Apple Touts Plans for Massive Solar Farm and Fuel Cell Facilities at North Carolina Data Center

I hope this does not mean

Someone at Apple has gone nuts. I am glad Apple is so rich they can waste time on stuff like this, but it is a bad sign when a company leaves its core compentencies to waste time and resources on trendy political fads.

"Going green" is a rich person first world fad that is mostly harmless, unless Apple starts to lose focus. Often this sort of thing means a company is losing focus. I like Apple stuff, so prefer they stay focused on what they know, not appesing a few oddball organizations with "going green".

However, I guess this also ties in with modern expectations. Rich first worlders like feeling good about going green and want to feel good about the "morality" of their products as well as their functionality - so maybe this will help the bottom line by appealing to other green fadists, who on average probably are a larger buying percentage of Apple products than non-fadists. I think this is probably exceptional popular among age groups Apple sells to. Heck, my daughter comes home from public school all the time telling me fairy tales about the green fads - I suspect this sort of thing would induce her to buy more products and think more positively about Apple.

rmwebs said:

Except that its already been proven that Dell, HP and Nokia do more than Apple to lower their footprint.

I'll give it to Apple, they are reducing their carbon footprint which is great, but they are behind when compared to other companies, thats why Greenpeace went after them a few years ago, and despite what people may think of the Hippy club, they got Apple to change.

Make no mistake here, Apple isnt concerned about their footprint, they just happened to need solar cells on the datacenter. A lot of large datacenters are doing this as a quicker and more reliable method than disel backups.

The Marketing team just took it as an opportunity to publicise that they are being green by using solar power.

If they really cared, they would have solar panels on their more open roofed stores and on the Apple campus, in addition to buying into a carbon credit scheme.

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Good point. Even if it is all about marketing that is a good thing. If Apple sees going green as good marketing we will definitely see more going green by Apple.

MacRumors said:

renewable tapioca paper foam in iPhone packages

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Thank you, that’s been driving me nuts! I could not place the flavor.

jimbobb24 said:

Someone at Apple has gone nuts. I am glad Apple is so rich they can waste time on stuff like this, but it is a bad sign when a company leaves its core compentencies to waste time and resources on trendy political fads.

"Going green" is a rich person first world fad that is mostly harmless, unless Apple starts to lose focus. Often this sort of thing means a company is losing focus. I like Apple stuff, so prefer they stay focused on what they know, not appesing a few oddball organizations with "going green".

However, I guess this also ties in with modern expectations. Rich first worlders like feeling good about going green and want to feel good about the "morality" of their products as well as their functionality - so maybe this will help the bottom line by appealing to other green fadists, who on average probably are a larger buying percentage of Apple products than non-fadists. I think this is probably exceptional popular among age groups Apple sells to. Heck, my daughter comes home from public school all the time telling me fairy tales about the green fads - I suspect this sort of thing would induce her to buy more products and think more positively about Apple.

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wait you mean that saving the Earth is not good for a company? Are you sure Apple will be able to sell products when no one can leave their houses because of the air pollution or the world turns to chaos when oil runs out?

KingJosh said:

Good point. Even if it is all about marketing that is a good thing. If Apple sees going green as good marketing we will definitely see more going green by Apple.

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Very much so. Hopefully they will become much more green...at the end of the day it doesn't matter how they do it as long as it gets done.

Heck maybe other companies will try and copy them at going green

KingJosh said:

Looks like you will have to do without technology when the world runs out of oil if you think like that.

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A) Producing a solar cell is one of the most environmentally toxic things one can produce on the planet.

B) Solar cells are more like the Prius . . .those who are self-righteous purchase them to show how "environmentally friendly" they are.

C) Maybe you missed the oil discovery off the coast of Brazil, or the new find in Canada, or Siberia . . . . plus all the untapped oil fields in the United States . . . you and I will be long gone by the time the world runs out.



American environmentalism is more about appearing environmentally friendly than actually being environmentally friendly.

rmwebs said:

Very much so. Hopefully they will become much more green...at the end of the day it doesn't matter how they do it as long as it gets done.

