Greenpeace Activists Protest at Apple's Irish Offices over Data Center Energy Use

As documented by Corkipedia, four Greenpeace activists climbed to the roof of Apple's offices in Cork, Ireland today, posting signage and distributing leaflets in an attempt to push Apple to adopt cleaner energy sources for its data centers. The protest, which lasted approximately an hour, came a day after Greenpeace blasted Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft for relying heavily on dirty coal power for their data centers.

greenpeace cloud protest ireland
It appears, however, that Greenpeace's assessment of Apple's energy use was based on flawed assumptions, and Apple stands by its claims that its new data center in Maiden, North Carolina and a forthcoming one in Prineville, Oregon will be among the cleanest in the world.

Greenpeace estimated that the Maiden facility would require 100 megawatts of power at peak capacity, claiming that Apple's proposed solar and fuel cell facilities at the plant would provide only 10% of the center's energy needs. The group's report also appears to assume that the Prineville facility will run on dirty power sources, and those two assumptions were combined to give Apple a low "clean energy index" score of 15.3% and estimate Apple's share of data center power usage derived from coal at an industry-high 55%.

Apple quickly responded to the Greenpeace report, issuing statements to several media outlets claiming that the Maiden data center requires only 20 megawatts of power at peak capacity and that the renewable energy sources being built at the site will provide at least 60% of the center's power needs. In addition, Apple notes that the Prineville data center is planned to run on 100% renewable energy.

“Our data center in North Carolina will draw about 20 megawatts at full capacity, and we are on track to supply more than 60% of that power on-site from renewable sources including a solar farm and fuel cell installation which will each be the largest of their kind in the country,” Apple said in a statement. “We believe this industry-leading project will make Maiden the greenest data center ever built, and it will be joined next year by our new facility in Oregon running on 100% renewable energy.”

For its part, Greenpeace believes that Apple is continuing to obfuscate its energy numbers and release only those that make the company appear in a positive light. And so despite Apple's claims regarding significant efforts to minimize the impact of its data centers on the environment, Greenpeace believes that the company should be doing more to publicly lead the way toward further adoption of renewable energy sources.

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Releases iOS 18.4 With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music, New Emoji and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:03 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, the fourth major updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating system updates that came out last year. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 come two months after Apple released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to...
iOS 19 Mock WWDC25 Feature

iOS 19 Expected to Run on These iPhones

Monday March 31, 2025 5:28 pm PDT by
iOS 19 will not be available on the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or the iPhone XS Max, according a private account on social media site X that has accurately provided information on device compatibility in the past. The iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max all have an A12 Bionic chip, so it looks like iOS 19 will discontinue support for that chip. All other iPhones that run iOS 18 are expected...
iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Monday March 31, 2025 11:27 am PDT by
Apple today released new firmware updates for all AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 models. The new firmware is version 7E93, up from the 7B21 firmware that was installed on the AirPods Pro 2 and the 7B20 firmware available on the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC. It is not immediately clear what new features or changes are included in the new firmware, but we'll update this article should we find ...
top stories 2025 03 29

Top Stories: WWDC 2025 Announced, iPhone 17 Pro and iOS 19 Rumors, and More

Saturday March 29, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
Apple's big developer event is a little over two months away, and rumors about what we can expect to see in Apple's next major operating system updates are becoming increasingly frequent. A public release of iOS 18.4 is also imminent with a number of updates and improvements, although we won't be getting the major Apple Intelligence Siri upgrades that had reportedly been planned for this...
macOS Sequoia Feature

Apple Releases macOS Sequoia 15.4 With Mail Categorization and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:04 am PDT by
Apple today released macOS Sequoia 15.4, the fourth major update to the macOS Sequoia operating system that launched in September. macOS Sequoia 15.4 comes two months after the launch of macOS Sequoia 15.3. Mac users can download the ‌‌macOS Sequoia‌‌ update through the Software Update section of System Settings. It is available for free on all Macs able to run macOS 15. With...
iOS 19 visionOS UI Elements

Apple Codename Provides Clue About iOS 19's Rumored New Design

Sunday March 30, 2025 6:40 am PDT by
Multiple sources have claimed that iOS 19 will introduce a new design with more translucent buttons, menus, notification banners, and more, and there is now another clue that points towards this glass-like appearance. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said the new design project is codenamed "Solarium" internally. A solarium is a room with glass walls that allow in plenty of sunlight, so this...
watchOS 11 Thumb 2 1

Apple Releases watchOS 11.4 With Sleep Alarm Update

Tuesday April 1, 2025 10:34 am PDT by
Apple today released watchOS 11.4, the fourth major update to the operating system that runs on the Apple Watch. watchOS 11.4 is compatible with the Apple Watch Series 6 and later, all Apple Watch Ultra models, and the Apple Watch SE 2. watchOS 11.4 can be downloaded on a connected iPhone by opening up the Apple Watch app and going to General > Software Update. To install the new software,...

Top Rated Comments

Will do good Avatar
169 months ago
Green Peace is a joke. They have lost all credibility long ago. :(
Score: 76 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ristlin Avatar
169 months ago


"Apple uses 100 megawatts of power." - Greenpeace

"We actually use 20 megawatts..." - Apple

"You're wrong, look it up." - Greenpeace

"Here are the numbers, look." - Apple

"No, you're wrong." - Greenpeace

"And it only uses 40% of non-renewable energy." - Apple

"No." - Greenpeace

"And the data center--" - Apple

"No, no." - Greenpeace

"--you are protesting--" -Apple

"No, no, no!" - Greenpeace

"--at uses 100% renewables!" -Apple

"No, no, no, no. Yeeawwwwwww!" - Greenpeace
Score: 56 Votes (Like | Disagree)
hobo.hopkins Avatar
169 months ago
And this is why nobody cares about Greenpeace any longer: too fanatical and not rational.
Score: 48 Votes (Like | Disagree)
reallynotnick Avatar
169 months ago
I used to kind of respect Greenpeace but over time they have proved to be complete idiots.
Score: 45 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Dragado Avatar
169 months ago
Datacenters are green. Massive servers that replace thousands of servers that would be required otherwise... It's like mass transit. The thing itself uses a massive amount of juice, but the alternative is far worse. I suppose it's just short-sightedness on their part?
Score: 42 Votes (Like | Disagree)
miles01110 Avatar
169 months ago
For its part, Greenpeace believes that every company in the world is continuing to obfuscate its energy numbers and release only those that make the company appear in a positive light.

Fixed that for them...
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)