Greenpeace and Apple are having a PR war regarding the Maiden Data Center.
Here is a post I found that the data center community is going to like. The author goes beyond the claims made and looks at the logic of when things occur vs. the perception of events.
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Furthermore, the Maiden land deal didn’t “just happen” over the course of a few fevered weeks following Greenpeace’s April charm offensive. Anyone that’s ever purchased land, especially agriculturally zoned land like Apple acquired to site their second solar array, knows it takes months to negotiate a deal, gain regulatory approval and process the sale.
Apple’s been working on this for months if not years and there’s a paper trail a mile wide showing exactly what they’ve been up to if anyone had chosen to follow it.
If Greenpeace is a public watchdog, what exactly have they been watching? My guess is they’ve been breathlessly watching themselves on TV.
The author then gets more critical.
In “How Clean Is Your Cloud,” Greenpeace claimed Apple’s NC data center would use 60MW of power and that the overwhelming majority of that would be coal-generated electricity from Duke Energy. However, Apple’s public statements and public filings clearly state the facility would use just 20WM — a difference of 300 percent.
Digging up more facts about energy composition.
Moreover, Greenpeace overstated Duke Energy’s reliance on coal (55 percent), citing 2007 data, despite the ready availability of 2010 data filed with regulators showing a greatly reduced coal footprint (45 percent) in its generating mix.
i wonder if the author of this post lives in NC.
And, the NCUC approval process included a public comment period and public hearings — Apple was on the ball and ready to deliver 100 percent green-powered data centers months ago and information showing that was readily available to the public.
Few including the media have spent this time researching the facts that exist in public disclosure.
I like green. I seek out green products and work hard to reduce, reuse and recycle. I despise Greenpeace…
