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

[Sandstorm]

This is definitely good and probably more than most competitors are doing, but I also agree with everyone calling Apple out on planned obsolescence, preventing 3rd party repairs, preventing upgrades (increasingly soldering and gluing everything). And the past few years - also releasing garbage keyboards, that need constant replacing.

If Apple insists on acting holier-than-thou, we should also keep them highest standards.

 

[quatermass]

If they really want to do something serious about energy, how about investing a few of those billions you have into fusion? Long term, wind and solar are not going to replace burning stuff. No, seriously - it can't be done because of physics.
https://media4.manhattan-institute.org/sites/default/files/R-0319-MM.pdf
The only viable option if you want lots of clean energy is fusion.

Apple Fusion... reminds me of Jobs said to Scully when he tried to get him to join Apple: “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?”

Well Tim, do you want to sell little shiny gadgets for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?

 

[lunarworks]

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 ?

Apple guarantees support of their phone longer than others.
iPhones retain their value longer, and are sold to others or handed down to family members rather than tossed in a junk drawer.
Macs are typically more reliable than PCs in terms of lifespan (current keyboard problems aside), and also have a much stronger second hand market than PCs.

The model is replace, and pass the old one on to someone else.

The current trend of lack of desktop/laptop upgradability sucks, but I also have to admit that hardware requirements have generally plateaued over the last decade. Most people I know with even 5+ year old Macs have no desire to upgrade.

 

[Jamers99]

So they have access to Stark Arc Reactor technology now?

 

[Jim Lahey]

My goodness. Some people would find something moan about if we achieved world peace and free food for all.

 

[laudern]

I'm sure this will more than justify an increase in price to every Apple device.

 

[afir93]

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!

I really don't get your "all-or-nothing" type of attitude on this topic. We can applaud Apple for the things they do well for the environment while still criticizing and calling them out for areas where they could do better. And the matter of fact is, in certain areas they currently do significantly more than most if not any other big tech company; they put a lot more effort and money in than they had to or than anyone forces them to do. In other areas, not so much, I don't disagree about that. But should we not acknowledge the things they do well and that we want other companies to follow just as much as we condemn Apple in areas where they don't like the right-to-repair controversy that you mentioned?

This whole "it doesn't matter how much good you do for the environment, as long as you still do this unrelated bad thing x" attitude is exactly one of the reasons why some people stop caring about the environment altogether. If they are wrong for appreciating literally anything that helps preserve the environment, then why bother at all? If people who start doing incremental steps toward helping and preserving the environment are immediately met with a "you don't truly care about the environment unless you never buy a tech product again" type-of gatekeepers who try to tear apart all their effort, then they'll just lose interest in doing anything at all for it.

Besides, if you're throwing Apple products in the trash and always buy the newest iPhone each single year, then that's much more your own decision than Apple's. They are doing a lot more to make their phones last longer than the competition. The iPhone 5s turns 6 years old this year and it's still a decent, very functional device that receives all the newest software updates to this day; chances are that any iPhones sold today can last you even longer than 6 years if they need to. Compare that to most Android phones that receive software updates for a year or two and that's it, they are swiftly ignored and forgotten by the manufacturer. Not to mention Apple's excellent recycling programs if you do decide to "throw away" the phone in the end, or their resale values that usually hold up well compared to competitors and incentivize you to resell the phone or Mac as opposed to throwing it in the trash, etc.etc.

I'm all for pointing out Apple's shortcomings in environmental areas, but we should also give them credit where credit is due, and there are currently many areas where Apple currently goes the extra mile that other manufacturers don't even seem to think of. The whole "everything they do is automatically bad" and "no good deed matters" attitude that you seem to have towards this whole topic is equally dangerous than those who just ignore all of Apple's shortcomings and praise them for every disaster. Why not let users appreciate news like this without taunting them for not immediately responding with a list of completely unrelated topics in which Apple's environmental efforts could be better?

