Apple Is One of the Heaviest Coal Users in the Industry (VIDEO)

Gizmodo ^

[matt04]

Apple's pretty products do a good job distracting from the bleak reality of how they're made. As we've learned from the Foxconn debacle, that means sub-standard working conditions. But it's not just people that are affected, but also the environment.

Built to support iCloud, Apple's new billion-dollar data center in Maiden, North Carolina is another strike against the world's most valuable company. In fact, the behemoth, which is one of the largest such facilities on the planet, is powered mostly by coal, through Duke Energy. Even though Cupertino is building a solar farm down the road from the data center, that renewable source only accounts for 10 percent of its juice.

Apple is one of the worst offenders in the industry when it comes to the use of clean energy. Greenpeace estimates that just 15.3 percent of Apple's energy is clean, while 55.1 percent is powered by coal. That figure makes it the heaviest user of this dirty power out of any other tech company. Google by contrast uses 28.7 percent coal, with 39.4 percent of its energy classified as clean, and for Facebook, those figures are 39.4 percent and 36.4 percent respectively.

[matt04]

A video from the "Climate Desk" finds an activist from NC WARN whose stated goal is to shut down current and stop new coal plants has determined that using coal to power said Apple data center will cause "big, big problems."

To try to appease these activists, Apple is building a 100 acre solar array, to power a whopping 10% of their data center. Unfortunately, they can't find any residents of Maiden who are opposed to coal or cheap power which brigs jobs.

[Drill Thrawl]

But remember that electric cars are clean.

[The Electrician]

Even though Cupertino is building a solar farm down the road from the data center, that renewable source only accounts for 10 percent of its juice.

Translation: Apple may feel a need to placate the leftist fringe (which forms a substantial portion of their customer base), but they're not stupid.

[bray]

Since we are cooling as a climate we may want to produce more CO2.

Pray for America

[EyeGuy]

Coal? That uncool energy for the unenlightened, non-progressive and backward?

Man, that ain’t hip.

Man.

[Gator113]

Greenpeace estimates blah, blah, blah.....

Then take away their damn phones and let them wipe their butts with corncobs.

[Swordmaker]

This Article from GIZMODO is so full of ignorant and inaccurate FUD bile, it's hard to know where to start—PING!

The first paragraph about FoxConn's bad working conditions has been shot down in flames many times... in fact, independent auditors found it was better than others by far, and the claims of suicides were found to be based on flawed statistics, and in fact the rate was FAR BELOW the national average for the age group!

Now, they use Greenpeace as an unbiased source to condemn Apple's use of energy in North Carolina, and Gizmodo swallows it hook, line, and sinker?

Apple FUD Ping!

Please, No Flame Wars!
Discuss technical issues, software, and hardware.
Don't attack people!
Don't respond to the Anti-Apple Thread Trolls!
PLEASE IGNORE THEM!!!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[Eagle of Liberty]

Sooooo, the greenies must have just loved Steve Jobs and not so much Apple itself?

[freekitty]

Everyone knows anything green is a money laundering operation.

[EyeGuy]

“Built to support iCloud, Apple’s new billion-dollar data center in Maiden, North Carolina is another strike against the world’s most valuable company. In fact, the behemoth, which is one of the largest such facilities on the planet, is powered mostly by coal, through Duke Energy. Even though Cupertino is building a solar farm down the road from the data center, that renewable source only accounts for 10 percent of its juice.”

###

Yo clueless Green Weenie:

- Give up ALL your cool tech toys or shut the F up.

- Using coal is not a “strike against them”.

- “Behemoth” is used to disparage. Big is not bad. What do you want them operating in small, scattered dirt floor third world shacks.

- “10% from solar” my ass. They will be VERY lucky to power 5% of the plant with the utter and consistent failure that is solar energy.

[FlyVet]

On top of this, they have an evil 40% gross profit margin, and use dollar-an-hour labor. It’s a good thing they’re not an oil company, or Maxine Waters and Dear Leader would take them over and socialize them.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

But remember that electric cars are clean.

Everyone knows that! So Apple can make up for this by just inducing its employees at the facility to drive to work in Chevy Volt automobiles!

You’re brilliant!

[Drill Thrawl]

Don’t forget the 81 BILLION dollars they have in overseas banks. Such evil, evil profits.

[Drill Thrawl]

The question is does the Volt have a big enough battery to get from one end of the property to the other.

But I am concerned about the 100 acres of trees they cut down to build their solar farm.

[Gator113]

Swordmaker, I would appreciate your guidance/opinion on an unrelated matter.

I want an iPhone, but I don’t know if I should get a 4 or if I should wait for the 5 that I read might come out this summer.

