Apple Highlights Environmental Responsibility in 2015 Progress Report

[MacRumors]

Apple on Monday shared its 2015 Environmental Responsibility Report that reflects on the company's environmental progress during the 2014 fiscal year. The report focuses on Apple's commitment to climate change, renewable resources, finite resources, and toxins, and outlines the company's 2014 carbon footprint and other usage information.

Apple's latest environmental progress report highlights that 100% of its U.S. operations and 87% of its global operations are run on renewable energy. Apple emitted 34.2 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions during the 2014 fiscal year, with 24.8 million metric tons resulting from manufacturing, 7 million metric tons coming from product usage, and the rest divided between facilities, transportation, and recycling.

Apple has recycling programs in 99% of the countries it operates, recovering 40,396 metric tons of steel and other metals, glass, aluminum, plastics and other materials for reuse in 2014. Apple will also be recycling over 95% of materials from existing buildings for use in Apple Campus 2, and the new headquarters will use 30% less energy than a traditional R&D office building.

Apple's 40-megawatt solar farm in Hongyuan, China​

Apple has also uploaded a new video to its YouTube channel called "Better Starts Here" that promotes the company's environmental responsibility throughout its supply chain, data centers and other worldwide operations. Apple emphasizes how it plans to leave the world better than it found it by using renewable energy sources such as hydro power, solar farms and wind turbines, committing to forest preservation, creating energy efficient devices and more.

"Apple's commitment to the environment starts from the ground up. We strive to create not only the best products in the world, but the best products for the world. And over the past year, we've made significant progress through projects that focus on renewable energy and forest preservation. Learn how we are leaving the world better than we found it."

Apple emphasizes its recent partnerships with The Conservation Fund and SunPower Corporation to build two solar plants in China and work to protect forests and paper supplies respectively as part of its environmental commitment. The initiatives are led by Apple's VP of Environmental Initiatives Lisa Jackson to ensure that Apple's supply chain remains sustainable in the future.

Article Link: Apple Highlights Environmental Responsibility in 2015 Progress Report

 

[joelisfar]

I liked Better better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdeVaT-zZt4

 

[Nick A]

Apple really is the king of marketing..

 

[Crosscreek]

PR stuff is crap. They look good in the US and trample the rest of the world through its vendors.

 

[Dennison]

Thank you, Apple, for caring about our world.

I watched this on my new MacBook, the greenest Apple notebook ever made, and the most energy-efficient notebook in the world. Loving it. All of us should care about our footprint as much as Apple does.



* The first ever Beryllium-free Mac.

 

[cycledance]

how about removable batteries and not needlessly soldering components that force people to replace whole computers instead of upgrading parts like ram and harddisks? not to mention all the devices with surfaces that scratch easily and require extra accessories for protection...etc.

 

[vjpulp]

Not sure about Apple's environmental responsibility...
All the adapters I had to buy (and later throw away) over the years because they decided to change or drop one of the plugs on their laptops... Mini-DVI, DVI, Firewire, different mag safe plugs – now they even dropped Thunderbolt on the new Macbook...

 

[Rogifan]

For people wondering why Apple's products continue to get thinner and lighter...from this report:

Over the past decade, Apple designers and engineers have continued to pioneer new ways to build our products with less material. Manufacturing innovations such as unibody construction have allowed products like iPad, MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air to become thinner while being even more resilient. Today’s Mac Pro uses 74 percent less aluminum and steel than the previous design. The newest 21.5-inch iMac is made with 68 percent less material than the first iMac, and the new MacBook uses 32 percent less aluminum than the first-generation MacBook Air.

I wonder, is Lisa Jackson (or people who work under her) involved in product design? Do product designs, including packaging have to be approved by her before they're green lighted?

 

[Kaibelf]

how about removable batteries and not needlessly soldering components that force people to replace whole computers instead of upgrading parts like ram and harddisks? not to mention all the devices with surfaces that scratch easily and require extra accessories for protection...etc.

Buy something else then? I wasn't aware that Apple was the only brand on Earth.

 

[Kaibelf]

Not sure about Apple's environmental responsibility...
All the adapters I had to buy (and later throw away) over the years because they decided to change or drop one of the plugs on their laptoprs... Mini-DVI, DVI, Firewire, different mag safe plugs – now they even dropped Thunderbolt on the new Macbook...

So you didn't take advantage of the numerous recycling programs offered by most electronics retailers and OEMs, and that's Apple's fault?

 

[Woyzeck]

We strive to create not only the best products in the world, but the best products for the world.

...says the company that forces their customers to replace the whole notebook instead of just upgrading the RAM...

 

[RockSpider]

I watched this on my new MacBook, the greenest Mac ever made, and the most energy-efficient notebook in the world. Loving it. All of us should care about our footprint as much as Apple does.

I know this is sarcasm, but like Sheldon Cooper, I'm never real sure.

 

[Rogifan]

how about removable batteries and not needlessly soldering components that force people to replace whole computers instead of upgrading parts like ram and harddisks? not to mention all the devices with surfaces that scratch easily and require extra accessories for protection...etc.

So what materials don't scratch? Plastic certainly does. And the percentage of people that want to deal with upgrading internals on their products is minuscule. Look at Samsung....they went from plastic and removeable battery to glass and non-removeable battery. Outside of a small number of tech geeks nobody wants to deal with that stuff.

