Apple has announced that all of its facilities worldwide — from retail stores and offices to data centres and co-located facilities in foreign countries — are now powered with 100 percent clean and renewable energy. This major milestone includes facilities across 43 countries, and nine additional manufacturing partners have also committed to powering all of their Apple production with 100 percent clean energy, bringing to the total number of supplier commitments to 23.
Apple is employing a variety of different energy sources around the world, working with local utilities to develop new regional renewable energy projects, ranging from solar arrays and wind farms to even embracing emerging technologies like biogas fuel cells, micro-hydro generation systems, and new energy storage technologies. Apple’s 25 operational renewable energy projects around the world are producing 626 megawatts of power generation, and Apple currently has 15 more projects under development, which will bring the total capacity to 1.4 gigawatts of clean power, spread across 11 countries.
Apple’s announcement comes only a few days after the company formally voiced its opposition to the repeal of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, stating that such a move would “jeopardize the country’s position in the race for investments in clean energy,” create investment uncertainty, and threaten the development and investments that the company has already made in renewable power.
“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.”