Apple Announces 10 New 'Power for Impact' Projects to Tackle Climate Change

[twolf2919]

here is a thing - the 15 biggest container ships produce as much pollution as ALL (approx 750million!) cars in the world. As long as people buy stuff that is produced thousands of miles away then anything we do to reduce pollution will be literally a drop in the ocean. The same with plastics etc - look at where all the plastics in the ocean come from and you will see it is sourced though basically 10 big rivers in places - Africa and the Far East - where no-one cares about the damage they are doing.
The West is going to put in restrictions which affect peoples lives in all sorts of ways but until we stop buying goods manufactured abroad and start producing them at home, in whatever country you live in of course, local means local worldwide, and stop sending our trash to be 'recycled' in places like Africa (where recycling seems to mean dump it somewhere once you have taken the precious metals back out to sell to Apple etc) then nothing will change.

Pretty naive. Yes, container ships are a bigger polluter than cars. So your solution is to produce stuff locally? Hm, let's see - how much pollution would be caused by duplicating those factories locally? The plastics that are currently being spewed from those rivers in Africa and the Far East will then vanish? Or will they simply be spewed from local rivers? How will they simply vanish? As you pointed out yourself, the US can't even take care of its own trash - it ships it to developing countries where its populations are literally drowning in it.

There is no magic bullet. The developed world is one of consumption. Unless you stop consumption, you will pollute. The best we can do is to reduce the amount of pollution per widget produced. And that is done in a thousand different ways, not by unrealistic dreaming about how things 'should' be.

 

[triton100]

This is positive however China are the biggest world polluters. What is apple doing to lessen their carbon footprint via their supply chain within China?

 

[PC_tech]

here is a thing - the 15 biggest container ships produce as much pollution as ALL (approx 750million!) cars in the world. As long as people buy stuff that is produced thousands of miles away then anything we do to reduce pollution will be literally a drop in the ocean. The same with plastics etc - look at where all the plastics in the ocean come from and you will see it is sourced though basically 10 big rivers in places - Africa and the Far East - where no-one cares about the damage they are doing.
The West is going to put in restrictions which affect peoples lives in all sorts of ways but until we stop buying goods manufactured abroad and start producing them at home, in whatever country you live in of course, local means local worldwide, and stop sending our trash to be 'recycled' in places like Africa (where recycling seems to mean dump it somewhere once you have taken the precious metals back out to sell to Apple etc) then nothing will change.

There are over a billion cars on the planet….

How Many Cars Are There In The World? Statistics by Country.

We look at global automotive stats on the 1.644 billion cars in the world in 2025, cars per capita and other auto industry world stats.

hedgescompany.com

 

[Taz Mangus]

Why can't they do both? And - lo and behold - they are! My iPhone 13 Pro Max arrived in a completely cardboard container - no plastic whatsoever! Not even a plastic shrink wrap. Even the postage container was cardboard. But change is a continual process, not something that happens overnight. If your AirPod 3s came in plastic, Apple just hasn't gotten to repacking them yet. They probably will soon.

I was surprised that Apple is shipping the new MacBook Pro computer boxes covered in a clear wrap. I hope they are using a clear wrap made of a plant based material that is biodegradable. If the clear wrap is indeed plastic, this means that millions of these plastic wraps now go into landfills. I shot off the question to Tim Cook, hope he responds to my question.

 

[Rodney Dangerfield]

Sadly it’s all bluff to make us forget how their products are disposable

Disagree...Apple has HIGH capital costs but their lifespan is impressive!...Currently, own 2010 MacBook Pro and 2010 Mac mini; albeit, both operate slower than my 2019 Mac Pro and 2019 16" MacBook Pro but still stream sports and movies effectively!

 

[twolf2919]

This is positive however China are the biggest world polluters. What is apple doing to lessen their carbon footprint via their supply chain within China?

In terms of absolute emissions, China is indeed the biggest polluter. But that is, frankly, a naive way of measuring things. On a per-capita basis, China is actually one of the smallest polluters. On a per-capita adjusted basis, the US (and Saudi Arabia) are the world's biggest polluters. For surely every person has an equal responsibility when it comes to pollution, no?