 

[MacVista]

The best things Apple can still do for the environment:
1) Stop soldering RAM
2) User replaceable batteries
3) Don't populate both banks of RAM with 1/2 memory on each
4) No more glue
5) Faster processors (to reduce premature obsolescence)
6) Manufacture in America

 

[lowendlinux]

So what materials don't scratch? Plastic certainly does. And the percentage of people that want to deal with upgrading internals on their products is minuscule. Look at Samsung....they went from plastic and removeable battery to glass and non-removeable battery. Outside of a small number of tech geeks nobody wants to deal with that stuff.

What do changes in Samsung phones have to do with Apple Computers?

 

[vjpulp]

So you didn't take advantage of the numerous recycling programs offered by most electronics retailers and OEMs, and that's Apple's fault?

Not sure what you mean. All these adapters cost money and are useless after 1-2 years. That in itself is ecological (and economical) nonsense. And they're made of plastic – something you can't recycle... So even if I give them back to an electronic retailer, he won't cut up the plastic parts to take out the electronics, believe me.

----------

how about removable batteries and not needlessly soldering components that force people to replace whole computers instead of upgrading parts like ram and harddisks? not to mention all the devices with surfaces that scratch easily and require extra accessories for protection...etc.

^This.

 

[iBug2]

...says the company that forces their customers to replace the whole notebook instead of just upgrading the RAM...

Nobody forces you to replace your whole notebook. If anything, Apple forces you to upgrade less than you would otherwise, because it's impossible to upgrade.

If I bought a PC, I'd probably upgrade it's GPU every year for minimal gains, maybe install a CPU on the way, again with minimal gains, and eventually in 3-4 years when the new CPU's are not compatible with my main board, I'd have to replace the whole thing anyway. With Mac, I just wait 3-4 years and replace the whole thing, without the incremental upgrades on the way. Yes my computer gets slower and slower slightly faster than it would, but it's still usable all the way.

 

[Rogifan]

What do changes in Samsung phones have to do with Apple Computers?

The point is Samsung wouldn't be designing phones without removeable batteries if that was a big selling feature. It's not. All the things geeks complain about the average consumer doesn't care about.

 

[palmerc]

Decisions, decisions

how about removable batteries and not needlessly soldering components that force people to replace whole computers instead of upgrading parts like ram and harddisks? not to mention all the devices with surfaces that scratch easily and require extra accessories for protection...etc.

If removable batteries and upgradable components meant an environmental win then I'd be all for it but there isn't any data to show that being able to replace the battery or upgrade the hard drive diminishes its environmental impact. It might make you think you're being thrifty, but most people never took advantage of that fact. The race to build smaller products that use fewer resources is the bigger win.

 

[jc1350]

"Renewable energy" is not all that great, especially for birds.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/solar-farms-threaten-birds/

http://renewableenergyindex.com/mas...ntain-wind-farm-highlights-wind-energy-impact

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...argest-solar-farm-SCORCHING-BIRDS-fly-it.html

Imagine how much KFC or McDonalds could save by using wind and solar: birds fly through the wind turbines and get chopped up, then the bits are propelled over solar panels and mirrors to be pre-cooked, then they finally fall into the processing plant for package.

 

[2457282]

I absolutely applaud Apple for their continued attempt at getting greener (pause for actual applause).

But if you look at the solar farms, they are clearing vast areas of land, and as can be seen in the video, what is left is just dirt. I have seen some studies that show that if the panels were elevated higher, you could grow vegitation underneath and that would be a better thing. Just a suggestion.

I also wonder what the environmental impact is of producing the solar panels. Long term I am sure it is a net positive, but as they are reducing the impact of their computers by using less toxic materials, I just wonder if they are doing this in their panels.

These are just thoughts, but the overall perspective is that Apple is way ahead of anyone else in being self sufficient (i.e. off the grid) and that is really a good thing.

 

[AngerDanger]

Introducing the Gillette ProGlide Solar Razor:​

 

[teslo]

Not sure what you mean. All these adapters cost money and are useless after 1-2 years. That in itself is ecological (and economical) nonsense. And they're made of plastic – something you can't recycle... So even if I give them back to an electronic retailer, he won't cut up the plastic parts to take out the electronics, believe me.

so you're saying people in a position of employment are limited by the reality of how difficult it is to take the cards they're dealt and go the extra mile to recycle - in purely altruistic and 100% efficient ways? because they're a business and not a recycling company?

i'd like to compare a percentage of income/revenue the average consumer on these threads spends in time and effort (hauling those three garbage bags full of empty cans to the proper receptacle twice a month) and scale it up to apple's operational costs. i'm guessing they'd be pretty similar, if not somewhat skimpy compared to what apple tries to maintain.

people are making it sound like apple writes the rules and that all recycling methods are perfect - it's just that apple isn't 'trying'

 

[0098386]

The best things Apple can still do for the environment:
1) Stop soldering RAM
2) User replaceable batteries
3) Don't populate both banks of RAM with 1/2 memory on each
4) No more glue
5) Faster processors (to reduce premature obsolescence)
6) Manufacture in America

All those would benefit me, but, as a European why would things improve if they made them in America?

how about removable batteries and not needlessly soldering components that force people to replace whole computers instead of upgrading parts like ram and harddisks? not to mention all the devices with surfaces that scratch easily and require extra accessories for protection...etc.

Came here for this post. So true.

 

[Kissaragi]

What type of solar plant is that? I thought they would be using PV panels.