Is Apple “The Least Green?”

Apple’s huge data center in North Carolina has attracted attention of Greenpeace. Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple have gone under the scrutiny of Greenpeace in a recent report which evaluates the companies’ transparency in energy usage, the decisions that go into choosing a location and how those facilities are powered, and willingness to correct and pursue green technologies.

Apple’s decision to locate its iDataCenter in North Carolina, which has an electrical grid among the dirtiest in the country (61% coal, 31% nuclear), indicates a lack of a corporate commitment to clean energy supply for its cloud operations. The fact that the alternative location for Apple’s iDataCenter was Virginia46, where electricity is also comes from very dirty sources, is an indication that, in add it onto tax incentives, access to inexpensive energy, regardless of its source, is a key driver in Apple’s site selection.

And these facts are true. Apple is known to receive $46 million in tax breaks, 85% cut in property taxes and a 50% slash in real estate taxes. Apple’s Clean Energy Index scores a paltry 6.7%. Moreover Apple hasn’t set any renewable energy to further a transition to renewable energy sources.