And China's supposed pollution isn't even taking into account that most of its pollution occurs in the production of goods the rest of the world wants. I.e. if a Chinese factory didn't do the pollution, the pollution would simply occur somewhere else. Western countries (and citizens) are good at pointing the finger when, indirectly, they're the root cause of much of the pollution that occurs in these developing countries.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Sadly it’s all bluff to make us forget how their products are disposable

Every product ever made has an end of life to them. The user will decide, more often, when they want/need to replace their computers, phones, accessories. For instance, I still have and use a 2015 27" iMac and a 2015 13" MacBook Pro computers. I was using a 2015 iPhone 6S Plus up to this year and traded it in for the iPhone 13 Pro Max. My traded in iPhone 6S Plus will get reused by someone else or recycled to be reused in the making of other products.

Apple Trade In

From now until 18 June, get extra trade-in credit towards a new iPhone. Save $200-$650 in credit when you trade in iPhone 12 or higher. Terms apply.

www.apple.com

 

[twolf2919]

I was surprised that Apple is shipping the new MacBook Pro computer boxes covered in a clear wrap. I hope they are using a clear wrap made of a plant based material that is biodegradable. If the clear wrap is indeed plastic, this means that millions of these plastic wraps now go into landfills. I shot off the question to Tim Cook, hope he responds to my question.

Apple sells less than 20 million macs per year. They sell 10 x as many iPhones. So them replacing all the plastic in iPhone packaging is the right priority. Of course they should also address Macs and Apple Watches and AirPods....as I'm sure they will.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Apple sells less than 20 million macs per year. They sell 10 x as many iPhones. So them replacing all the plastic in iPhone packaging is the right priority. Of course they should also address Macs and Apple Watches and AirPods....as I'm sure they will.

It just seemed odd that Apple would announce the removal of the plastic wrap for the iPhone 13 and then use clear plastic wrap on the new MacBook Pro computers. And I agree that it was the right move to remove the clear plastic wrap from the iPhone boxes.

 

[twolf2919]

It just seemed odd that Apple would announce the removal of the plastic wrap for the iPhone 13 and then use clear plastic wrap on the new MacBook Pro computers. And I agree that it was the right move to remove the clear plastic wrap from the iPhone boxes.

Why would it seem odd that Apple has redesigned its packaging to allow for the removal of plastic in one product but has not done so yet for another? It's not like all Apple product come to a central Apple wrapping facility where plastic wrap gets slapped on.

 

[Shirasaki]

correct

The future is grim

Why everything must collapse and why the fight for Earth is just starting

cache-baba.medium.com

I read the whole thing, and every point matches my worst fear and it goes above and beyond. Fascinating, but not in a positive direction.

 

[TheLastUserName]

Solar panels have a life span of 25 years. Then they go right into the landfills.

1 million kWh of electricity requires 2.8 acres of land. Electricity consumption in the United States was about 3.8 trillion kilowatthours (kWh) in 2020. So for just the U.S. to get all of its electricity from solar panels, it would take 10,640,000 acres of land covered in solar panels.

Now imagine how much garbage is produced by replacing 420,000 acres of solar panels each and every year.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Why would it seem odd that Apple has redesigned its packaging to allow for the removal of plastic in one product but has not done so yet for another? It's not like all Apple product come to a central Apple wrapping facility where plastic wrap gets slapped on.

Look I am not disagreeing with you. No need to be combative.

 

[iReality85]

Apple should better take all these plastic parts away from boxes – we've got e.g. with AirPods 3rd gen - an if you reflect the origin of these plastics and how they are produced in China with hight energy consumption and environmental pollution, then you see how careless these big companies are acting...

THANKS!

Huh?

I literally opened my AirPods Gen 3 yesterday and aside from the actual AirPods and case, everything else was paper packaging.

 

[Razorpit]

Really? Did you get that information from Tic Tok or was it Instagram? Or was it a definitive source of a think tank funded by the fossil fuel industry? I'm curious when you think the end of a solar panels lifecycle is. Or what you think is going to be so toxic about them at that point.

Instead of attempting to write a snarky response why not do the research yourself and correct the OP. The information is out there in non Tik-Tok/Instagram format.

 

[ponzicoinbro]

Good stuff.

As long as the crypto people and their extremist friends around the world don’t kill us all first.

 

[ponzicoinbro]

Does this mean Apple will get rid of dongles?

Dongles and adapters will exist forever. People are still making new dongles for Sega Genesis and Nintendo Famicom so you can use them with HDMI.

What we need is Ulti-Dongle. It’s an ultimate end game dongle with FPGA programmable chip and transmits all data and video wirelessly. It’s 7G Level **** and makes anti-vaxxer 5G spaceray people very nervous.

