Apple Plans Renewable Energy Sale With New Company

Apple has created a subsidiary company that will sell excess renewable energy that is generated from the iPhone-makers solar farms in Nevada and California.

Named Apple Energy LLC, the subsidiary filed a request this week with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to sell power across the United States.

Apple will also sell excess energy from the company’s hydroelectric plants and biogas sites in Oregon, Arizona and North Carolina. Google set up a similar initiative, called Google Energy, in 2010.

As of January 2016, Apple said that it is sourcing or generating enough renewable energy to cover 93 percent of the electricity it uses at its facilities, which include data centres, worldwide.

In February, Apple issued $1.5 billion (£1bn) in bonds that were dedicated to funding clean energy projects around the world, one of the largest green bonds to have ever been issued by a US company.

100 percent goal

The company further claimed it is now 100 percent renewable in the United States, China, Germany, and Singapore.

“In the past five years, we have reduced the carbon footprint of Apple facilities by 64 percent thanks to our clean energy use, avoiding over 1 million metric tons of carbon emissions,” said Apple in its latest environmental responsibility report.

“We’re working hard to reach 100 percent renewable energy for all of our facilities worldwide, and help our suppliers in China and everywhere around the world make the same transition to clean energy as we have.”

Apple’s environmental efforts also reach its supply chain, with recyclable packaging. The company also claims to be moving towards all-paper packaging and is committed to sustainable forestry partnerships in North Carolina and China.

Apple also wants to reduce electronic waste. An Apple Renew programme allows its customers to recycle their devices so they can be reused, but eventually these products will reach the end of their intended life.

Quiz: What do you know about Apple?