Apple Says It Now Uses 100 Percent Green Energy, But There's A Catch

Apple has taken a major step towards a better future, having just announced that its business is now powered by 100 percent renewable energy. It¡¯s an initiative that the company has been working towards for years. Just two years ago, Apple was claiming it¡¯s infrastructure was 93 percent green.

Of course, there¡¯s a bit of a technicality going on here. Apple¡¯s operations in places like China, which don¡¯t have access to renewable energy sources, are obviously not green. However, the company is now buying enough clean energy to offset its energy consumption, something Google also announced last week.

This is done by purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates, a trade-able asset that guarantees the cleanliness of the energy source. This is because if Apple were to, for instance, funnel clean electricity into one of its municipal grid-powered Apple stores, you can¡¯t guarantee that it¡¯s green energy anymore. So the REC works like the exact opposite of a carbon tax levied on polluters. Aside from that, the company has also invested in its own green energy production facilities, and ensures any new offices and factories are directly 100 percent clean. Apple says it also puts excess green energy back into the grid to be used by others.

¡°Where it¡¯s not feasible to build our own generation, we sign long-term renewable energy purchase contracts, supporting new, local projects that meet our robust renewable energy sourcing principles,¡± Apple says in its Environmental Responsibility Report published last year. ¡°In cases where we aren¡¯t able to create new renewable energy projects ourselves due to local constraints, we directly purchase renewable energy from newer projects in nearby markets, or through available utility green energy programs.¡±

¡°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,¡± Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. ¡°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.¡±