 

[TobyR]

Solar panels have a life span of 25 years. Then they go right into the landfills.

1 million kWh of electricity requires 2.8 acres of land. Electricity consumption in the United States was about 3.8 trillion kilowatthours (kWh) in 2020. So for just the U.S. to get all of its electricity from solar panels, it would take 10,640,000 acres of land covered in solar panels.

Now imagine how much garbage is produced by replacing 420,000 acres of solar panels each and every year.

100%

Solar panels are a looming waste disaster!

Solar panels are starting to die. What will we do with the megatons of toxic trash?

Most solar manufacturers claim their panels will last for about 25 years. That means the solar e-waste glut is coming.

grist.org

 

[Taz Mangus]

100%

Solar panels are a looming waste disaster!

Solar panels are starting to die. What will we do with the megatons of toxic trash?

Most solar manufacturers claim their panels will last for about 25 years. That means the solar e-waste glut is coming.

grist.org

Solar Panel Recycling: How Does It Work?

As solar panels reach the end of their lifetime, it is important to understand the effects of solar panel waste, and the recycling process.

news.energysage.com

 

[TallManNY]

Instead of attempting to write a snarky response why not do the research yourself and correct the OP. The information is out there in non Tik-Tok/Instagram format.

As someone who has built tons of energy projects in the US (including dozens of solar projects), I've already done the "research". I'm tired of the misinformation that gets pushed throughout our information sources and then get parroted.

A modern solar project will easily last 30 years, likely will last 40 years, and could even last longer than that (obviously with maintenance and replacement of parts during that time and it won't be producing electricity at the same rate at that point). Sure there is an end of useful life where it has to be taken down. Does anyone think there is an energy generating facility available that won't eventually wear out and need to get replaced? Side note: a nice hydro project might be the exception, those things last forever with good maintenance. And every day during those 30 to 40 years when the solar project makes electricity, then some fossil fuel won't be burned to produce electricity. That has an impact on pollution. So when someone says "What about the pollution from the panels ending up in a landfill?" I know they either don't know what they are talking about and/or they are pushing some information that got to them from someone with an agenda.

Also, the panels will be broken into their components and recycled at end of life.

 

[Taz Mangus]

What we need is Ulti-Dongle. It’s an ultimate end game dongle with FPGA programmable chip and transmits all data and video wirelessly. It’s 7G Level **** and makes anti-vaxxer 5G spaceray people very nervous.

Bluetooth, WiFi, cellular already afford the ability to send and receive audio and video. In most cases an extra dongle or adapter is not needed.

 

[Flight Plan]

Sadly it’s all bluff to make us forget how their products are disposable

Wow, what a wet noodle.

I have never thrown out any Apple product I've ever owned. I've given them away, repurposed them in my home, or taken them to a recycler. I'm sure that most people have at least the level of conscientiousness that I have.

you cant stop climate change. you are not god

Both of these are 100% true.

I recycle not because I believe in climate change. I don't believe at all that humans have caused it.

But I am conscientious because God would want me to be a good steward of His gifts to us: This amazing planet and its wealth of natural resources. That's why I've driven fuel-efficient cars, recycled my batteries, and separate my recyclables on trash day. I reuse my plastic bottles and my technology, and when it's time for the big goodbye, I recycle them.

Great. Solar panels actually cause more toxic pollution at the end of their lifecycle.

Only if you're irresponsible when you have yours replaced.

First off, solar panels can last for 30 years unless damaged by weather or evil trees that fall on them.

Second, they CAN indeed be recycled. https://news.energysage.com/recycling-solar-panels/

I don't have solar panels as yet because of the risk of roof fires. Yeah, yeah, the Internet says it's 1 in 10,000, so a very low risk. But then again, I think the industry may still have a bit of a conflict of interest here, so I'm waiting a bit longer. I'm not saying "never". I'm just saying "not quite yet; ask me next year".

And yet they are the one that is more than happy to see the world burn cause they don’t need to care.

Wow, please stop with the depressing fake drama.

Seriously, folks! I've noticed that the most depressing articles here on MR are not the articles. It's the comment sections for articles having to do with environmental efforts. We should be optimistic! But instead, I wouldn't even want to have a cup of coffee with some of you because your comments are so damned pessimistic and even depressing!

