iCloud is now completely solar

By Ed Sutherland on Mar 21, 2013

Apple’s data farm – which powers the company’s cloud-computing efforts – is completely solar. That’s the word from the iPhone maker, which Thursday released its annual Environmental Progress report. The progress comes only a year after Apple received a failing grade by Greenpeace International, whose members charged the iPhone maker used coal to power its cloud.

Apple also announced 75 percent of power to its worldwide corporate offices come from renewable sources such as solar, wind and geothermal. That is more than double the sustainable energy of two years ago, when the company announced 35 percent of power in its corporate suites was renewable… Read More

 

Apple drops to sixth in Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics

By Ed Sutherland on Nov 19, 2012

Apple’s environmental credentials lost some of their luster in the eyes of watchdog group Greenpeace. The company ranked #6 among consumer electronics firms, a slip in stature largely blamed on lack of transparency. While ranking high in product’s energy efficiency, the gadget maker from California lost points for not providing information on its greenhouse gas emissions that could be externally verified. Apple also received poor marks for not setting a target for lower emissions, the group announced Monday… Read More

 

Apple’s green ranking drops to 118 in US

By Ed Sutherland on Oct 30, 2012

Despite recently obtaining a green apple logo, the iPhone maker’s ranking when it comes to green issues took a beating. The consumer tech giant ranks 118 among U.S. companies, a 68-point drop from a year ago. According to one report, Apple failing to answer a survey on greenhouse gas emissions from its American facilities via the Carbon Disclosure Project in both 2012 and 2011 was the chief reason for the poor showing… Read More

 

How green is the iPad mini?

By Cody Lee on Oct 27, 2012

In the run up to last week’s iPad mini event, we heard multiple rumors claiming that Apple’s new tablet would come in multiple colors, like the iPod touch. But obviously, the speculation never materialized.

Like other iPads and iPhones before it, the iPad mini only comes in two colors: white and black. There is, however, one other color that folks seem to be concerned about: green. How green is the iPad mini? Read More

 

Apple buys 200 acres in North Carolina for second solar farm

By Cody Lee on Sep 20, 2012

According to a new report today, Apple just laid out $3 million to purchase 200 acres of land in North Carolina near its Maiden data center for a second major solar farm.

As you may recall, Apple is nearing completion of its first 20-megawatt solar farm just across the street from its North Carolina campus, which is the largest of its kind… Read More

 

BioLite CampStove lets you charge your iOS device by burning stuff

By Christian Zibreg on Jul 16, 2012

Say what you will, but all day long performance is a pipe dream with today’s power-hungry iOS devices. Because these are mini computers, iOS devices require lots of juice to run. Unfortunately, space constraints and today’s battery technology just can’t keep up with the realities of mobile computing (yet).

Folks tackle the problem with battery packs, but that’s just another item to lug around while out and about. And guess what, a battery pack is one item that routinely gets forgotten in my camping preparations. But I never forget a camp stove.

Enter BioLite’s CampStove, an awesome new ‘accessory’, basically a special camp stove which lets you burn stuff –  be it wood and pine or twigs and leaves or other bio mass – to convert heat to energy via its built-in thermoelectric generator, so you can charge your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. The campfire will never be the same. A cool promo video follows right below… Read More

 

Following customer complaints, Apple puts every product back on EPEAT

By Cody Lee on Jul 13, 2012

Wow, here’s something you don’t see everyday: following a number of customer complaints, Apple has decided to return its products to the EPEAT registry. The news comes just a week after we reported that its products had been removed.

Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware, Bob Mansfield, took to Apple’s website in Steve Jobs-like fashion this morning, writing an open letter explaining the whole situation. We’ve got the full letter after the break… Read More

 

Greenpeace: Apple’s clean energy policies have significantly improved

By Cody Lee on Jul 12, 2012

Apple has been taking a lot of heat regarding its environmental policies over the past week. This due to the news that the company has recently pulled its products from the EPEAT registry.

But despite the fact that its products will no longer be EPEAT-certified, environmental groups say that Apple’s ‘green’ polices are improving. Greenpeace, in fact, just upped the company’s CEI score… Read More

 

How Apple’s $1 billion iCloud data center almost didn’t get built

By Christian Zibreg on Jul 12, 2012

An interesting feature by Katie Fehrenbacher of GigaOM has an insightful look at how Apple’s $1 billion data center in North Carolina came to be and how it almost didn’t get built. Luckily, officials were able to work out the deal and boy did it pay off. Because Apple is a powerful company, the iCloud data center gave Catawba County a much needed bargaining chip in convincing others to build their data centers there, too… Read More

 

Apple responds to concerns over EPEAT withdraw

By Cody Lee on Jul 11, 2012

Last week, the news came out that Apple had recently removed 39 of its products from the EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) registry. EPEAT is essentially a list of environmentally friendly products.

There’s already been a significant amount of backlash — from both the media and consumers — regarding the announcement. So last night, the company decided to comment on the matter… Read More

 

Apple pulls products from Environmental Assessment Tool registry

By Cody Lee on Jul 7, 2012

Despite Apple’s efforts — utilizing large solar farms at all of its major campuses, and offering a recycling program for used products — the company continues to catch heat over its effect on the environment.

