Environmental watchdog Greenpeace has lambasted Apple for damaging the environment by failing to use clean power.

In its report, titled "How dirty is your data?", Greenpeace accuses Apple of depending heavily on pollution inducing coal power for running its huge data centers.

The report highlights Apple’s $1 billion investment in its Maiden data center in North California. According to estimates, the new North California facility will triple the company’s electricity demand.

North California has been described as the “dirty data triangle” as it is being polluted by three tech giants, viz. Apple, Web search giant Google and popular social-networking site Facebook.

Describing the bleak condition, the report states, "Apple’s decision to locate its iDataCenter in North Carolina, which has an electrical grid among the dirtiest in the country, indicates a lack of a corporate commitment to clean energy supply for its cloud operations.”

The environmental group's "Clean Cloud Power Report Card" gives Apple grade 'C' for Transparency, 'C' for Mitigation Strategy and 'F' for instrastructure Siting.

The authors of the report says that Internet demand the growing amount of energy but the secrecy in the IT industry makes it difficult to know how it is affecting the world.