfer purposes, as well as battery and generator backed. The extra level of back up will pay for itself to the point of returning + costs over time, and be so much cleaner.