Heck maybe other companies will try and copy them at going green

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well they copy them at everything else

bet they use Samsung solar panels

ggg05a said:

A) Producing a solar cell is one of the most environmentally toxic things one can produce on the planet.

B) Solar cells are more like the Prius . . .those who are self-righteous purchase them to show how "environmentally friendly" they are.

C) Maybe you missed the oil discovery off the coast of Brazil, or the new find in Canada, or Siberia . . . . plus all the untapped oil fields in the United States . . . you and I will be long gone by the time the world runs out.



American environmentalism is more about appearing environmentally friendly than actually being environmentally friendly.

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Ah so it is just about our generation for you right?

By the way oil is toxic if you didn't know that. Whether it is spilled in the ocean which happens almost once a month or burned into the atmosphere which happens on a large scale every day.

rmwebs said:

Except that its already been proven that Dell, HP and Nokia do more than Apple to lower their footprint.

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I believe it’s the reverse: Greenpeace’s reports have focussed on claims, plans, and statements... and other companies have been the kings of that! But looking at actual action and results, I believe Apple has long been better. From reduced packgaging to the shift toward downloads to actually DOING things in stead of merely talking about them.

I’m pro-Greenpeace, and I know Apple makes a valuable PR stunt for them in doing important things. But they hurt their own cause when they slant the data (or are simply lazy in compiling it?) to favor words on paper over results.

uknowimright said:

bet they use Samsung solar panels

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They will have to wait for Samsung to copy Apple before they can do that!

KingJosh said:

Ah so it is just about our generation for you right?

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Quit liking your own crap. Its annoying.

No, it shouldn't be about our own generation. It should be about those in the future, however producing an environmentally devastating product, that absent us launching it into space when it expires will be a toxic stain on the planet for the next 1000 years, is way more devastating than using wind energy, or the cleanest form of energy right now . . . nuclear energy.

Please explain to me how this is eco-friendly other than the age old schtick of "at least we're trying . . .herp derp"

Didn't they destroy a bunch of trees to put in this solar farm?

Torrijos said:

Except that Greenpeace reports are a load of BS to get clicks and donation...

Read these articles

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Uh, anything more recent than 5 and half years old?

ggg05a said:

Quit liking your own crap. Its annoying.

No, it shouldn't be about our own generation. It should be about those in the future, however producing an environmentally devastating product, that absent us launching it into space when it expires will be a toxic stain on the planet for the next 1000 years. Please explain to me how this is eco-friendly other than the age old schtick of "at least we're trying . . .herp derp"

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Do you mean to say that because the world found more oil sources that it is now unlimited and clean?

Ever heard of Geo Thermal, Hydro, Solar, Wind energy? 0 Pollution and infinite energy. Look it up. PS not liking my own posts but I do downrate yours lol

chrmjenkins said:

They may be trying to be more transparent, but they are still behind HP, Dell and Nokia according to Greenpeace's ratings:

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Of course. "HP announced plans to get rid of pollutant X in their packaging within 2 years" = 10 Greenpeace points. "Apple has not announced any plans to get rid of pollutant X in their packaging at any point in the future" = 0 Greenpeace points. "Apple has no plans to get rid of pollutant X in their packaging at any point in the future because they got rid of the stuff more than two years ago" = Greenpeace fail.

Intarweb said:

Didn't they destroy a bunch of trees to put in this solar farm?

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Better than destroying a bunch of trees to put in something that creates pollution.

KingJosh said:

Ah so it is just about our generation for you right?

By the way oil is toxic if you didn't know that. Whether it is spilled in the ocean which happens almost once a month or burned into the atmosphere which happens on a large scale every day.

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Nice straw-man. I never said oil wasn't toxic, however CO2, the thing that has you all hot and bothered is converted into oxygen by a process called photosynthesis by every green plant on the planet.

jimbobb24 said:

Someone at Apple has gone nuts. I am glad Apple is so rich they can waste time on stuff like this, but it is a bad sign when a company leaves its core compentencies to waste time and resources on trendy political fads.

