Apple server farm
“We are aware that almost 70 percent of our carbon footprint is in our supply chain,” Jackson said. Apple would not directly comment on the Arizona factory but the state’s governor, Jan Brewer, has publicly praised the company’s decision to relocate there and to use solar and geothermal in manufacturing.
Apple server farm install#
The company is also moving to install solar and geothermal power at a plant in Mesa, Arizona, that has been manufacturing sapphire glass. “If you are using your iPhone, iPad, Siri or downloading a song, you don’t have to worry if you are contributing to the climate change problem in the world because Apple has already thought about that for you. With Apple’s solar farm, customers could now be confident that downloading an app or video-chatting a friend would not increase carbon pollution, Jackson said. Now she is leading the effort to shrink Apple’s carbon footprint-and make sure customers realize the company is doing its bit to decarbonize its products and the internet.ĭata centers require huge loads of electricity to maintain climatic conditions and run the servers carrying out billions of electronic transactions every day. Until a year ago, the telegenic Jackson was the front woman for Barack Obama’s environmental ambitions as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. This week the company invited journalists on a rare tour of its data center in North Carolina to showcase its efforts. “We know that our customers expect us to do the right thing about these issues,” Lisa Jackson, the vice-president of environmental initiatives told the Guardian. The company, which once drew fire from campaigners for working conditions in China and heavy reliance on fossil fuels, is now leading other technology companies in controlling its own power supply and expanding its use of renewable energy.Īfter converting all of its data centers to clean energy, the Guardian understands Apple is poised to use solar power to manufacture sapphire screens for the iPhone 6, at a factory in Arizona.Īnd in a departure for its reputation for secretiveness, Apple is going out of its way to get credit for its green efforts.
The skies are threatening to pour on the Apple solar farm but as the woman in charge of the company’s environmental initiatives points out: The panels are still putting out some power. The article was reported by the Guardian’s Suzanne Goldenberg, and the video was produced by Climate Desk’s James West. This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.