Apple Takes a Bite Out of Energy Costs at Green Data Center

Apple made news on the green front last month with the announcement that its 500,000-square-foot data center in Maiden, N.C., earned LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council and that it's building a large solar array to supply 42 million kWh annually. Apple says the 100-acre, 20MW solar array will be the “nation's largest end-user-owned, onsite solar array.” In a facilities report on the data center, Apple said it's also building a fuel cell installation that when it comes online later in 2012, “will be the largest non-utility fuel cell installation operating anywhere in the country.” Apple says the 5MW fuel-cell facility, located adjacent to the data center, will be powered by 100 percent biogas, and provide more than 40 million kWh of 24x7 baseload renewable energy annually.