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Inefficiently harnessing power from the sun at a premium infrastructure cost, yeah waste of time and money and real estate.



Umm, no. Their intentions are tax cuts and to wave a 'green' flag.

Why don't u make ur own company then since u think ur better than green energy!!!
 
Padding

I'll add my opinion to everyone else's

The purpose of this solar farm is to ensure that the power stays on no matter how many air conditioners are running in the central east coast.

I have no doubt that apple is employing the latest and greatest in Solar technology on this project, but I have not heard about any breakthroughs that overcome the toxic and energy intensive nature of producing solar cells and the expense in upkeep. (solar cells are fragile and the components that convert the energy into usable current have to be completely replaced every few years)

I don't "hate" solar. I just don't understand why so many think its efficient or environmentaly friendly.

Its padding and nothing more...
 
Not only Apple needs to build a smaller iPad, and an even greener MacBook Air, the company needs to take over the Energy Policy Administration if there is one. With this news, Apple is already taking the initiative. Long Live Apple !
 
So let me get this straight... the new "Green" thing to do is to mow down 170 acres of trees and pasture land to put up a Solar Farm?

Put up a solar farm, that in the course of its lifetime will produce more energy and offset more waste that those trees would have?
 
Waste of money? You are talking about a company that has billions of cash to spend and builds spaceship buildings and stores made completely out of glass and not just regular glass but ultra-expensive panels that have to be specially made.

Are you complaining that they could be using just regular bricks for those too because it would save them all that money they could have just sitting around doing nothing?

I would rather see the land being used as a cutting-edge solar farm than another Walmart or landfill. Especially when it's another project that is defining NC as a technology hub and a place that looks to the future instead of being stuck in the past and hoping things might go back to the industries of old.

Waste of money because it's so inefficient. This is not a fact to be argued it's just a fact of life as of this time. They should want trees there if they want to be 'green' not burning it all down all the while creating more of those 'greenhouse' gases.

Apple obviously don't think so - they don't do anything randomly or spontaneously - everything is considered and thought out. This is the company that won't put Flash into iOS, but they'll do solar power for their massive data center. Obviously solar's more worthwhile to them than Flash.

Free energy just waiting to be collected. Imagine that: a company that doesn't want to be yet another scar on the world, acting as yet another drain on our resources, maybe lessen the load a bit. It'll also create more jobs, both initially and ongoing. Good on 'em.

Besides which, what do you care? If Apple thinks it's worthwhile to spend their money on solar, why do you care, any more than I should lecture you about buying an extra power adapter, iPod cable or notebook battery? You want to spend your money? Go for it. Ditto Apple.

Doing this is a huge tax credit for them, that is the sole reason.

Scar on the earth? They are having to contour the terrain for this while burning down everything that is there, hmmm. And it's not creating jobs neither initially or ongoing, it's taking away from jobs be already have here. Thanks for playing.

You'd rather it being powered by dirty sources of energy?

It's good to see Apple use solar power. I don't see how using free energy is a waste of time and energy considering you'd burn coal instead and put out more CO2 in the atmosphere.

Dirty sources of energy? Please, go educate yourself a bit on the subject and not just the brain wash stuff it sound like you've been taught. Here's a fact if we were coming into an ice age instead of out of one, you would be blaming A/C on global cooling.

So let me get this straight... the new "Green" thing to do is to mow down 170 acres of trees and pasture land to put up a Solar Farm?

^yes.
 
I know because creating jobs and pumping cash back into the crippled economy is a waste of time... You must believe that creating a coal plant on site would be a much better alternative.

You're not pumping cash or jobs into this economy. A coal plant there really would be overkill though.
 
You do realize you can store energy right?

If this were a plausible idea, which it is not, then California could solve its summer time brown out problem by hooking up warehouse sized batteries to the grid at night and make up for the power shortage during the day.

It would be FAR more efficient and environmentally friendly for the state to give everyone the latest energy efficient air conditioners.
 
You're not pumping cash or jobs into this economy. A coal plant there really would be overkill though.

No, no jobs would be created at all. Not one solar panel company would get a massive order for solar panels (thus creating production, thus creating jobs). No professional would have to install them (another job). No electrical engineers would have to be there. No site surveyors, security, construction workers. Your looking at a easily 2 year construction job. Not to mention extra people hired to maintain the solar farm. Considering that our country is refusing to build upon our future I think Apple's at a good start. Apple will lead as it always has.
 
This is a marketing thing and nothing more. Solar power is clean, but the stuff you have to build to collect it is not. Just like batteries, it is extremely damaging on the environment. Plus you destroy large areas of vegetation, that produced oxygen and captured CO2. It would have been better if they planted a forest and invested a couple of their billions in a nuclear power plant, which is what humanity is going to have to rely on in the next few decades until we can achieve nuclear fusion.

I agree that we really need to consider nuclear - all power generation has very serious downsides, and when you compare the certainty of global warming to the possibility of nuclear accidents it's pretty clear that nuclear is the lower risk.

