Elsewhere in the world, 93 percent of facilities are powered by renewable energy, and they have plans in place to raise that number.
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Jackson also introduced a robot named “Liam” deconstructs old iPhones so parts can be repurposed.
Some of the materials removed include cobalt, gold, silver, platinum and tungsten. “We want to stop it”, Apple says on their website, and executives backed that up today with evidence of steps they’ve taken to minimize their carbon footprint.
Above: Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives.
Since 2012, all of Apple’s data centers have run on renewable energy from sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biogas fuel cells, and the more “exotic” micro-hydro power. “With Apple Renew you can recycle your devices in a way that’s safe for your devices and safe for the planet”, said Jackson.
“In Singapore, where there’s not enough room to put solar panels on the ground, we looked up”, said Jackson, revealing that Apple put solar panels on 800 rooftops across its Singapore offices, making Apple operations in the country 100% renewable. Another aspect revealed at today’s Apple event was that 99% of the paper that the company uses for packaging comes either from recycled paper or “sustainably managed forests”.
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The environment topic was interesting in that it was the second thing that Apple CEO Tim Cook started talking about, just after explaining Apple’s position on privacy in relation to its feud with the Federal Bureau of Investigation over access to the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone.
