"The most important thing, is keeping up appearances"

That hypothetical quote by Jobsy (that I just made up) seems more appropriate than ever now.

While one must take anything from Greenpeace, who sometimes has their own issues with skewing and honesty, with a grain of salt, they do have a point about the data centers behind the scenes (he says while he types this on a google-hosted, data center driven blogging format). More full disclosure, Greenpeace does have a history of attempting to publicly scorn Apple. Having said all that, nothing bothers me more than lip service. An example of putting on a clean face while just polluting exponentially more can easily be summed up in this fantastic article by (iPhone user) Sir Jeremy Clarkson* about the Honda Insight Hybrid. Yes I know Apple doesn't make cars, nor is the same company as Honda, but the point is the same. Its not cleaner if you just move pollution and waste from one pile to another (possibly worse) pile.

Greenpeace has named (in their own closed system polls) Apple the "least green" tech company. This is mostly due to Apple's use of Coal-powered (at the power plants) data centers, not the products themselves. The whole reason that I'm annoyed by this is the hypocrisy element of Apple's website, referring to exactly this subject, their Green credentials. Nowhere is the word coal (or North Carolina) even mentioned. If you're going to tell people about what goes on behind the scenes, how about being honest?

Energy use.
Apple reduces energy use in our facilities in a number of ways. Currently, our facilities in Austin, Texas, Sacramento, California, and Cork, Ireland, are 100 percent powered by renewable energy — eliminating 19,200 metric tons of CO2e emissions. In addition, Apple has been installing state-of-the-art digital controls, high-efficiency mechanical equipment, and monitoring technology for years, and we continue to investigate even better ways to run our facilities more efficiently. Of course, we use energy-efficient Apple computers in all our facilities.

Sources -> http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/21/apple-least-green-tech-company & http://www.apple.com/ & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ManBearPig

Source -> http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/bod.html

                   
                           





So I guess this isn't a surprise then ->



*No knighthood yet, but its coming**....
**I also have no evidence of that