However, I doubt that any batteries are involved.

Most solar installations in the US today are grid-connected - they offset the power use from the grid rather than attempt to independently power the facility.

This is an excellent idea, since a major problem for many utilities is dealing with mid-summer mid-afternoon peak air conditioning loads. Since mid-summer mid-afternoons are exactly when PV (photo-voltaic) solar systems produce the most power, they're great for reducing the peak power on the grid.

I have a large (8.5 kW) PV system on my roof. During the mid-afternoon, it sends about 7 kW into the grid (and I'm credited for the mid-day $.32/kWhr rate for that). At night, I draw from the grid at the off-peak $.08/kWhr rate. (Our electric rates are time-of-day based - 8¢/kWhr from 21:00 to 10:00, 15¢/kWhr from 10:00 to 13:00 and 19:00 to 21:00, and 32¢/kWhr from 13:00 to 19:00.)

At the end of the year (with solar, we get yearly electric bills, not monthly), my electric bill will be $0. Although I will have consumed somewhat more kWh than I've produced, I've been selling kWh to PG&E at 32¢/kWh during the days, and buying kWh at 8¢/kWh during the night.

So, Apple's PV system in North Carolina probably won't power the data center outright - but it may help the NC utility with peak summer daytime loads, and help reduce Apple's operating expenses.

And lower operating expenses for Apple should mean lower prices for Mac computers, Iphones, Ipads and other Apple products.
 
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That's one massive solar farm. It's gonna take a lot of panels to power that huge data center.

True, what a shame Apples buying them from CHINA!

A surprise? No.

Avoidable? Yes

But hey, Apples the best at keeping a secret, denying it and convincing others to believe them. Yet this shouldn't surprise anyone, it doesn't surprise me.

I sure miss the old admirable Apple. There was a period of several years when Apple was wildly successful, focused on the future and not as antagonistic, nefarious, and sue happy as they are at the present.

Oh well, nothing good lasts. Apple's proof!
 
Inefficiently harnessing power from the sun at a premium infrastructure cost, yeah waste of time and money and real estate.



Umm, no. Their intentions are tax cuts and to wave a 'green' flag.


So what do you propose instead of investing in the infrastructure of cleaner energy?
 
I agree that we really need to consider nuclear - all power generation has very serious downsides, and when you compare the certainty of global warming to the possibility of nuclear accidents it's pretty clear that nuclear is the lower risk.

However, I doubt that any batteries are involved.

Most solar installations in the US today are grid-connected - they offset the power use from the grid rather than attempt to independently power the facility.

This is an excellent idea, since a major problem for many utilities is dealing with mid-summer mid-afternoon peak air conditioning loads. Since mid-summer mid-afternoons are exactly when PV (photo-voltaic) solar systems produce the most power, they're great for reducing the peak power on the grid.

I have a large (8.5 kW) PV system on my roof. During the mid-afternoon, it sends about 7 kW into the grid (and I'm credited for the mid-day $.32/kWhr rate for that). At night, I draw from the grid at the off-peak $.08/kWhr rate.

At the end of the year (with solar, we get yearly electric bills, not monthly), my electric bill will be $0. Although I will have consumed somewhat more kWh than I've produced, I've been selling kWh to PG&E at 32¢/kWh during the days, and buying kWh at 8¢/kWh during the night.

So, Apple's PV system in North Carolina probably won't power the data center outright - but it may help the NC utility with peak summer daytime loads, and help reduce Apple's operating expenses.

Lol Certainty of global warming lol
 
No one has brought this up. Since the data center in NC is huge, why didn't Apple just put a bunch of solar panels on the roof (along with the the solar farm)?
 
Lol Certainty of global warming lol


Certainty of global warming? And here I was overestimating the level of your intelligence.... my mistake.

What's next, you're going to make a statement about the the certainty of the spherical shape of the planet? Don't go to far TMar, you'll fall off the edge of the world.... too late.
 
No one has brought this up. Since the data center in NC is huge, why didn't Apple just put a bunch of solar panels on the roof (along with the the solar farm)?

What's to say they don't. It would be nothing to put in for a building permit to construct them on roof. No where did it ever say they would not. Apple may be possibly waiting to put in a massive order all in at once. Wouldn't make sense to have to make more shipments of solar panels than needed. They are probably waiting for solar farm site to be cleared and ready for insulation then kill two birds with one stone. All thinking of efficiency through transportation of material.
 
Certainty of global warming? And here I was overestimating the level of your intelligence.... my mistake.

What's next, you're going to make a statement about the the certainty of the spherical shape of the planet? Don't go to far TMar, you'll fall off the edge of the world.... too late.

Show me scientific proof of MAN MADE global warming, please. I'm not saying we haven't had an effect on the on environment just not to the blown out levels that some of these "studies" say we had. Since this ball of rock has had a sustainable atmosphere it has been on a heating/cooling cycle. There's a reason they call it global climate change now and not global warming.

There have been scientific studies in both directions on this topic and nothing is certain.
 
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