Apple Doubling Size of Fuel Cell Facility at North Carolina Data Center

MacRumors · Dec 4, 2012, 02:36 PM

The Charlotte Observer reports that Apple has filed plans to double the size of its fuel cell facility at its data center in Maiden, North Carolina to 10 megawatts.

Quote:

Fifty fuel cells adjacent to its $1 billion data center in Maiden are expected to be operating by January, Apple said in papers filed with the N.C. Utilities Commission. It will be fueled by "directed biogas" in which cleaned methane gas from a landfill is injected into a natural gas pipeline. [...]

California-based Apple says the initial 4.8-megawatt phase in Maiden began start-up and testing in October. In November it applied for an amended state permit to increase the project's size.

Fuel cells at Apple's corporate headquarters in Cupertino, California

In North Carolina, Apple is combining its fuel cell facility with two massive solar farms to help achieve the company's goal of using 100% renewable energy at all of its data centers. At its originally planned 4.8-megwatt capacity, Apple's fuel cell facility in North Carolina was already said to be the largest in the United States not owned by a utility company.

Article Link: Apple Doubling Size of Fuel Cell Facility at North Carolina Data Center

apfeljonas · Dec 4, 2012, 02:39 PM

Those fuel cells actually look very Apple-like. iCell! Also, great to know they are fuelling it with biogas, much better for the environment than solar and natural gas.

guitarman777 · Dec 4, 2012, 02:40 PM

We need more pow'r, cap'n! :d

Chaszmyr · Dec 4, 2012, 02:54 PM

Awesome. All power-hungry things like data centers should be run on renewable energy.

mertyz · Dec 4, 2012, 02:55 PM

There should be a law forcing all data centers to be environment-friendly.

Rocketman · 04:04 PM

Methane is the most abundant uncollected or wasted energy source on the planet. That way no matter the source these fuel cells can use them. Recovering methane from landfills is a solution waiting for a need and thus is seen as "very green" in this political environment (Solyndra, etc.). No matter the source methane is among the most green and efficient and available fuel sources.

Rocketman

cite:

http://www.bloomenergy.com/clean-energy/

http://www.bloomenergy.com/fuel-cell...ell-animation/

TrentS · Dec 4, 2012, 02:58 PM

I can't wait for the Jesse Ventura conspiracy show on how Apple and its fuel cell facilities are going to take over the world, with the help of "skinwalker" aliens and magnate Robert Bigelow.

"What the heck are they building there? A gateway portal to another dimension?! And we ask questions, and all we get are straight answers? Something smells funny here."

Battlefield Fan · Dec 4, 2012, 03:00 PM

In other news Greenpeace is still extremely unhappy with Apple...

saving107 · Dec 4, 2012, 03:13 PM

So Apple is Doubling Down on Fuel Cell.

mattskaj · Dec 4, 2012, 03:16 PM

Must be nice to sit on a board you get to sell your green energy products to. Conflict of Interest?

Allenbf · Dec 4, 2012, 03:21 PM

Will this mean less downtime for iMessage?

STiNG Operation · Dec 4, 2012, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allenbf

Will this mean less downtime for iMessage?

I hope so. Seems less reliable lately

Jsameds · Dec 4, 2012, 03:32 PM

Now, the last time Apple doubled down on something...

Leonard1818 · Dec 4, 2012, 03:45 PM

iFart

----------

in all seriousness, I'm glad to see Apple doing this. What's good for the environment is good for EVERYBODY

eleven59 · Dec 4, 2012, 03:53 PM

Now if someone could get to working on Mr. fusion....

The most abundant source of energy could be trash lol

spatlese44 · Dec 4, 2012, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eleven59

Now if someone could get to working on Mr. fusion....

The most abundant source of energy could be trash lol

I'm sure they could run one of these data centers for a few decades just burning discarded AOL CDs.

webbuzz · Dec 4, 2012, 04:08 PM

I wish Bloom would release the residential units soon.

rmwebs · Dec 4, 2012, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by apfeljonas

Those fuel cells actually look very Apple-like. iCell! Also, great to know they are fuelling it with biogas, much better for the environment than solar and natural gas.

Those arent fuel cells, that's the new Mac Pro design

----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allenbf

Will this mean less downtime for iMessage?

Nope. More power and more servers in the same place will not fix that issue. Apple needs to get themselves a real cloud - not a fake one. Only that will fix iMessage and Facetime reliability.

petsounds · Dec 4, 2012, 04:21 PM

Is this due to increased load demands at the data center, or was this fueled (pardon the pun) by post-Sandy worries about uptime in the face of increasingly severe storms?

Mr. Retrofire · Dec 4, 2012, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mertyz

There should be a law forcing all data centers to be environment-friendly.

Says the SUV driver. ;-)

----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrentS

I can't wait for the Jesse Ventura conspiracy show on how Apple and its fuel cell facilities are going to take over the world, with the help of "skinwalker" aliens and magnate Robert Bigelow.

"What the heck are they building there? A gateway portal to another dimension?! And we ask questions, and all we get are straight answers? Something smells funny here."

What is your problem?

Mr. Retrofire · Dec 4, 2012, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattskaj

Must be nice to sit on a board you get to sell your green energy products to. Conflict of Interest?

Where do you see Al Gore?

Here?
http://www.bloomenergy.com/about/board-of-directors/

Or here?
http://www.elementmarkets.com/management-team.php

I cannot find him on these pages. This means either
a) i'm blind
or
b) your assertion that “Al Gore makes a few bucks” is unfounded.

This is probably a case of:
H.A.T.E.R.S. = Having Anger Towards Everyone Reaching Success!

