Apple’s Facilities Support Sustainability : Apple has announced that all of its facilities worldwide run on âcleanâ power sources, such as wind farms and solar arrays. These facilities include Appleâs retail shops, offices and data centres in 43 countries, including the UK, the US, China and India.
Weâre going to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible with the materials in our products, the way we recycle them, our facilities and our work with suppliers to establish new creative and forward-looking sources of renewable energy because we know the future depends on it, said Apple chief executive Tim Cook in a prepared statement.
The power sources Apple uses include transparent solar panels in China that allow yaks to graze underneath them, and rooftop solar panels in Japan and Singapore. Other sources include wind farms in the US and emerging technologies such as biogas fuel cells.
Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino is powered in part by an onsite rooftop solar installation and four megawatts of biogas fuel cells. Data centres that are currently under construction will run entirely on renewable energy as soon as they will start operating.
The company admitted to giving preference to suppliers that use renewable energy and would move towards making a commitment to clean energy a requirement in the future.
Demand from major companies such as Apple, Walmart and Google has helped drive increased production of solar panels and wind turbines, and reduce prices. Apple is, however, the only company that has committed to eventually using only renewable power in its supply chain.
Greenpeace said last year that Apple was ahead of some other electronics companies, such as Samsung and Huawei, on the use of renewable energy. However, most pollution occurs while products are being manufactured by suppliers, meaning Appleâs moves are only scratching the surface.
Apple’s Facilities Support Sustainability
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