 

[TheShadowKnows!]

Apple also announced that it has allocated all of its $2.5 billion in green bonds, the largest amount of any U.S. corporation.

Apple will probably never go modular and as such will never be seen as green to me. Period.

Modular versus Locked-down.
That is the Apple's conundrum.
And like the second quote above, it will never be as green as it could be.

It is this conundrum that obfuscates and confuses the message from an all-Green Apple.
My View:
Apple will never be Green -- Apple is Gray (Red+Green ::= Gray)

co·nun·drum
/kəˈnəndrəm/
noun

1. a confusing and difficult problem or question.
   "one of the most difficult conundrums for the experts"
   synonyms: problem, difficult question, vexed question, difficulty, quandary, dilemma

 

[macguru212]

A great thing, no doubt. Hope Foxconn honors this.

 

[TallManNY]

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!

How many folks throw away a perfectly good iPhone after only two years (lets not even discuss you suggesting that they get thrown away after one year)? Yes, you may hand down or sell your perfectly good iPhone after only one year. But to suggest those phones don't go on to be used by someone else is ridiculous.

 

[now i see it]

There's a reason why iPhone prices got jacked up

 

[Khedron]

This is definitely good and probably more than most competitors are doing, but I also agree with everyone calling Apple out on planned obsolescence, preventing 3rd party repairs, preventing upgrades (increasingly soldering and gluing everything). And the past few years - also releasing garbage keyboards, that need constant replacing.

If Apple insists on acting holier-than-thou, we should also keep them highest standards.

Yes, Apple's design is to replace half a laptop just because a single cable is damaged. There aren't as much good PR and tax breaks in repairability as there is with "renewable energy" though.

 

[Jsameds]

@MacRumors Foxconn isn't on the list on Apple's page?

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/04/apple-tops-clean-energy-goal-with-new-supplier-commitments/

"The list of newly committed suppliers includes: Advanced International Multitech, Arkema, AT&S, Bemis Associates, Biel Crystal (HK) Manufactory Ltd., BOE, Catcher Technology, Compal Electronics, Corning Incorporated, COSMO, DSM Engineering Plastics, ECCO Leather, Fastway Creation, Finisar, Goertek, Golden Arrow, H.B. Fuller, Hon Hai Precision Industry, Ibiden, Jabil, LEALEA Enterprise, Lens Technology, Lishen, Luxshare-ICT, Mega Precision, Nidec, Pegatron, Primax Group, Qorvo, Quadrant, Quanta Computer, RRD, RyPax, SanHuan, SDK, Solvay, STMicroelectronics, Sunway Communication, Sunwoda Electronics, Taiyo Ink Mfg. Co., tesa SE, TSMC, Wistron and Yuto."

 

[sw1tcher]

btw if you throw any Apple device in the trash, shame on you.

This.

Everyone knows you just chuck it into rivers and lakes with along with the Bird, Lime, Lyft, and Uber scooters.

 

[TallManNY]

If they really want to do something serious about energy, how about investing a few of those billions you have into fusion? Long term, wind and solar are not going to replace burning stuff. No, seriously - it can't be done because of physics.
https://media4.manhattan-institute.org/sites/default/files/R-0319-MM.pdf
The only viable option if you want lots of clean energy is fusion.

Apple Fusion... reminds me of Jobs said to Scully when he tried to get him to join Apple: “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?”

Well Tim, do you want to sell little shiny gadgets for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?

Nice article that you linked to. Lots of truth in it. A few things where I'd say its assumptions are wrong. One example is the assumption that EV cars are going to be used like combustion cars. I strongly suspect that folks are going to buy EV cars in the future when they know that the car is going to get a lot of milage use and so the fuel savings is going to be significant. So when EV cars come in big numbers they will be the "go to" car for the owner because fuel costs are minimal. So the impact on fuel usage is going to be more than just a percentage of the EVs on the road compared to combustion-based cars.

