Apple has completely switched to renewable energy in 43 countries

Apple's 50-megawatt solar power station to the east of the data center in Mesa, Arizona. Photo: Apple



Apple has announced a full transition to renewable energy. We are talking about energy consumption of all data centers, offices and corporate stores in 43 countries.



To reach 100% of renewable energy consumption, Apple and partners around the world launched 25 projects with a total generated capacity of 626 megawatts. Last year, solar power plants of 286 megawatts were commissioned, and another 15 facilities are under construction.

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In addition, the company enters into direct contracts with third-party producers - wind and solar power plants - for the purchase of "green" energy. Physically, this electricity is supplied from the public grid and does not differ from the rest of the electricity, but the existence of a contract allows Apple to say that the company is provided exclusively with “green” electricity.



In addition to solar and wind power plants, Apple develops projects and finances the construction of more exotic projects, including biogas power plants, microturbines for hydro generation and storage of accumulated electricity.



Moreover, the apple company encourages its suppliers to do the same. Recently, another 9 suppliers have pledged to abandon fossil fuels. Thus, the total number of signatories to this share reached the 23rd. Particularly rapid construction of solar stations Apple launched in China. Solar and wind power plants with a total capacity of over 485 megawatts have been commissioned or planned in six Chinese provinces.





In China, panels on Apple's solar power plant are mounted at a height of several meters above the ground, so as not to interfere with the growth of grass and cattle grazing



All Apple data centers are almost completely powered from renewable sources since 2014, and now all other buildings have switched to "green" energy. According to Apple's calculations, thanks to this policy, the company has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 54% since 2011 and has prevented the release of 2.1 million metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. Apple's partners in the production of machinery and components for 2017 alone prevented the release of 1.5 million metric tons of CO ₂ equivalent.



One of the most interesting projects in the field of alternative energy from Apple - the building of the new headquarters in Cupertino, the entire roof of which is completely covered with solar panels. The headquarters is 100% powered by “clean” energy, including 17 megawatts of solar panels on the roof, and 4 megawatts of fuel cell biogas.





17-megawatt solar installation on the roof of Apple Headquarters in Cupertino



Another major project is a new data center in Iowa with an area of ​​37,000 m², which will run on renewable energy from day one. Similarly, from the first day, two new data centers in Denmark will operate on renewable energy.



In Japan, Apple signed a contract with local company Daini Denryoku to install solar panels on the roofs of more than 300 buildings. The same contract was concluded in Singapore with Sunseap (for 800 buildings).





The operator of solar power plants Sunseap manages solar systems on the roofs of more than 800 buildings in Singapore. Total generated power - 32 megawatts



“We strive to make the world better than it was before us. After many years of hard work, we are proud to have reached this important milestone, said company executive director Tim Cook - We will continue to expand the boundaries of what is possible with the use of materials in our products, their processing, equipment of our buildings and working with suppliers to create new creative and promising sources of renewable energy, because we know that the future depends on it ”.



Apple has abandoned mercury in its products since 2009, from lead in glass displays and solder - since 2006, from arsenic in glass displays - from 2008, from brominated flame retardant products (BFR) in thousands of components - from 2008. Now beryllium is excluded from the design of all new products.



In 2017, Google also planned to completely switch to renewable energy . Such initiatives of large technology companies stimulate the demand for renewable energy - and contribute to lower prices for it.