A look inside Apple’s secretive North Carolina data center

Apple has given NBC’s “Today” show a rare look inside its North Carolina data center, focusing particularly on the data center’s pioneering use of renewable energy. NBC chief environmental correspondent Anne Thompson took a brief tour of the data center, and the footage definitely makes for interesting viewing. As a reminder, Apple’s “totally green” North Carolina data center is confirmed to be expanding its premises, and was also the subject of praise from Greenpeace earlier this year. 

Having turned over a new leaf when it comes sustainability, Apple is rightly proud. So proud, in fact, that it made the surprisingly un-Apple move of opening the doors of its North Carolina data center to NBC’s show, to shine a focus on the building’s pioneering use of renewable energy. Having previously scored dead last in a Greenpeace report on environmentally-friendly data centers, Apple has been dedicated to clearing up its act these past few years. It seems to have paid off, too. In a recent report on renewable energy used by major Internet companies, Apple scored a tippy-top 100% thanks to the wind farms and solar arrays that mean its data centers run on 100% renewable energy.