Be optimistic. We're doing more and more every day. And remember this: The Earth won't be destroyed by humans. It can't be. The thing that will do us all in is Yosemite erupting (which could happen in our lifetimes or not), the sun going Red Dwarf in about 5 billion years. Or we could get hit by that sweet sweet meteor of death, there's always that possibility.

The fact is, it's not going to be my water bottle that will bring about the end of the gum chewing bipeds. It'll surely be something completely out of all of our control.

Now go outside and play. Laugh for a change; it'll do you good and maybe somebody will want to have a cup of coffee with you, or maybe a popsicle!

 

[iReality85]

Solar panels have a life span of 25 years. Then they go right into the landfills.

1 million kWh of electricity requires 2.8 acres of land. Electricity consumption in the United States was about 3.8 trillion kilowatthours (kWh) in 2020. So for just the U.S. to get all of its electricity from solar panels, it would take 10,640,000 acres of land covered in solar panels.

Now imagine how much garbage is produced by replacing 420,000 acres of solar panels each and every year.

They’ve only been going into landfills because SP recycling hasn’t really taken off yet, at least here in the US. Other places like the EU, India, Japan, etc either have in place or are developing SP recycling methods.

There’s no reason why most components of solar panels can’t be recycled. The big four materials are glass, aluminum, silicon, and PVC, the first three of which compose 90% of SPs. There just needs to be economic incentive for recyclers to upstart, and it will happen once enough homeowners and businesses utilize SPs.

Thing is, most solar panels haven’t yet reached EOL yet, although the oldest will soon. Also, we have to take into account older SPs aren’t as efficient as newer ones, better manufacturing is now used, and so forth. At some point I assume they’ll be lead free too.

There’s also the three major sectors that consume electricity in the US: residential, commercial, and industrial. Of the three, SPs have the biggest potential to reduce residential and commercial electric use. In fact, all three major sectors’ energy use have essentially plateaued since 2000, and actually decreased during 8 of those years.

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/use-of-electricity.php

 

[Flight Plan]

As someone who has built tons of energy projects in the US (including dozens of solar projects), I've already done the "research". I'm tired of the misinformation that gets pushed throughout our information sources and then get parroted.

A modern solar project will easily last 30 years, likely will last 40 years, and could even last longer than that (obviously with maintenance and replacement of parts during that time and it won't be producing electricity at the same rate at that point). Sure there is an end of useful life where it has to be taken down. Does anyone think there is an energy generating facility available that won't eventually wear out and need to get replaced? Side note: a nice hydro project might be the exception, those things last forever with good maintenance. And every day during those 30 to 40 years when the solar project makes electricity, then some fossil fuel won't be burned to produce electricity. That has an impact on pollution. So when someone says "What about the pollution from the panels ending up in a landfill?" I know they either don't know what they are talking about and/or they are pushing some information that got to them from someone with an agenda.

Also, the panels will be broken into their components and recycled at end of life.

Hydro is not "forever". We had that near catastrophe at Oroville a couple years ago, and just last year (I think?) Michigan had two dams collapse. And then there's that LA dam collapse that killed some 600-650 people in the 30s, I think.

Many dams around the US are in a very poor state of condition because their owners simply cannot afford to do that maintenance. And nobody wants to buy those dams because the immediate and long-term costs to fix them and maintain them would be unsustainably high. If I were an electric provider, I'd probably try to quadruple my prices just so I could ensure that all of my dams were well-maintained. But then I'd have every homeowner and business owner and even government agencies on my case for charging so much for electricity. You can't win!

And while we're talking about lifecycles, I'd like to also add that wind power requires enormous maintenance, repair, and replacement costs, time, and materials, or it won't last either. Those fan blades have a limited lifespan.

They can only kill so many birds before they're completely worn down on their leading edges; even to the point where the blade itself could fail and break up into many flying, flinging pieces. Once a single blade goes, the entire assembly, which is now out of balance, is at risk for catastrophic and dangerous collapse.

So if we're gonna do some renewable energy along the way, we need to be sensible about it and we need to be READY to pay for all of the costs of it. Oh, and the burials of all those dead birds, lol!

 

[AdamNC]

Really? Did you get that information from Tic Tok or was it Instagram? Or was it a definitive source of a think tank funded by the fossil fuel industry? I'm curious when you think the end of a solar panels lifecycle is. Or what you think is going to be so toxic about them at that point.

From our own US gov. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/solar/solar-energy-and-the-environment.php