"Apple's announcement today is a great sign that the firm is taking seriously the hundreds of thousands of its customers who have asked for an iCloud powered by clean energy, not dirty coal," said Greenpeace International senior IT analyst Gary Cook. "Apple's doubling of its solar capacity and investment in local renewable energy are key steps to creating a cleaner iCloud."

Additional reporting by IDG News Service staff

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Greenpeace: Datacenter owners misuse PUE

Some companies increasingly misuse PUE (power usage effectiveness) to give an impression of running green datacenters, said Greenpeace in its "How Clean is Your Cloud" report.