Apple, Facebook, Google Web data centers getting greener: report

(EurActiv, 3 Apr 2014) Apple Inc, Google Inc and Facebook Inc have made significant progress in adopting renewable energy sources to power their Web services, the environmental group Greenpeace said in a report on Wednesday.

But energy-hungry data centers operated by some of the Internet industry's top companies remain overly reliant on carbon-emitting coal and gas, the report said.

Apple Inc, which built an on-site solar panel farm and fuel-cells at its North Carolina data center and has procured renewable energy directly at its other three facilities, earned the highest marks on the "scorecard" of Internet company data centers that Greenpeace issues every two years.

Greenpeace rated Apple's efforts in transparency, renewable energy policy and renewable energy deployment with an A grade in each category, compared with a mix of D and F grades two years ago when the group released its last report.

At the other end of the spectrum, Amazon.com Inc's Web Services business, which Greenpeace said operates at least 18 data centers around the world, was singled out for being among the least committed to renewable energy, earning F grades in three out of Greenpeace's four categories.

External link

EurActiv, 3 Apr 2014: Apple, Facebook, Google Web data centers getting greener: report