Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone Assembler Foxconn and Other Suppliers Pledge to Use 100% Renewable Energy for Apple Production

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
68,990
40,003



Apple today announced it has nearly doubled the number of suppliers that have committed to run their Apple-specific production on 100 percent renewable energy, bringing the total number to 44.

apple-suppliers-clean-energy-800x450.jpg

The list of newly committed suppliers includes, among others, Gorilla Glass maker Corning, Face ID module provider Finisar, A-series chipmaker TSMC, Apple Watch manufacturer Quanta Computer, AirPods assembler Luxshare, and iPhone assemblers Foxconn, Pegatron, and Wistron.

Apple now expects to add five gigawatts of renewable energy to its supply chain by 2020, exceeding its goal of four gigawatts in that timeframe.

Apple says that manufacturing makes up 74 percent of its carbon footprint. To address this, Apple and its suppliers have invested in or procured a mix of clean energy technology, including wind and solar. Apple has also further expanded its supplier education and support initiatives.

Apple also announced that it has allocated all of its $2.5 billion in green bonds, the largest amount of any U.S. corporation. Through this, the company says it has contributed to 40 environmental initiatives around the world, including projects Apple has created to cover its entire electricity load.

Apple's Green Bonds also support environmental research and innovation. Projects include solar rooftops in Japan, an aquifer to conserve water in Oregon, and the creation of a custom alloy made of 100 percent recycled aluminum that is now found in the latest MacBook Air and Mac mini.

A year ago, Apple announced that its global facilities, including retail stores, offices, and data centers, are now powered with 100 percent renewable energy.

Article Link: iPhone Assembler Foxconn and Other Suppliers Pledge to Use 100% Renewable Energy for Apple Production
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2019/04/11/apple-suppliers-commit-to-100-pct-renewable-energy/
  • Like
Reactions: DeepIn2U
Regardless of what you may think of Apple's current shortcomings in other areas, this is something we should appreciate about them. Apple seems to at least be doing a lot more in this area than most other big companies at the moment.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cbaca51, raghu8912, FairlyKors and 11 others
How can people be duped so easily by tech companies that wave the green flag is beyond me especially tech companies who whole business model is to get you to throw away a perfectly good device every year or two. Electronic devices, especially smartphones, consume a lot of resource during manufacturing including minerals that are environmentally taxing ie lithium.

Especially said companies that fight right to repair laws for simple things like a battery replacement.

Furthermore, their customers are largely high income folks and just about EVERY environmental survey will show that high income folks have the HIGHEST carbon footprints.

Come on folks...wake up!
 
  • Like
Reactions: ColEpsi, jonathan.owens, DonInHtown and 26 others
pike908 said:
How can people be duped so easily by tech companies that wave the green flag is beyond me especially tech companies who whole business model is to get you to throw away a perfectly good device every year or two. Electronic devices, especially smartphones, consume a lot of resource during manufacturing including minerals that are environmentally taxing ie lithium.

Especially said companies that fight right to repair laws for simple things like a battery replacement.

Furthermore, their customers are largely high income folks and just about EVERY environmental survey will show that high income folks have the HIGHEST carbon footprints.

Come on folks...wake up!
Click to expand...
Apple’s devices last more than a year or two, don’t they? And Apple’s recycling program is second to none, right? Please share with us all the companies that do it better.

Apple’s doing more than their fair share; give credit where it’s due. I don’t think you can blame them for others’ high carbon footprints.

btw if you throw any Apple device in the trash, shame on you.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Kabeyun, StyxMaker, DianaMR and 19 others
pike908 said:
How can people be duped so easily by tech companies that wave the green flag is beyond me especially tech companies who whole business model is to get you to throw away a perfectly good device every year or two. Electronic devices, especially smartphones, consume a lot of resource during manufacturing including minerals that are environmentally taxing ie lithium.

Especially said companies that fight right to repair laws for simple things like a battery replacement.

Furthermore, their customers are largely high income folks and just about EVERY environmental survey will show that high income folks have the HIGHEST carbon footprints.

Come on folks...wake up!
Click to expand...

Despite all the blindfolded unicorns here who see critical thinking as negativity, I cannot stress how much I appreciate the voices of reason like yours.

Apple will probably never go modular and as such will never be seen as green to me. Period.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jonathan.owens, The Weatherman, netdudeuk and 14 others
100% .

There are a lot of definitions of that number .
No doubt Apple will come up with a brilliant definition of 100, % , energy, and Made In China .
 
