“Apple’s executives have thus far ignored the hundreds of thousands of people asking them to use their influence for good by building a cloud powered by renewable energy,” Greenpeace USA Executive Director Phil Radford said. “As Apple’s customers, we love our iPhones and iPads, but we don’t want to use an iCloud fueled by the smog of dirty coal pollution.”
The activists used a high-tech laser projector to post the messages and live-streamed the action back to supporters around the world, who watched as their requests of Apple were spelled out in real time on the company’s wall.
Over 215,000 people have signed the Clean Our Cloud petition asking Apple to power its iCloud with clean energy since Greenpeace International launched its campaign last month.
Greenpeace International’s recent report, “How Clean is Your Cloud?” evaluated fourteen IT companies based on key elements needed to build a clean cloud, including the electricity supply chain of over 80 data centres (2). The report found that Google and Yahoo are showing commitment to clean energy while Apple, Amazon and Microsoft rely on outdated coal and nuclear energy to deliver their clouds.
Apple has made a limited investment in renewable energy to provide a part of the current power for its data centre in North Carolina, but as the facility expands and outgrows this supply, more and more electricity will be provided by coal-fired power plants from Duke Energy (3).
“For a company known for its innovation, Apple is being left in the dust by companies like Facebook, Google and Yahoo, all of whom have taken steps and adopted policies to ensure that their clouds are increasingly powered by clean energy,” Greenpeace International IT Analyst Casey Harrell said.
Contact:
Cupertino: David Pomerantz, Greenpeace International Media Officer, dpomeran[at]greenpeace.org, +001-914-584-9054
Cupertino: Gary Cook, Greenpeace International Senior Policy Analyst, gacook[at]greenpeace.org, +001-202-297-2370
Cupertino: Molly Dorozenski, Greenpeace USA Media Director, mdorozen[at]greenpeace.org
Cupertino: Casey Harrell, Greenpeace International IT Analyst, casey.harrell[at]greenpeace.org, +001-415-307-3382
Photos will be available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/greenpeaceusa09/sets/72157629442797226/. For high-resolution photos, contact Alex Yallop, ayallop[at]greenpeace.org, +31 (0) 624 94 19 65
Follow livestream at: http://livestre.am/vOxG
To follow the action, follow #cleancloud on Twitter, and visit http://www.facebook.com/CleanOurCloud on Facebook.
- For more information on the Greenpeace campaign to power the cloud with renewable energy, visit http://www.cleanourcloud.com
- http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/publications/Campaign-reports/Climate-Reports/How-Clean-is-Your-Cloud/
- http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/apple-come-clean-about-your-coal-problem-then/blog/40221/