Apple, which once drew fire from campaigners for working conditions in China and heavy reliance on fossil fuels, is now leading other technology companies in controlling its own power supply and expanding its use of renewable energy, The Guardian reports.

The job of polishing Apple to a brighter green belongs to former EPA Administrator (and NJDEP Commissioner) Lisa Jackson who is "leading the effort to shrink Apple’s carbon footprint — and make sure customers realize the company is doing its bit to decarbonize its products and the internet."

The Guardian’s Suzanne Goldenberg writes:

"Data centers require huge loads of electricity to maintain climatic conditions and run the servers carrying out billions of electronic transactions every day.

"Apple has constructed two solar farms to service its data center in Maiden, NC and is working on a third. It also operates fuel cells, running on biogas pumped in from a landfill. All of the power generated on-site is fed into the electricity grid.

"With Apple’s solar farm, customers could now be confident that downloading an app or video-chatting a friend would not increase carbon pollution, Jackson said.

“If you are using your iPhone, iPad, Siri or downloading a song, you don’t have to worry if you are contributing to the climate change problem in the world because Apple has already thought about that for you. We’ve taken care of that. We’re using clean energy.”

Check out the Climate Desk video above and read the entire Guardian story here.

Related energy and environment stories:
Apple Widens Its Solar Energy Footprint – Renewable Energy World
Apple Solar Frenzy: Benefiting Shareholders And The World Alike (AAPL) – Seeking Alpha