News/Rumors

Apple: 75% closer to the environment

About 75% of Apple offices around the world, including its headquarters in Cupertino, California, “are fed” from renewable energy sources – the number of “green buildings” is twice more than last year.
Apple reported on its environmental page that the company, like many others today, strives to reduce any adverse impact on the environment.

The new data center in Maiden , North Carolina, is a good example to minimize the impact on the environment. The building is designed so, that the power consumption is reduced to a minimum, as its main sources are solar, wind, hydro and geothermal energy.

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In 2012, the data center was certified by the LEED Platinum under the control of the US Green Building Council. The main aim of  Apple now is the highest use of different renewable energy sources to run the data centers in Maiden . “We want to ensure that 100% of the energy comes from such sources to all our facilities”.
At its California headquarters, the company already uses powerful fuel mechanisms and roofs integrated with solar PV systems. “We also reduced energy consumption by more than 30%, as our occupied territories increased by 12%. In 2012, we managed to increase the share of renewable energy by 12%, while in 2010 it was only 35%. ”
Apple also said, that the recycled plastic, paper, biopolymers and plant-based inks can be used in their new products.

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Apple Devices Banned in San Francisco after Withdrawing from EPEAT

Due to Apple’s last week withdrawing from EPEAT’s list of environmentally friendly products, the San Francisco Department of Environment decided to ban the purchase of Apple’s products for the citizens.

Apple retorted on Tuesday with two powerful reasons: the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool doesn’t have such high standards as Apple in measuring toxins and doesn’t cover smartphones and tablets. Apple’s spokesman, Kristin Huguet told The Loop that

“We also lead the industry by reporting each product’s greenhouse gas emissions on our website, and Apple products are superior in other important environmental areas not measured by EPEAT, such as removal of toxic materials.”

In addition to this, Apple measures also carbon footprints, which are not measured by EPEAT, proving that EPEAT’s certifications are in need for a refresh. Apple’s actions for a friendly environment, such as recycling programs and the use of solar panels, are various and already popular; also, a story describing the company’s environmental footprint and that often gets updated is published on the official web page.

Source: The Loop

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Greenpeace accuses Apple to have the dirtiest cloud on the internet

The environmental organization Greenpeace has already expressed its grief concerning Apple’s data centers but that was only the outset. Yesterday the organization released a report in which big companies as Amazon, Microsoft and Apple on top are charged to use dirty energy to supply their ‘warehouses’, meaning the data centers.

Due to the heavy usage of coal as an energy source, Apple, Amazon and Google were designated as the worst eco offenders among cloud computing.

“Apple right now is falling behind companies like Google and Facebook, who are taking a leadership role on this issue,” said Greenpeace spokesman Dave Pomerantz.

A clean cloud should be powered mostly by renewable energy, and Apple’s new data center from North Carolina as well as those of Amazon and Microsoft, are running mostly on coal provided by Duke Energy, the biggest coal energy supplier in the area. Overall, Apple is the biggest coal consumer, using 55, 1% of coal and only 15, 3% of clean energy, being followed by IBM, Microsoft and Amazon.

On the other hand, Apple disapproves Greenpeace’s blames and claims that their Maiden project is the greenest data center ever built and it is aimed to be supplied with more 60% of renewable energy, as Apple spokesman Kirsten Huguet told in response to the report:

“Our data center in North Carolina will draw about 20 megawatts at full capacity, and we are on track to supply more than 60 percent of that power on-site from renewable sources, including a solar farm and fuel cell installation which will each be the largest of their kind in the country.”

Greenpeace retorted that judging after the size of the facility, Apple’s data center is estimated to consume at least 78MW and only a small percent of the data center’s overall needs will be covered by the renewable energy.

Anyway, the environmental organization is unable of giving accurate explanations, due to the lack of detailed specifications from Apple and Amazon, and with the report “How Clean is your Cloud” it calls on people from all over the world to make a stand.

Source: AllThingsD

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Apple’s green power project in North Carolina, “Project Dolphin”

Education and business are not Apple’s solely interest. The company involved several years ago also in environmental issues and started by eliminating and reducing substances that are harmful for the environment. The glass, plastic and metal were reduced in the manufacturing and the paper and ink in packaging and some other chemical substances were replaced with natural ones, resulting in smart redesigned products that have a small impact on the environment.

Apple’s environmental footprint consists also in recycling programs that includes the development of longer lasting batteries too, and a Facilities program that applies for reducing the water and the energy consumption.

The most recent Facility procedure initiated by Apple has its roots in 2010, when the company built near Maiden, NC an enormous data center. Beside this center a 147 acres surface was cleared and intended for a solar farm, according to Solar Feeds.

Apple’s latest environmental report describes the 100-acre solar array as the nation’s “largest end user-owned, onsite” that will be able of supplying 42 million kWh of renewable energy per year.

This data center is the biggest and, so far, the most significant proof of Apple’s involvement in environmental issues. In 2011 Apple achieved substantial reduction in its facilities impact over the environment by considerably reducing the energy use and the gas emissions.

2011 Energy Consumption

Source: TechCrunch via Apple’s environmental report

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Apple Recycling Program expansion in Europe

Apple International Recycling Program covers worldwide regions like Canada, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India, Japan, Pacific Asia and Australia, Brazil and Costa Rica. In Europe, recycling is available for 31 countries, now that France, Germany and UK joined the campaign. You can browse the site to check the service availability and the particularities for your country.

Generally, as far as I can see things happen, the service works like this: Customers are allowed to bring their used Macs, iPods, iPhones and iPads and if the “product qualifies for reuse” (it’s still valuable according to Apple’s policy) they would get in change, store credit points (10% discount on the purchase of a new product) or an Apple Gift card for the value of their old device. If you don’t have the possibility to get to an  Apple Retail  Store, you can try using the “Recycle via mail” service present on Apple website. The bad thing is that, the items sent by email are not eligible for discounts or compensation and cannot be returned once sent (free recycling – a responsible act for protecting the environment).

So, are you on board the trend of eco-cycling in product lifecycle?