ImpactAlpha, April 16 – The tech giant said last week that its retail stores, offices, data centers and co-located facilities in 43 countries are now powered fully by renewable energy sources. The iPhone maker says it has also secured a total 23 supplier commitments to power their Apple production with 100 percent clean energy.
- What they really mean… Apple has built or bought enough renewable energy capacity to cover its total electricity usage. Many of its facilities are still connected to the grid, not directly to renewable sources.
- Renewable projects… Apple has invested in 25 new renewable projects, including solar arrays and wind farms, biogas fuel cells, micro-hydro generation systems and energy storage technologies, totaling 626 megawatts of generation capacity (it has 15 more projects in construction). Where it can’t build, it buys renewable energy purchase contracts that support new and local projects. It also purchases renewable energy credits from new projects.
- Green finance… To fund new clean energy projects, Apple sold $1.5 billion worth of green bonds in 2016 and another $1 billion in 2017. Total green bond issuances reached a record $155 billion in 2017.
- Greener tech… Google too has purchased enough renewable energyfrom sources built specifically for Google to match 100 percent of the electricity it consumed in 2017.
