Greenpeace Boosts Apple’s Grades From F’s and D’s to D’s and C’s

Greenpeace which used to give Apple F’s and D’s on its data center design, has now revised its opinion of the massive computing facilities that run online services like iTunes and iCloud.

In a report released on Thursday, Greenpeace says it’s pleased that Apple has promised to move its data centers to renewable power sources, such as solar, wind power, and hydro-electric dams. But it still wants to know how Apple intends to do this.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But in the past, it has said that its computing facilities will be powered entirely by renewable sources by early next year. Its $1bn data center in Maiden, North Carolina is currently plugged into the Duke Energy power grid, whose power sources are not exactly 100 percent clean.

Yes, Apple is already building a 100-acre solar array and a biogas energy plant on in Maiden, but it does not appear that these can power the entire facility.

“The move to renewable sources all sounds great, and we’re super pumped about that,” says Greenpeace spokesman David Pomerantz. “But when you get into the analysis and actually look at it, there are some big holes in what they’re doing and how they’re going to get there that they haven’t revealed yet. Without that, there are some pretty big issues that they’re going to have to resolve, and we’re wondering how they’re going to do that.”

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