We all love the awesome convenience we get with our smartphones, storing emails, photos, and videos in the cloud and on the go. Unfortunately, that kind of convenience comes with a bit of a price, especially when it comes to the environment. Have you ever thought about the energy it took to get all of those emails, photos, and videos in the cloud?
Well, Apple is among the biggest environmental offenders when it comes to powering its data factories, according to a Greenpeace study on Wired. Apple has a factory in Maiden, North Carolina that will soon be one of the world’s biggest data centers, all powered by one of the largest coal companies, Duke Energy.
Environmental research company, Greenpeace, did some estimates on how much coal was being used in some of the biggest technology companies’ data centers across the country. Here’s a summary of how much of each company’s overall energy comes from coal, according to Greenpeace estimates:
1. Apple: 55.1 percent
2. HP: 49.7 percent
3. IBM: 49.5 percent
4. Oracle: 48.7 percent
5. Facebook: 39.4 percent
6. Microsoft 39.3 percent
7. Twitter: 35.6 percent
8. Amazon: 33.9 percent
9. Rackspace: 31.6 percent
10. Google: 28.7 percent
12. Dell: 20.1 percent
As you can see from the estimates, Apple is the biggest user of coal powered electricity at the moment. I’m sure their has to be more to the story though, like what Apple will use to help power the NC facility. What do you think about this, should Apple care about using coal? Is Greenpeace nitpicking?
[via Wired]