But the physics are certainly clear that lithium ion based batteries are not the solution for long term energy storage. Just too expensive and that doesn't seem like it will change.

 

[mikethemartian]

The term “renewable energy” is a misnomer. Once the energy is spent and generates heat it is not recovered.

 

[H2SO4]

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%.

Ok I see.

 

[Porco]

My goodness. Some people would find something moan about if we achieved world peace and free food for all.

‘Why didn’t they do it sooner! They suck!’

This is great news. Can Apple do more? Yes. But they do more than most, and they make it a marketable, positive advantage that others are more likely to strive towards because they do, IMHO.

Lack of repairability and use of plastics and glue are bad, but Apple could be 100% environmentally neutral on every level and it still wouldn’t solve the problems the world faces. We should applaud the positive as well as criticising the negative, and I think Apple is more positive than most in this area.

 

[barmann]

My goodness. Some people would find something moan about if we achieved world peace and free food for all.

Well, if it was just a misleading marketing ploy, based on lies, people would be well within their rights to moan about it .

 

[blacktape242]

now do india...

 

[Peperino]

It is great that Apple commits to renewable energy.

Though all those efforts are being minimized by creating disposable appliances (computers with soldering basic parts such as RAM and SSD). These new products create more trash since they cannot be upgraded and are way more difficult and expensive to repair.

Sadly I believe is another marketing stunt. If they truly cared, they would have designed products that are better quality and easily upgradable.

 

[JetTester]

First you have to define renewable. Coal and oil are renewable if you wait long enough. Then define 100%. "Well, no, we don't count the emissions from the cars our employees drive to work." Etc. Not saying this announcement is a bad thing, or an outright lie, but the devil is in the details, and all simple statements can have much more complex issues behind them that need to be considered before passing judgment.

 

[pika2000]

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!

Every year or two? Are you sure about that?

 

[DeepIn2U]

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!

I think it is YOU that needs to wake up.

Some facts & reasons:
Apple is the first global company, or company ever to have ALL their offices run on 100% renewable energy (directly or indirectly supplied by the electrical grid).
First company to have their supplies commit to renewable energy.
Apple uses Solar and Fuel Cell (Bloom Energy).
^ Apple doing this DESPITE reduced tax incentives from the current US President whom doesn't believe in global warming yet EVERYTHING around us points to this.

"Especially said companies that fight right to repair laws for simple things like a battery replacement."
Maybe it's because Apple is beginning a closed-loop in terms of source materials:
- Their Trade-in program steps up their push for recycling materials.
- thus far 2 new products are using Aluminum from returned products or from their own supplies manufacturing process. No more need to source large amounts of Aluminum from suppliers such as Alcan (Canadian Al supplier).
- chips are also sourced and machined down for source materials.

Now in your statement above for "right to replace/repair" ... of THOSE such smaller companies ... what are THEY doing with bad batteries with high amounts of Lithium? Hmmm?

I think you've posted an argument against yourself with that small quote only as you've not even thought beyond that at all. Maybe, just maybe Apple has a solution for limiting waste of lithium more than we all realize.

 

[fourthtunz]

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!

This!!!
And if Apple were really concerned with the planet they wouldn't use glue on their most popular computers.
How does making a computer that gets throw into the dump because it can't be upgraded or fixed make you a green company?
[doublepost=1555000019][/doublepost]

Apple guarantees support of their phone longer than others.
iPhones retain their value longer, and are sold to others or handed down to family members rather than tossed in a junk drawer.
Macs are typically more reliable than PCs in terms of lifespan (current keyboard problems aside), and also have a much stronger second hand market than PCs.

The model is replace, and pass the old one on to someone else.

The current trend of lack of desktop/laptop upgradability sucks, but I also have to admit that hardware requirements have generally plateaued over the last decade. Most people I know with even 5+ year old Macs have no desire to upgrade.

The macs that are 5 years and older are more upgradeable.
Apple glueing their macs together is a punishment now and later.