I screwed myself on the iPad by not researching enough before buying. 6 weeks after buying my iPad, iPad 2 was released.

Anyway, your thoughts on this would be appreciated.... so would any other FReepers that are knowledgeable on the subject.

[EyeGuy]

The Unchanging Law of Tech:

As soon as you buy Model XL+, Model XL+ Ultra will come out the very next day.

Don’t sweat it.

[matt04]

Give up ALL your cool tech toys or shut the F up.

The useful idiot Greenpeace members were not told that their cool toys were made in China or Japan where particularly in China environmental regulations are non-existent. Greenpeace leaders also forgot to tell their useful idiots about the horrible pollution in China.

[beethovenfan]

Good. Coal is a cheap source of energy. F the enviro-wackos.

[Gator113]

I know, but I still sweat it. ;>)

[Gator113]

I should have included that increased battery life is my main concern/interest.

[EyeGuy]

My understanding has been that Apple products are usually rated very high on the battery life/form factor/size contiuuum.

Real World: My wife has been very pleased with the battery longevity/power on her collection of iGear (iPhone 4s, latest iPad before the RetinaDisplay model was released, etc).

[catbertz]

I thought I’d offer a comment regarding your question. It’s very likely that the 5 will have some new tech. First after Jobs and the 4s was just a bump over the 4. If you’re not desperate to replace, then I say wait.

[fluorescence]

Data centers need reliable electricity as much as they need cheap energy. That means producing it at the time it is required, not waiting around for mother nature to generously bestow some onto you.

Passively collecting energy hunter-gatherer style in the amount nature is gracious enough to bestow on you is not going to cut it for any kind of industrial scale application. There is a huge step backwards (both in effect and in the mindset needed to put up with the change) in going from controlling the environment and getting what you want out of it to depending on a mystical external force to supply your needs at its whim.

[sergeantdave]

I see that the little bed-wetting troll has his crappy site shut down.

I expect that from gutless obuma Nazi trolls at gizmodo. These pukes can’t even handle a simple barroom fight.

[Swordmaker]

Don’t forget the 81 BILLION dollars they have in overseas banks. Such evil, evil profits.

Which they WANT to bring home, so they can invest that money in the US of A... and can't because of confiscatory taxation policies on already taxed money!

[Swordmaker]

Swordmaker, I would appreciate your guidance/opinion on an unrelated matter.

I want an iPhone, but I don’t know if I should get a 4 or if I should wait for the 5 that I read might come out this summer.

The iPhone 4S—released October of 2011—is the current leader and I suspect the iPhone 5 is due in October of 2012. I doubt that Apple will update the line before then. There may be some minor tweaking of specs, perhaps faster processor, in June... but nothing major.

[af_vet_rr]

Which they WANT to bring home, so they can invest that money in the US of A... and can't because of confiscatory taxation policies on already taxed money!

None of the tech companies want to bring their money back to the US as long as they automatically lose 35% at the border.

I read somewhere that if the top 10 tech companies were to all bring their overseas money home to the US, they would collectively lose $100 billion at the border to the federal government. You'd have to be an idiot to toss that much money away on taxes - better to let it sit overseas.

[antiRepublicrat]

Ignore it. Greenpeace has been taking cheap shots at Apple to get free publicity for years.

[kevkrom]

I thought I’d offer a comment regarding your question. It’s very likely that the 5 will have some new tech. First after Jobs and the 4s was just a bump over the 4. If you’re not desperate to replace, then I say wait.

I'd actually say just the opposite. The 4S may have the same form factor as the 4, but the internals are much different - to the point that the 4 is closer to the 3GS than it is to the 4S. The 5 will have a new form factor, but will likely have similar internals to the 4S.

[catbertz]

Based on history, next unveil is usually a jump forward.

Current rumors, which are taken as such, suggest that the five may have a much stronger chip, possible be the first to upgrade to LTE, wear a new form factor similar to the Air. Less likely, but still rumored...a larger screen.

All signs point beyond a simple iteration.

[antiRepublicrat]

The way Apple goes with the iPhone, then “S” variant, you can be pretty sure the next case will get a redesign. Apple has also started a trend where when the iPad gets a chip, the iPhone gets it next generation. Also, it turns out the Apple TV has a single-core A5, but done in a 32nm process, and that some newer iPad 2s have an A5 on 32nm. LTE is on the new iPad, but it’s still power-hungry and fed with the iPad’s huge battery.

Given all this, expect a redesigned iPhone 5 with at least an A5X on a 32nm process, and maybe with LTE if they acquire a less power-hungry chipset. For the case, rumor is that Apple’s exclusive license of LiquidMetal technology a couple years back, and the hiring of some metallurgy engineers, may finally show in a product.