Technological advancements are not only being made in consumer electronics. Modern technology has greatly improved and advanced the usage of renewable energy. Major companies such as Microsoft, Amazon and Apple are already using renewable means of energy to power their massive facilities in various parts of the world. Apple’s chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, revealed earlier today that the company is generating 167 million kilowatts for its Maiden, North Carolina data center through a 100 acre solar farm and fuel cell installations. That’s enough to power 17,600 homes for an entire year, though it only counts for 60% of the data center’s power needs. The rest of the green power is purchased by Apple. The Maiden data center is for internet storage and iCloud hosting.
Oppenheimer added that the company has switched many of its corporate facilities to green power, including those based in Cork, Ireland, Austin, Texas and Sacramento, California. Throughout the company use of renewable energy is at 75%. It is Apple’s aim to only use renewable energy at all of its facilities. Companies of such scale are often criticized for operating power hungry data centers, but it is good to see that they’re taking responsibility and investing in renewable energy.
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