----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by rmwebs

Those arent fuel cells, that's the new Mac Pro design

Sure! ;-)

Mr. Retrofire · Dec 4, 2012, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by petsounds

Is this due to increased load demands at the data center, or was this fueled (pardon the pun) by post-Sandy worries about uptime in the face of increasingly severe storms?

I think they avoid additional costly, long and inefficient power lines. Apples NC data center needs 20 Megawatt of power.

Liquorpuki · Dec 4, 2012, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by petsounds

Is this due to increased load demands at the data center, or was this fueled (pardon the pun) by post-Sandy worries about uptime in the face of increasingly severe storms?

Probably just trying to offset as much load as possible so they don't have to buy as much from Duke Energy.

That and the redundancy will help when they have to take one of the installations offline for maintenance or other reasons.

RobertMartens · Dec 4, 2012, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chaszmyr

Awesome. All power-hungry things like data centers should be run on renewable energy.

I find this to be a pointless statement. All electricity is the same and all things use electricity. There are many more houses than data centers, therefore I think all houses should run on renewable energy.

badNameErr · Dec 4, 2012, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chaszmyr

All power-hungry things like data centers should be run on renewable energy.

"All things should be run on renewable energy."

Fixed that for you.

Dec 4, 2012, 02:39 PM	#2
apfeljonas macrumors regular Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Germany	Those fuel cells actually look very Apple-like. iCell! Also, great to know they are fuelling it with biogas, much better for the environment than solar and natural gas. __________________ Used Mainly MacBook Pro, Late 2011, i5 2.4 GHz iPhone 5 32 GB Black Not Used as Much iPad 1, 32 GB iPod touch 4G, 32 GB Some older stuff...
	4

Dec 4, 2012, 02:55 PM	#5
mertyz macrumors regular Join Date: Sep 2011	There should be a law forcing all data centers to be environment-friendly. __________________ 2012 MBA 13" 1.8GHz/4GB/128GB - iPad 2 Wi-Fi 16GB White - 3rd Gen iPod Touch 8GB - 3rd Gen iPod Shuffle 2GB
	0

Dec 4, 2012, 02:55 PM	#6
Rocketman macrumors 601 Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Claremont, CA	Methane is the most abundant uncollected or wasted energy source on the planet. That way no matter the source these fuel cells can use them. Recovering methane from landfills is a solution waiting for a need and thus is seen as "very green" in this political environment (Solyndra, etc.). No matter the source methane is among the most green and efficient and available fuel sources. Rocketman cite: http://www.bloomenergy.com/clean-energy/ http://www.bloomenergy.com/fuel-cell...ell-animation/ __________________ Think Different-ly! The President campaigned against Congress. D Sen is led by D Sen ML Reid and D VP and Sen Pres Biden, under orders of D Pres Obama. http://www.gop.gov/indepth/jobs/tracker Last edited by Rocketman; Dec 4, 2012 at 04:04 PM.
	4

Dec 4, 2012, 02:58 PM	#7
TrentS macrumors regular Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Overland Park, Kansas	Aliens Are Coming!!! I can't wait for the Jesse Ventura conspiracy show on how Apple and its fuel cell facilities are going to take over the world, with the help of "skinwalker" aliens and magnate Robert Bigelow. "What the heck are they building there? A gateway portal to another dimension?! And we ask questions, and all we get are straight answers? Something smells funny here."
	1

Dec 4, 2012, 03:00 PM	#8
Battlefield Fan macrumors 6502a Join Date: Mar 2008	In other news Greenpeace is still extremely unhappy with Apple... __________________ 15" Macbook Pro Hi-Res, 2.3 GHz i7 QC, 16GB RAM, 480 GB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G Xbench score: 426; 27" TB ACD; 27" MDP ACD; Black iPhone 5 64GB; White iPad 3 32GB LTE
	13

Dec 4, 2012, 02:40 PM	#3
guitarman777 macrumors regular Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Orlando, FL	We need more pow'r, cap'n! :d
	1

Dec 4, 2012, 02:54 PM	#4
Chaszmyr macrumors 601 Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Boulder, CO	Awesome. All power-hungry things like data centers should be run on renewable energy.
	2

Dec 4, 2012, 03:13 PM	#9
saving107 macrumors 603 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: San Jose, Ca	So Apple is Doubling Down on Fuel Cell.
	1

Dec 4, 2012, 03:16 PM	#10
mattskaj macrumors newbie Join Date: Sep 2012	And Al Gore makes a few bucks Must be nice to sit on a board you get to sell your green energy products to. Conflict of Interest?
	3

Dec 4, 2012, 03:21 PM	#11
Allenbf macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Tampa, FL	Will this mean less downtime for iMessage? __________________ I'm broke because of my love for
	1

Dec 4, 2012, 03:32 PM	#13
Jsameds macrumors regular Join Date: Apr 2008	Now, the last time Apple doubled down on something...
	0

Dec 4, 2012, 03:45 PM	#14
Leonard1818 macrumors 68000 Join Date: Nov 2011	iFart ---------- in all seriousness, I'm glad to see Apple doing this. What's good for the environment is good for EVERYBODY
	0

Dec 4, 2012, 03:53 PM	#15
eleven59 macrumors regular Join Date: Jul 2008	Now if someone could get to working on Mr. fusion.... The most abundant source of energy could be trash lol
	1

Dec 4, 2012, 04:08 PM	#17
webbuzz macrumors regular Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Chicago	I wish Bloom would release the residential units soon.
	0

Dec 4, 2012, 04:21 PM	#19
petsounds macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jun 2007	Is this due to increased load demands at the data center, or was this fueled (pardon the pun) by post-Sandy worries about uptime in the face of increasingly severe storms?
	0

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