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Cheap TVA electricity.

Actually, they are located close to McGuire nuclear power plant (owned by Duke Energy), and near 4 major hydroelectric dams on the Yadkin River that create High Rock Lake, Tuckertown, Badin Lake (Narrows) and Falls lake, which are managed/quazi-owned by Alcoa. Alcoa doesn't make aluminum here anymore, so they have power to sell, and usually do during peak time. There are also a number of coal and natural gas plants nearby. I live about 70 miles from the new data center, and was somewhat surprised that they put it in such a low density area, until I realized how much power capacity is nearby. TVA isn't really a factor in this part of the country, as I believe all the hydro power around here is privately owned.

Electricity usage in NC is way down, due to all the textile and furniture manufacturing moving to China and India, plus all the aluminum manufacturing is now gone. Those industries were typically BIG consumers of electricity. My understanding is that all the power plants in this region are running well below their peak output, so we literally have more than we know what to do with here. I would imagine that electricity is damn cheap for Apple to buy in bulk, which is a major portion of their expenses.

Also, it doesn't hurt that NC is located somewhat in the center of the eastern USA, and 2/3rds of the population lives east of the Mississippi river, so it is actually a good location, geographically. The rather new Dell plant near Winston-Salem was just shut down (moved to Mexico), and there has been rumors of Apple buying it for manufacturing as well. There are lots of good reasons that would make sense, since the state spent MILLIONS in new infrastructure to the plant just a few years ago, and the workforce around here is generally good with a manufacturing history, AND both UPS and FedEx have major hubs about 30 minutes away at GSO. Would love to see that happen, only because we need the jobs with over 10% unemployment here.

Many large energy users (Alcoa for example) trade energy options and futures. Since Congress closed the Enron Loophole, its not as much of a problem as when its namesake exploited it.

One good reason is that aluminum is a limited resource. Although there's lots of it around, current estimates show that it will only last for about 200 more years ( source).

I don't have a copy of that book, so can't read it in context, but I still have to call bullshit on this.

Aluminum (Aluminium for you Brits) is the most abundant metal in the Earth's crust. While smelting it is energy intensive, recycling it is significantly less so. There is so much that has already been used, and available for recycling, I can't see us running out in the next couple of centuries, if ever.

so you're saying iceland is a good place for a data center? i heard that with the geothermal energy that's been deployed there that aluminum smelting plant was popular there.
http://www.alcoa.com/iceland/en/news/releases.asp

just because there is cheap electricity doesn't mean it's a good place to put a data center.

as a matter of fact, i seem to recall that America's aluminum industry is loosing out to foreign competition, because of various renewable energy sources that are just beginning to be taped. Since hydro-electric and geothermal plants produce energy more cheaply even than atomic energy, there has been a big shift to where aluminum is being made based on availability of renewable energy. most of America's big hydroelectric sites are tapped, and there aren't many geothermal sites available.

I'm sorry, but Reynolds tin foil isn't really an option anymore, because they use aluminum alloy (look at the bottom of the FAQ). It isn't even pure aluminum anymore! It's getting harder and harder to find a genuine tin foil manufacturer. It's a conspiracy, I tell you!

Just as an example of the complexity of each box in that graph: I found a description of the hydrofluoric acid leach process here (page 39 in the pdf, page 33 in the paper):

"Laboratory investigations using HF acid to dissolve and react with lunar soil at low temperatures (110 C) to produce mixed metal fluorides and water have been performed by R. Waldron of Rockwell International (Waldron 1985). Although fluorination of all lunar oxides appears possible, many complex operations are required to separate the metal fluorides and to recover the HF reagent. The process, as proposed by Waldron, utilizes 78 process modules, excluding external support systems. Sodium is used to reduce aluminum fluoride for aluminum production. Iron can be obtained through electrolysis of iron fluorosilicate and magnesium can be obtained through reduction by silicon and calcium oxide."

Even that, though is a gross simplification. Just saying "reduce X with electrolysis" doesn't give an idea of the complexity. For example, here's how you reduce aluminum by electrolysis. Now trace back all of those consumables...

Good news for you! There is a quick and low cost case mod you can do to get that aluminum-y goodness on a non-pro macbook.

I can't understand why you alarmist types would be trying to obfuscate the clearly valid factoids and overall truthiness of the article by demanding to see things like "sources" and "citations".