  • Like
Reactions: pike908
afir93 said:
Regardless of what you may think of Apple's current shortcomings in other areas, this is something we should appreciate about them. Apple seems to at least be doing a lot more in this area than most other big companies at the moment.
Click to expand...
Strangely, yours and the post below yours are both correct.
I'm not sure I believe that part about all their retail outlets being on renewable energy though. I've been working at the power side of some large shopping villages and the schematics would appear to suggest that the Apple store is fed from the same supply as the others.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pike908
It's also time for Apple to move from batteries to fuel cells for their mobile devices. The manufacturing process of batteries is a huge contributor to pollution.
 
djcerla said:
The vast majority of tech waste is made by modular things like PC.
Click to expand...

I agree that sheer scale of parts for PC is a waste, though Mac is quite a different beast and due to the standardised configurations it has the potential to be a truly green through modularity.

Then again, it's highly unlikely that could happen by shareholder-handicapped minds of Apple execs.
 
It's one thing for Apple to make their headquarters run on 100% renewable energy. What impresses me most about this news is how Apple has convinced a sizable number of other industries to do the same.

And as for Apple devices adding to mounting piles of trash, that's never a problem for me. When I want to upgrade my devices, I bring them back to Apple for recycling or sell them on eBay to others who can use them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DianaMR, Websnapx2, NickName99 and 4 others
djcerla said:
The vast majority of tech waste is made by modular things like PC.
Click to expand...

Admit it - you totally made that up . ;)

Seriously - proprietary technology - mainly batteries and ports/cables/adapters - lack of upgradability, lack of backwards compatibility ( both software and hardware ), all of it based on a business model of replace , not maintain .

Who is more guilty of waste than Apple in that respect ?
 
  • Like
Reactions: freedomlinux, Marekul, PC_tech and 3 others
nocturnum said:
I agree that sheer scale of parts for PC is a waste, though Mac is quite a different beast and due to the standardised configurations it has the potential to be a truly green through modularity.

Then again, it's highly unlikely that could happen by shareholder-handicapped minds of Apple execs.
Click to expand...
80% of Macs sold are laptops; only a few million iMac/Mac mini/Mac Pro are sold per year.

iPhone/iPad sell 250 million a year, I don’t think you’re going to see modularity there, but those devices last at least five years and are then recycled.
 
jayducharme said:
It's one thing for Apple to make their headquarters run on 100% renewable energy. What impresses me most about this news is how Apple has convinced a sizable number of other industries to do the same.

And as for Apple devices adding to mounting piles of trash, that's never a problem for me. When I want to upgrade my devices, I bring them back to Apple for recycling or sell them on eBay to others who can use them.
Click to expand...
I do the same, or give them to family members:
  • My daughter is still using my old 2007 iMac
  • My other daughter is still using my 2013 iMac that I upgraded to from the 2007 one
  • My wife is still using her 2013 MacBook Pro.
  • All of our iPhones have always either been passed on to someone else to use, or if they died completely, recycled with Apple (Except for two that were stolen and lost)
 
  • Like
Reactions: DianaMR, masotime, the johnmc and 4 others
H2SO4 said:
Strangely, yours and the post below yours are both correct.
I'm not sure I believe that part about all their retail outlets being on renewable energy though. I've been working at the power side of some large shopping villages and the schematics would appear to suggest that the Apple store is fed from the same supply as the others.
Click to expand...
Right, the retail store is powered the same as others and then Apple purchases enough renewable energy credits (recs) in order to offset that. You can’t make a specific power source be routed to specific locations as the grid treats it all the same. Go to your power companies website and you can purchase recs for very cheap. I spend $4 a month extra to offset 12% of my energy use. Apple is just going 100%.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jakewilk and Websnapx2
djcerla said:
The vast majority of tech waste is made by modular things like PC.
Click to expand...

What a load of crap.

yes, Modular computers can add to environmental waste, as a part is replaced and old one thrown out. However, it overall produces far less waste than an integrated, non upgradable system that requries a full replacement for minor updates and upgrades.

What creates more electronic waste? Someone replacing a couple RAM sticks and throwing out the old one? Or someone buying a whole new computer and throwing out the old one just to get 4gb more ram?

Tech waste is increased when you create locked down systems that have little repairability, upgradability, or ability to scale / adjust to changing times, requiring full replacements. Proprietary technologies, further add to that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ThomasJL, freedomlinux, Marekul and 2 others
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back