Apple is Powering 100 Percent of Its Facilities With Renewable Energy

According to Apple Inc.’s newsroom, the company’s global facilities are now powered with 100 percent clean energy. In addition to retail stores, offices and data centers located in 43 countries, Apple announced that 9 additional manufacturing partners committed to power all of their Apple production with 100 percent clean energy.

According to Apple, the company has created regional renewable energy projects, including solar arrays, wind farms, biogas fuel cells, and more as energy sources. The company has 25 operational renewable energy projects globally, “totaling 626 megawatts of generation capacity, with 286 megawatts of solar PV generation,” and 15 projects in progress. Once all of the projects are finished, Apple will be able to spread over 1.4 gigawatts of clean renewable energy generation across 11 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, China and India.

Since 2011, Apple’s renewable energy projects have decreased greenhouse gas emissions by 54 percent in its worldwide facilities, preventing “nearly 2.1 million metric tons of CO2e from entering the atmosphere,” the company says. Plus, with more of its suppliers operating on 100 percent renewable energy, Apple helped prevent over 1.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gasses from entering the atmosphere in 2017; this is “equivalent of taking more than 300,000 cars off the road,” Apple says.

What decision makers need to consider:

If a decision maker’s company is looking to power itself off of green energy, a good place to start is to watch and learn from Apple. Keeping tabs on what Apple does with its renewable energy can serve as a good model for what a decision maker’s company can and can’t afford to do; there is minimal risk to watching and learning.

Plus, decision makers can turn to Apple’s suppliers and manufacturers for ideas on how to generate their own energy. For example, in Oregon, Apple signed a 200-megawatt power purchase agreement for a local wind farm, which will come online by the end of 2019. In another case, in Japan, the company is partnering with a solar company to install over 300 rooftop solar systems, which will generate 18,000 megawatt-hours of clean energy every year (which can power over 3,000 homes in Japan). Exploring different renewable energy solutions can help decision makers decipher which method would best serve their company’s needs without breaking the bank, and with minimal mistakes.

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