Apple's focus on making its retail stores and corporate offices in the United States and around the world run on 100 percent renewable energy sources is in the spotlight again with news that it's created a new company with the sole purpose of selling excess electricity generated by its solar farms in Cupertino and Nevada, as first discovered by 9to5Mac.
In addition to a nicely done environment-focused video posted yesterday, in which Apple boasts how its data centers run on 100 percent renewable energy, the Cupertino firm this morning released another Earth Day focused television ad on its YouTube channel, this one promoting recycling.
Featuring Siri and Apple's recycling robot Liam, the 25-second video has Siri conversing with the robot, asking him what he's doing for Earth Day.
Apple yesterday published a cool new video on its YouTube channel that does a very good job explaining to the general public, in layman's terms, its renewable energy strides.
The 45-second clip is all about iMessage, Apple's own messaging service that's built right into the stock Messages application on iOS and OS X.
With an average of tens of billions of iMessages hitting Apple's data centers on any given day, the Cupertino firm wanted to make it clear that the impact on our environment is negligible because Apple's servers run on 100 percent renewable energy.
Apple has partnered with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on a brand new App Store initiative that will have the world's leading organization in wildlife conservation and endangered species receive 100 percent of the proceeds from select App Store purchases until April 24, just in time for Earth Day.
Descriptions of participating apps were updated this morning to reflect that “Apple and WWF are working together to protect life on our planet”.
Tim Cook on Monday kicked off Apple's long-awaited March media event with his usual introduction. The CEO's first announcement was that Apple now has 1 billion devices being using around the globe, and then as expected, he took a moment to briefly talk about the company's ongoing fight with the FBI over encryption.
Cook thanked everyone for their support of Apple in what he believes is one of the biggest privacy battles of our generation. He then brought up Apple's VP of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, Lisa Jackson, to talk about Apple's progress in reducing its environmental impact. We have more highlights from the intro below.
Apple tonight announced the company is now generating enough clean energy to cover the totality of its operations in China, and then some. In addition, Apple also announced two new programs aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of its partners in the region.
Apple on Tuesday quietly announced the promotion of Lisa Jackson, formerly the VP of environmental affairs, to a new lead policy position. As noted by The Washington Post, Jackson's bio on the company's website now reads Vice President, Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives.
In her new role, Jackson will not only continue to oversee Apple's efforts to minimize its impact on the environment, but she will also be responsible for the company's education policy programs such as ConnectED, its product accessibility work, and its worldwide government affairs.
Greenpeace released a 2015 update for its 'Clicking Clean' report this morning, and Apple is once again leading the pack. The report gives tech companies a Clean Energy Index score based on factors like commitment to clean energy and energy transparency, and the Cupertino firm received a perfect score.
Apple scored 100% CEI, with A's across the board for its energy efficiency and deployment of renewable energy at its data centers and facilities around the world. Other companies didn't fair so well, though, with Google scoring a 46% CEI, Microsoft at 39%, Amazon at 23% and eBay all the way down at 10%.
Apple on Monday published 2015 Environmental Responsibility Report and an accompanying video entitled 'Better Starts Here', which highlights “significant progress” the company has made in terms of its commitment to preserving our environment during the 2014 fiscal year.
“We don’t want to debate climate change,” said the iPhone maker. “We want to stop it.” The video, along with the latest Environmental Responsibility Report, highlights projects that focus on renewable energy, climate change and forest preservation, as well as Apple's efforts to preserve resources throughout its supply chain, data centers and solar power plants and get rid of toxins in its products.
In another environmentally friendly move, Apple and SunPower Corporation today announced a partnership that will result in two solar power plants, currently under construction in China, marking SunPower's first international solar collaboration with the iPhone maker.
Located in the ABA Region of China's Sichuan Province, these power plants will initially provide a total of forty megawatts of power. This is just the start, Apple's vice president for environmental initiatives, Lisa Jackson, told The Associated Press.
Apple has partnered with The Conservation Fund on a far-reaching initiative designed to permanently protect working forests in the United States while ensuring steady supply of paper products for sustainable product packaging, according to a press release Thursday by The Conservation Fund.
The “breakthrough” deal will see the Cupertino firm purchase over 36,000 acres of vulnerable forestland in the Maine and North Carolina regions, which is larger than the land area of the City of San Francisco.
The collaboration will ensure that America’s working forests stay working forests. “For Apple, this is the beginning of a worldwide effort, one that represents a new approach as it reassesses its impact on the world’s paper supply chain,” noted the company.
Tim Cook turned up in Manhattan today, to help kickoff the Climate Week NYC 2014 conference. The CEO was invited to speak as part of the 'enterprise-focused global solutions' portion of the event, and he participated in a short on-stage interview regarding Apple's carbon footprint.
More specifically, Cook talked about the various things Apple is doing to reduce its carbon footprint. Not only is it working to ensure that many of its facilities are run on renewable energy, but it's also working to make impactful changes through its supply chain and at the product level.