It declined to participate in the Carbon Disclosure Projects Global 500 survey. Although Apple joins Akamai ( NAS: AKAM ) and eBay ( NAS: EBAY ) in disclosing greenhouse-gas emissions for data centers, Apple also relies on much-maligned coal for the majority of power in its North Carolina data center. In fact, Apple's deal with Duke Energy ( NYS: DUK ) to run its data centers on a combination of coal and nuclear power led Greenpeace to name Apple the "least green" tech company earlier this year. Google ( NAS: GOOG ), on the other hand, is making great strides in this area; Greenpeace lauded Google and Yahoo! ( NAS: YHOO ) as tops in its clean tech index. Beyond brains and beauty One of Apple's special and rather mystifying superpowers is its ability to protect its brand from the "corporate bad guy" reputation.