Apple has confirmed it is using fuel cells from Bloom Energy, which consume methane generated by rotting waste in landfills, to power a data centre. The iPhone maker has also promised its next data centre will be “100 percent” powered by renewable energy.
Apple’s data centre in Maiden, North Carolina has a large solar array and the firm is planning to use fuel cells there. These cells will come from Bloom Energy, the startup which is pitching its fuel cell “Bloom boxes” as a renewable source of data centre power independent of the grid.
Landfills were named as a good source of methane in a recent Microsoft report which suggested data centres should be co-located with landfills or sites where agriculatural waste is processed to produce methane.
That idea has been put into practice by Infinity, which announced the availability of data centre space powered by biogas-fuelled electricity, at its Martlesham site on the former RAF Bentwaters.
Apple has also confirmed rumours that it will build another new data centre, this time in Prineville, Oregon. However, Facebook risked the wrath of Greenpeace for using a mix of “dirty power” from coal and nuclear, p[rovided by local utility PacfiCorp.
Apple has promised its Prineville plant will use only renewable power. The company has given no details on how this will be done, although more biogas seems likely. It has said the data centre will cost $250 million (£154 million), and involve paying $150,000 a year to the local government, in return for a fifteen year property tax exemption.
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The first sentence of this article is erroneous. Fuel cells do not burn fuel, they produce electricity through an electrochecmical reaction.
Thanks. I was using the word "burn" in a kind of general sense meaning oxidation (the way people talk about bodies burning calories for instance).
It could cause confusion I guess, so it now says "consume"
Peter Judge
Apple > Patents -complete patents list of AAPL http://bit.ly/IBcad0
I was just reading an article earlier today ( http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=5750) which pointed out that in 2011 78% of electricity in Oregon was generated by renewable energy (including hydro-electric) It hardly seems fair to call Oregon's electricity a dirty mix of coal and nuclear.
Thanks gordon. The criticism against Facebook is for the use of electricity from PacifiCorp, which apparently uses a lot of coal-fired generation.
It will be interesting to see what electricity is actually available to Apple on this site.
Peter