Microsoft has announced a new “strategic partnership” with solar panel giant Qcells. According to the company, the transaction will help Microsoft achieve its goal to further green energy use and become carbon positive.
“Building a resilient solar energy supply chain is essential to advancing a global green energy economy. Microsoft’s partnership with Qcells will help make this vision a reality by bringing innovation and investment to rural Georgia,” says Brad Smith, vice chair and president, Microsoft. “As one of the world’s largest purchasers of renewable energy, this work will help bring more solar energy to the grid, faster.”
This collaboration is happening just as solar energy is becoming harder to source in the US due to supply chain issues. The terms of the partnership will mean Qcells will provide over 2.5 gigawatts of solar panels and services to Microsoft developers.
Microsoft points out this is enough energy to provide power to 400,000 households.
“We’re striving to build and deliver turnkey clean energy solutions, including those made in America, and this partnership with Microsoft will help accomplish this vision,” says Justin Lee, CEO of Qcells. “Similarly, Qcells is proud to play a role with Microsoft to bring more renewable energy online in the years to come. This first step is only the beginning of a great partnership that not only supports our two companies but helps deliver a clean energy future for customers and communities.”
Microsoft Climate Goals
In March last year, As You Sow rated Microsoft as the best tech company for meeting its environmental goals.
Microsoft’s goals are better than tech rivals like Google, Apple, and Amazon, but also other global companies. In fact, Microsoft is even ahead of perceived champions of green energy such as EV leader Tesla.
The company plans to reduce emissions to become carbon negative by 2030. The decision followed a 2017 commitment to cut 75% of its carbon emissions by the same date and builds on 2019 revisions of 70% renewable energy by 2023.
Tip of the day: The Windows Clipboard history feature provides the functionality across device, space, and time, letting you copy on one computer and paste the text days later on a different PC. All of it is possible via the Windows 10 clipboard manager, which lets you view, delete, pin, and clear clipboard history at will.
In our tutorial we show you how to enable the feature, clear clipboard history, and enable/disable clipboard sync to meet your preferences. You can also create a clear clipboard shortcut for quick removal of stored content.MI
