All Apple Operations Now Powered By 100% Renewable Energy

Apple, the world’s largest information technology company, now runs on 100% green energy. As part of Apple’s commitment to combat climate change and create a healthier environment, the company, headquartered in Cupertino, California, announced in April 2018 that its global facilities are powered with 100% clean energy.

This extraordinary achievement also includes retail stores, offices, data centers and co-located facilities in 43 countries — including the United States, the United Kingdom, China and India.

“We’re committed to leaving the world better than we found it. After years of hard work we’re proud to have reached this significant milestone,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

“We’re going to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible with the materials in our products, the way we recycle them, our facilities and our work with suppliers to establish new creative and forward-looking sources of renewable energy because we know the future depends on it.”

Apple’s new headquarters in Cupertino is powered by 100 percent renewable energy, in part from a 17-megawatt onsite rooftop solar installation.

Apple supplier commitments

Additionally, Apple also announced nine more manufacturing partners have made commitments to power all of their Apple production with 100 percent clean energy. This brings the total number of supplier commitments to 23.

In total, Apple has 200 suppliers, so there is still a wide expanse of industry tied with Apple that isn’t really living up to the standards they’ve set for themselves. However, they have been making strides to cover their production in other ways, besides power generation. To offset their emissions production, Apple has built facilities. For instance, Apple has built 485 megawatts of wind and solar projects in China, because they rely on so much of their production there. They also protect and manage sustainable forests to cover the paper packaging used in the assembly line, which is all either recycled or sustainably sourced, in both China and the US.

Ibiden, a component supplier outside Nagoya, Japan, maintains a floating solar photovoltaic facility to power 100 percent of its manufacturing.

By taking responsibility for what their production line’s effect on the planet, a company of Apple’s scale can surely make a huge dent in their carbon footprint. This move also places the company firmly in favor of renewable energy and sets an example for many in the industry.

Apple’s Renewable Energy Projects

According to Apple, the company, along with its partners is building new renewable energy projects around the world, improving the energy options for local communities, states and even entire countries.

In China, solar panels are mounted high off the ground to let sunlight shine through, so grass can grow — and local yaks can eat it.

“Apple creates or develops, with utilities, new regional renewable energy projects that would not otherwise exist. These projects represent a diverse range of energy sources, including solar arrays and wind farms as well as emerging technologies like biogas fuel cells, micro-hydro generation systems and energy storage technologies,” Apple website outlines.

“Apple currently has 25 operational renewable energy projects around the world, totaling 626 megawatts of generation capacity, with 286 megawatts of solar PV generation coming online in 2017, its most ever in one year. It also has 15 more projects in construction. Once built, over 1.4 gigawatts of clean renewable energy generation will be spread across 11 countries.”