Greenpeace and NC WARN, a Durham advocacy group, attacked Duke Energy’s environmental record Wednesday in a full-page Observer ad the day before Duke’s annual shareholder meeting.

The N.C. Utilities Commission on Wednesday approved a 4.8-megawatt fuel cell generating station, the nation’s largest private installation, at Apple’s $1 billion data center in Maiden. Fuel cells convert the chemical energy of a fuel, usually hydrogen, into electricity through a chemical reaction. Apple’s 24 cells will run on hydrogen extracted from natural gas. Apple will sell the electricity generated to Duke Energy, the commission order says. The utilities commission approved a 20-megawatt solar farm for Apple’s Maiden complex last week. Apple followed that by announcing it would build a second solar farm of the same size. Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/05/23/3262888/briefly.html#storylink=cpy