And this latest move certainly isn’t going to help its case. Word is that the company has just pulled all of its products from EPEAT’s (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) green-friendly registry… Read More

 

Approved: iCloud getting biogas cell farm, too

By Christian Zibreg on May 23, 2012

Apple’s plan to use renewable energy sources to power its $1 billion data center in Maiden, North Carolina by the end of this year has received another important nod from The North Carolina Utilities Commission.

The agency just greenlighted a 4.5-megawatt fuel cell installation that will produce electricity from eco-friendly biogas in order to power a huge array of iCloud servers.

Not bad for a cloud that relies on “19th-century coal energy”… Read More

 

Take that, Greenpeace! Apple’s iCloud solar farm is a go

By Christian Zibreg on May 17, 2012

Apple doesn’t run the cleanest of clouds, we all know this. Fortunately, the company’s strides to reduce reliance on “19th-century coal energy”, as Greenpeace put it, have received a boost from The North Carolina Utilities Commission which has now approved plans for a massive solar farm to power Apple’s $1 billion data center in Maiden, North Carolina.

It’s gonna provide 20 megawatts of power to power iCloud servers that host the iTunes infrastructure, your music, photos, contacts and iOS device backups, to name a few… Read More

 

Greenpeace protests outside of Apple HQ for cleaner cloud

By Cody Lee on May 15, 2012

Environmental friendliness has been an important subject for Apple over the past few years. It’s currently building one of the largest solar panel farms in the U.S. to power its North Carolina data center, and plans to do the same thing in Oregon.

But apparently that isn’t enough for the folks at Greenpeace. The environmental organization recently staged a major protest outside of Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, CA, pleading with the company to increase its ‘Green’ efforts… Read More

 

Confirmed: Bloom Energy to power iCloud cell farm

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 30, 2012

Itćs been officially confirmed today that Apple will use cutting-edge, power-efficient, eco-friendly fuel cells from California-based Bloom Energy startup to power its huge iCloud data center located in Maiden, North Carolina.

Hopefully this move will appease Greenpeace, whose recent report titled How Clean Is Your Cloud slammed Apple over the company’s use of “19th-century coal energy” for its data centers… Read More

 

Rare earth elements, another reason why Apple has its heels stuck in Chinese mud

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 19, 2012

We explained earlier today how producing millions of iPads that’ll eventually be discarded negatively affects our environment.

And even though Apple is doing what it possibly can to forgo toxic materials in iPad manufacturing, green technology requires a significant amount of difficult-to-mine elements.

And these green earth elements are yet another reason why Apple cannot pull out of China and move manufacturing to other countries.

True, some iPhones are being made in Brazil. The problem for Apple and other electronics makers is the fact that companies can only be exempt from China’s rare earth export quotas by manufacturing within the country… Read More

 

How the iPad affects our planet

By Cody Lee on Apr 19, 2012

Since Apple unveiled the first iPad back in January of 2010, it has completely dominated the tablet space. In just two years, the company has sold more than 50 million slates, garnering more than 60% of the market.

But with great power, comes great responsibility. Producing 50 million tablets, which will eventually be discarded, can have seriously negative effects on our environment. Want to know more? Keep reading… Read More

 

Greenpeace activists protest outside Apple’s Irish HQ, winning employees’ support

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 18, 2012

Just a day following an unpleasant report from Greenpeace, activists with the non-governmental environmental organization gathered outside Apple’s Irish headquarters to distribute leaflets and place banners urging the company to “clean our cloud”.

Greenpeace singled out Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Twitter for using dirty coal energy while praising Google for their eco-friendly data centers and environmental consciousness. Read More

 

Greenpeace slams Apple over “19th-century coal energy”, praises Google

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 17, 2012

Non-governmental environmental organization Greenpeace has taken issue with Apple’s $1 billion iCloud data center in North Carolina, accusing the Cupertino company of running a facility that operates on “dirty, 19th-century coal energy”.

In addition, Greenpeace wrote in its latest report, Microsoft and Amazon are also running server farms that operate on dirty energy.

The slap in Apple’s face came just as we learned the company is building the nation’s largest end-user owned solar energy farm to partially power the iCloud data center. Read More

 

The next iPhone to pack eco-friendly battery with fast charge time?

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 4, 2012

What you see here is a brand new breakthrough battery design from NEC called Organic Radical Battery (ORB). Measuring just 0.3mm in profile thanks to the use of polymer film of 0.05mm thickness, these ORBs are just a fraction of the somewhat bulky lithium-ion polymer batteries found in today’s smartphones and other portable devices.

What’s best, the tech sports fast charge time and is is completely eco-friendly, unlike their lithium-polymer counterparts that contain some harmful elements. Apple’s iOS gadgets and notebooks currently utilize the lithium-polymer battery technology.

According to a new report, Apple is interested in using the extremely thin yet powerful ORB battery technology in its revamped next-generation iPhone, expected some time during the early-summer or Fall. Read More

 
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