Tech

Every Apple Building is now using 100% renewable energy

I’m no greeny but I love the idea of clean solar energy and don’t have an issue with the good old Wind Turbines either. Government policy aside there’s one company with the wherewith-all required to make a serious green commitment and that’s Apple – Today, they’ve announced their global facilities are powered by 100% clean energy.

That’s not just the impressive Apple Park head office, we’re talking every Retail Store around the world, every office, data centre and Apple facility across 43 countries. Pretty bloody impressive right?

Plus, they’re pushing more and more of their suppliers to make the same commitment with the number of suppliers now at 23 pushing to 100% renewables.

“We’re committed to leaving the world better than we found it. After years of hard work we’re proud to have reached this significant milestone,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’re 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.”

Apple itself is creating or developing new renewable projects with utilities that wouldn’t otherwise exist – including solar arrays, wind farms and emerging green power too.

There are 25 such projects operational, totalling 626 megawatts of generation capacity – last year along 286 megawatts of solar came online.

Apple’s own list of renewable energy projects include:

  • Apple Park, Apple’s new headquarters in Cupertino, is now the largest LEED Platinum-certified office building in North America. It is powered by 100 percent renewable energy from multiple sources, including a 17-megawatt onsite rooftop solar installation and four megawatts of biogas fuel cells, and controlled by a microgrid with battery storage. It also gives clean energy back to the public grid during periods of low occupancy.
  • Over 485 megawatts of wind and solar projects have been developed across six provinces of China to address upstream manufacturing emissions.
  • Apple recently announced plans to build a 400,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art data centre in Waukee, Iowa, that will run entirely on renewable energy from day one.
  • In Prineville, Oregon, the company signed a 200-megawatt power purchase agreement for an Oregon wind farm, the Montague Wind Power Project, set to come online by the end of 2019.
  • In Reno, Nevada, Apple created a partnership with the local utility, NV Energy, and over the last four years developed four new projects totalling 320 megawatts of solar PV generation.
  • In Japan, Apple is partnering with local solar company Daini Denryoku to install over 300 rooftop solar systems that will generate 18,000 megawatt-hours of clean energy every year — enough to power more than 3,000 Japanese homes.
  • Apple’s data centre in Maiden, North Carolina, is supported by projects that generate 244 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy a year, which is equivalent to the energy used by 17,906 North Carolina homes.
  • In Singapore, where land is scarce, Apple adapted and built its renewable energy on 800 rooftops.
  • Apple is currently constructing two new data centres in Denmark that will run on 100 percent renewable energy from day one.
Trevor Long

Trev is a Technology Commentator, Dad, Speaker and Rev Head. He produces and hosts two popular podcasts, EFTM and Two Blokes Talking Tech. He also appears on over 50 radio stations across Australia weekly, and is the resident Tech Expert on Channel 9’s Today Show each day and appears regularly on A Current Affair. Father of three, he is often found down in his Man Cave. Like this post? Buy Trev a drink!

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