Many techies are taking issue with the report, “How dirty is your data?”, released by the Amsterdam-based eco-activism group Greenpeace International last week. They object not only to the report’s ungrammatical headline, but to its key assertion that the IT industry, led by such titans as Akamai, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google (News 
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The report centers on the “Cloud,” a range of Internet-based platforms and services that store or deliver data from an online source to a PC, laptop, iPad, or smartphone via a broadband Internet connection. It warns that, not only are the IT companies responsible, but that major sectors of the service economy also are abandoning conventional business and delivery models in favor of online delivery– or digitization.
“Cloud computing is converting our work, finances, health and relationships into invisible data, centralized in out-of-the-way storage facilities or data centers”– often called server farms– according to GreenPeace.
The threat? GreenPeace warns that our tweets, status updates, downloads, and emails have generated 1.2 zettabytes of digital information (1 zettabyte equals 1 trillion gigabytes, or 250 billion DVDs). What’s more, there are 5 billion mobile users worldwide– and that number is estimated to grow tenfold by 2020, as smart devices come online.
“We expect these companies to play a pivotal role in ensuring we move to clean, safe renewable energy system and avoid future disasters like Fukishima,” Gary Cook, Greenpeace IT Policy Analyst, said in a statement. “We think consumers want to know that when they upload a video or change their Facebook (News - Alert) status that they are not contributing to toxic coal ash, global warming, or future Fukishimas.”
GreenPeace’s Cloud Energy Report Card faults many of the IT brands for “perpetuating our addiction to [the] dirty energy technologies of the last two centuries” by “extolling the external effects of IT products and services, while failing to take seriously the need to power this widespread aggregation of the world’s information with clean, renewable electricity.”
Perhaps the “dirtiest” of the ten companies on the list is Apple (News - Alert), which is faulted chiefly for building a $1 billion “iDataCenter” in North Carolina. Apple received the following scores from GreenPeace:
Transparency: C – Although Apple has become increasingly transparent about the environmental footprint and operational performance of its products, especially laptops and iPhones, it has not been as forthcoming on the current or expected impacts of its online products.… Apple does participate in the Carbon Disclosure Project voluntary reporting program.
Infrastructure siting: F – Apple’s decision to locate its iDataCenter in North Carolina, which has an electrical grid among the dirtiest in the country (61 percent, coal; 31 percent, nuclear), indicates a lack of a corporate commitment to clean energy. The fact that the alternative location for Apple’s iDataCenter was Virginia, where electricity also comes from very dirty sources, indicates that, in addition to tax incentives, access to inexpensive energy, regardless of its source, is a key driver in Apple’s site selection.
Mitigation: C – Apple has reported a significant increase in the amount of clean energy it has purchased for its operations in the past two years, and has said that it will continue to buy green power wherever it can be found. However, Apple has not declared a renewable energy or greenhouse gas target to shape this commitment. The massive iDataCenter has estimated electricity demand (at full capacity) as high as triple Apple’s current total reported electricity use, which have an unfortunate impact on Apple’s environmental footprint.
Apple was the top-rated company in GreenPeace’s report two years ago, but has been supplanted by Yahoo! as the company with the cleanest ratings.
On its website, Apple defended its policies, saying “The vast majority of our carbon emissions come from the manufacturing, transportation, use, and recycling of our products. The rest — 3 percent — comes from our facilities.”
Apple said its facilities in Austin, Sacramento, and Ireland are 100 percent powered by renewable energy, but it does not mention the pending North Carolina facility.
While the report has received extensive media coverage, GreenPeace claims that was not the goal, stating, “The real end-game is to influence the choices that companies make about how they source electricity as the cloud grows and data centers expand, which requires more and more power to keep our status updates, tweets, photos, and video streaming live. Better choices are highlighted in the report through examples of major tech brands disclosing carbon or energy data (Akamai (News - Alert)), investing in renewable energy (Google), or setting clear intent to power their infrastructure cleanly (Yahoo!).”
Cheryl Kaften is an accomplished communicator who has written for consumer and corporate audiences. She has worked extensively for MasterCard (News - Alert) Worldwide, Philip Morris USA (Altria), and KPMG, and has consulted for Estee Lauder and the Philadelphia Inquirer Newspapers. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Jennifer Russell