"Going green" is a rich person first world fad that is mostly harmless, unless Apple starts to lose focus. Often this sort of thing means a company is losing focus. I like Apple stuff, so prefer they stay focused on what they know, not appesing a few oddball organizations with "going green".

However, I guess this also ties in with modern expectations. Rich first worlders like feeling good about going green and want to feel good about the "morality" of their products as well as their functionality - so maybe this will help the bottom line by appealing to other green fadists, who on average probably are a larger buying percentage of Apple products than non-fadists. I think this is probably exceptional popular among age groups Apple sells to. Heck, my daughter comes home from public school all the time telling me fairy tales about the green fads - I suspect this sort of thing would induce her to buy more products and think more positively about Apple.

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I hope there aren't too many people like you on this planet. I'd hate for the selfishness and arrogance of a minority to ruin this planet for everyone, and for what?

KingJosh said:

Do you mean to say that because the world found more oil sources that it is now unlimited and clean?

Ever heard of Geo Thermal, Hydro, Solar, Wind energy? 0 Pollution and infinite energy. Look it up. PS not liking my own posts but I do downrate yours lol

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You must be a child.

See, I live in Southern California where the People's Republic spent untold billions of dollars building the 2nd largest wind farm in the world on I-10 in-between Palm Springs and LA. It runs only 3 days a week because it was "killing the birds"

Hydro is great, however the a freeze on building hydro-electric plants in the US until a full study can be completed on the effects of these dams on fish populations.

Geo Thermal is great . . . too bad there are no hot springs near this site.

ggg05a said:

Nice straw-man. I never said oil wasn't toxic, however CO2, the thing that has you all hot and bothered is converted into oxygen by a process called photosynthesis by every green plant on the planet.

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They have trees and plants in the atmosphere?

KingJosh said:

They have trees and plants in the atmosphere?

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Yes. They reside in the Troposphere.

http://www.theozonehole.com/images/atmospbhere.gif

ggg05a said:

You must be a child.

See, I live in Southern California where the People's Republic spent untold billions of dollars building the 2nd largest wind farm in the world on I-10 in-between Palm Springs and LA. It runs only 3 days a week because it was "killing the birds"

Hydro is great, however the a freeze on building hydro-electric plants in the US until a full study can be completed on the effects of these dams on fish populations.

Geo Thermal is great . . . too bad there are no hot springs near this site.

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I find it funny how you left out Solar. No I am not a child. I always assume anyone who brings up age in a forum without knowing for sure usually is the child. I know you are probably not though which is more scary. You get annoyed by thinking I am uprating my posts which is hilarious

ggg05a said:

I think this "green" kick is nothing but marketing.

I would love to see how much of that solar farm was allocated to "Marketing Expense." Furthermore while possible with "instant on" diesel generators, I would also imagine this solar farm secondary (primary perhaps) justification is energy independence of the power grid. Can one imagine the outcry if there was a power outage, and everyone everywhere lost their iCloud.

It would be a RIM-style failure that I believe Apple is trying to prevent, while trying to appear "green" at the same time.

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Why does it matter what their motivation for building the solar farm was? I have zero problem with companies using green technologies to improve their "image", decrease their operating costs, or increase redundancy. In then end, the result is the same: Companies are increasingly realizing that there are major costs associated with relying on antiquated, dirty energy.

The sooner we ALL realize the same thing, the better for the planet, our future, and the economy.

NorCalLights said:

Why does it matter what their motivation for building the solar farm was? I have zero problem with companies using green technologies to improve their "image", decrease their operating costs, or increase redundancy. In then end, the result is the same: Companies are increasingly realizing that there are major costs associated with relying on antiquated, dirty energy.

The sooner we ALL realize the same thing, the better for the planet, our future, and the economy.

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It is usually the people who are against Apple religiously that slam them for anything even if it is good.