Why, the fact that this post contains copious amounts of capitalized letters, many exclamation points, and a passionate cry for understanding should indeed be enough to satisfy the most critical eye and quiet the nay-sayers.

Indeed, my dedicated team of scienceologists PERSONALLY assure me that aluminum is completely harmless with regards to Alzheimer's Disease. Why, I've been an active consumer of all things aluminum - from travelling in airplanes to drinking sodas from aluminum cans to keeping myself sweat-free at important board meetings with antiperspirant - for many years and I'm quite sure I'd remember if my doctor told me I was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

So fear not gentle consumer! Continue to enjoy your favourite metal in peace and don't let this speculation about the alleged "truth" of the post above weigh heavily on your mind.

That is all.

• You feel slightly warmer than is normal.
  
• Your food seems to be cooking itself.
  
• Metal objects in your house give off sparks for no good reason.
  
• Your coffee remins hot for a very long time.
  
• Your beer remains cold for a very short time.
  
• All your CDs are covered with tiny cracks and will no longer play.
  
• Your house pets smell delicious.
  

In other news, Alcoa (AA - NYSE) is reporting earnings as a result of skyrocketing sales of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil.

Maybe they should have made the siding a bit more in line with homeowners requirements, like these guys do:
http://www.alcoa.com/alcoahomes/Content/Siding.asp x

"This is a classic case of a highly concentrated industry becoming even more concentrated."

Gee, the good ol days, when the DOJ gave a damn.

"But who's laughing now?"

The Alcoa Corporation, makers of Reynolds Wrap.

Think again. One of the United State's largest manfacturers of aluminum products is Alcoa. They are [and their subsidiaries] also a military subcontractor. Your purchase would probably invite investigation. Now see, if you'd just been buying a little extra every week since before Y2K, you'd have enough to make an aluminum suit for you and your car for every day of the week.

Not to be a dick or anything, but Alcoa owns Reynolds.

It's a bit like the old electric-car model--you get home, plug your car into some box in the back of the garage, turn out the lights, and leave it alone. Next morning, it's all ready to go. Only, instead of the 90 or so miles that people were getting out of electric cars, you'd have a few hundred. I personally like the idea, although I wonder whether everyone generating H2 at home is really as efficient as making it all at once in a cracking tower and then distributing it in pure form.

The whole discussion about making Hydrogen reminds me of another technology from a while back that consumed huge amounts of power--aluminium refining. Getting metallic Al out of oxides requires high temperatures which are generally obtained by running vast electric currents through the ore. Back in the 40s and 50s, there wasn't the infrastructure to deliver this kind of power to the factories economically, nor the generating capacity. So, companies like ALCOA signed contracts saying they would buy a certain amount of power at a fixed rate, if a hydroelectric station were built--with the aluminium refineries right next door. This is how a bunch of big hydro stations were financed/built, and although you can argue about the environmental impact of them, they work and are a lot less obnoxious than coal-fired plants.

The point I'm trying to make is that, instead of concentrating on how to bring the power to the hydrogen refineries, it is also possible to bring the hydrogen refinery to wherever you have a good source of power, like ALCOA did with the hydro dams. For example, Iceland has geothermal power--maybe they want to get into the business.

Yeah, but look at the front page of www.alcoa.com! You'll see "Reynolds Wrap" right there. Alcoa's taken over everything!

I was gonna say they were aluminati as opposed to illuminati (there's a difference, believe you me!), but then I saw Alcoa's corporate logo, and realized that it's nothing more than a stylized eye-in-the-pyramid.

Then I went to the Reynolds site. The aluminum starts out in Hot Springs, Arkanasa (Bill Clinton's home state!) Then, according to the site, the 30,000-pound aluminum coils that make Reynolds Wrap are turned into aluminum foil in two locations: Louisville, Kentucky and Richmond, Virginia. That's right! Richmond, VA! A stone's throw from CIA headquarters in Langley!

All that's left is to explain what the CIA is doing in fnord Louisville. It's all a conspiracy, I tell you, all a conspiracy! A great big giant conspir$^&}}!{!NO CARRIER.

From Alcoa's own site is this bit of history:

In 1907, however, when the company first used the metal in its name, it was "The Aluminum Company of America," with the new American spelling. This coincided with the emergence of the Americanized name in public usage.

...ya learn something useless every day.