Apple Keeps Promise to Power Cloud with 100% Renewable Energy with New Solar Farm

Silicon Valley tech giant Apple has announced plans to build yet another multi-million dollar solar energy farm in Claremont, North Carolina. The farm, expected to cost the company $55 million, will take up 100 acres and generate 17.5 megawatts of energy per day, as reported by Silicon Valley Business Journal. That's enough energy to power the average American home for a year and a half. This is the third such installation for Apple.


Server Farms Contribute to the Digital World's Growing Carbon Footprint
It's all part of Apple's plan to reduce its dependence on non-renewable fuels, along with its role in climate change. The large data centers lined with computer racks and countless computer systems used by Apple to power its cloud storage services and iTunes multimedia store use as much energy as small cities, and without being fed clean energy from Apple's solar farms, would produce a similar amount of pollution in the form of burnt fossil fuels. Apple needs to not only power their computer racks, but the air conditioning systems that control the climate and keep their servers running properly.


According to a report from TIME, even the cleanest burning tech facilities relying on traditional fuel sources, like the Bank of America Tower in New York City, use an unbelievable amount of energy to keep their server rack enclosures, server rack cooling systems, and other hardware running around the clock. In a single year, five computer systems used by these types of businesses burn through enough energy to power a 25-mile-per-gallon automobile for more than 4,000 miles. Not wanting to be a part of the problem any longer, Apple has pledged that it will keep the computer racks powering its cloud and media services fueled by 100% renewable energy.


Apple Moves Beyond Amazon, Google for Renewable Supremacy
The problem for Apple has been that every time it reaches that 100% level, its services become more popular; in other words, the company is a victim of its own success. Currently, its iTunes service hosts over 26 million songs, accessible to the service's 500 million users. Needless to say, the infrastructure required to handle so much data is immense and requires a lot of energy.


With the new solar farm in North Carolina, Apple will have more energy than it needs, at least for a short time, to fuel both its cloud and iTunes services. According to Greenpeace, Apple's latest eco-conscious move puts it far ahead of Amazon, Google, and the other big names in the digital multimedia sphere where overall usage of green energies is concerned.


Do you think more businesses should follow suit and power their computer racks with dedicated solar farms? Share your opinions -- respectfully -- in the comments below.