Apple Building Solar Farm In North Carolina 172
jfruhlinger writes "Apple's North Carolina data center will, it appears, be turning greener: the company is building a dedicated solar farm to power it. That would be a welcome turnaround for proponents of green energy, as Apple was lured to North Carolina in part by the promise of cheap electricity from coal-fired plants."
If only Apple set up further south... (Score:2, Insightful)
The amount of incoming solar radiation increases significantly the closer to the equator you are.
I live in Toronto, Canada, and not long ago the provincial government here made a big deal about setting up a solar array here (of course, with a significant govt subsidy).
A critic pointed out how much cheaper it would have been to buy land in Texas, set up a solar array, and send the power back (despite losses in transmission).
But then the govt wouldn't have had the nice photo-op...
Re:Ho ho ho. (Score:3, Insightful)
Construction and implementation+maintenance = loss.
( Making green-friendly people happy = increase in sales ) + ridiculous government subsidies for installing solar = profit increase.
FTFY
Re:Ho ho ho. (Score:3, Insightful)
( Making green-friendly people happy = increase in sales ) + ridiculous government subsidies for installing solar = profit increase.
"Ridiculous" is just you editorializing. AFAICT the subsidies are working exactly as intended: by encouraging the adoption of solar power, they grow the solar power market, increase the economies of scale for panel production, and bring the prices down quicker so that soon we'll have solar power that's cheap enough that subsidies are no longer necessary.
You may or may not have noticed that solar panel prices decreased by 50% last year [wbur.org], and the market grew by 70%. Coincidence? Perhaps, but I don't think so.