Apple now powered by 100% clean energy; here’s how it got there

By Warren Miller, contributing writer

Renewable energy is the key to breaking free of our reliance on fossil fuels and — hopefully — preserving our planet for future generations. While solar paneling on the roofs of private residences is becoming more common, the real difference needs to be made on the corporate level. One of the world’s biggest tech conglomerates is trying to make that difference — Apple recently announced that its facilities all over the world are now being powered by 100% clean energy.

These facilities include office parks, data centers, and retail stores in 43 countries. What’s more, Apple reported that nine more of its suppliers committed to powering all of their production for Apple with clean energy, totaling to 23 manufacturing partners joining the push for renewable energy solutions. The tech giant’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, is the largest Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified office building in North America, using a combination of rooftop solar paneling and bio-gas fuel cells to provide clean energy for its occupants during working hours (and for the surrounding areas on nights, weekends, and holidays).

“We’re committed to leaving the world better than we found it,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, in a press release. “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.”

Image source: Apple.

Currently, Apple has 25 operational renewable energy projects around the world, totaling 626 megawatts of generation capacity, along with 286 megawatts of solar PV generation coming online in 2017, its most ever in one year. Once completed, more than 1.4 gigawatts of clean, renewable energy generation will be spread across 11 countries.

Beginning in 2014, all of Apple’s data centers have been completely powered by renewable energy. Since 2011, the company’s renewable energy projects have reduced greenhouse gas emissions (CO₂ e) by 54% from its facilities worldwide, preventing about 2.1 million metric tons of CO₂ e from entering the atmosphere.

Apple’s leadership continues to collaborate with local governments and utility companies to develop renewable energy projects all over the world. Over the course of an ongoing, four-year partnership with NV Energy in Reno, Apple has contributed to solar energy projects that create 320 megawatts of electricity a year. They’ve helped to build both wind and solar energy projects in six different Chinese provinces that combine to create almost 500 megawatts a year.

For the many small Apple offices spread across the world, it was more difficult to find renewable energy sources. Often times, renewable energy sources were not available, so Apple worked with a variety of partners in both the private and public sector to make renewable energy sources available for every Apple office. Secondarily, the Apple push made renewable energy available for other companies and spurred the wider growth of renewables in places where it hadn’t previously existed.

Apple’s resolute support of renewable energy will hopefully serve as a call to action for other multinational companies around the world. Everyone can do their part to decrease their carbon footprint, but the world’s largest employers have to lead the way if it’s going to make a difference. The Industrial Revolution began our man-made onslaught on the environment — now it’s an industry that’s going to have to turn it around.