Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Apple is taking its clean energy promise to Japan and the open sea

By

apple clean energy japan screen shot 2017 03 08 at 11 12 am
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Apple’s highly anticipated new campus isn’t going to be the only ambitiously green infrastructure — it’s got a floating island in Japan in the works, too. On Wednesday, Apple announced that its component supplier Ibiden (a company that “helps bring together the integrated circuitry and chip packages in Apple devices”) has become the first company in Japan to pledge that it will “power all of its Apple manufacturing with 100 percent renewable energy.” Calling it a “significant step forward in Apple’s efforts to help its manufacturing partners transition to clean power,” Apple is now on track to be generating more than 2.5 billion kilowatt hours per year of clean energy for manufacturing products by the end of 2018.

To make good on their promise, Ibiden is planning to invest in more than 20 new renewable energy facilities, one of which is among the largest floating solar photovoltaic systems in Japan. The impressive structure is built on a converted lumberyard to ensure that the island nation doesn’t lose too much real estate in the name of environmental friendliness.

Recommended Videos

“We’re proud to partner with suppliers like Ibiden who recognize that renewable energy investments are good for the environment and good for business,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president for Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives. “As we continue our push to power our global operations with 100 percent renewable energy, it is more important than ever that we help our manufacturing partners make the same transition to cleaner sources, and set an example for other companies to follow.”

Related

Ibiden echoed these sentiments, with Kyoichi Yamanaka, Managing Director of Ibiden’s Environment Group noting, “These innovative new clean energy investments demonstrate our commitment to doing business responsibly and economically. Our products help Apple devices run smarter, and now we’re powering our operations with smarter energy too. We’re pleased to partner with Apple and lead the way in helping Japan meet its clean energy goals.”

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Lulu Chang
Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
Apple already has its next big chip, but you may never see it
Apple Mac Studio top down view showing PC and keyboard.

Apple’s M3 series of chips has been a major improvement over what came before it, with users feeling the benefits across the Mac range. The only chip missing from the lineup is the M3 Ultra, which is reserved for Apple’s high-end Mac Studio and Mac Pro devices.

We’ve been hearing that Apple is thinking of shifting to an annual release cycle for its Mac chips, and with the M2 Ultra having made its debut in June 2023, everyone has been gearing up to see the M3 edition launching this summer.

Read more
Apple may stop updating one of its best Apple Watches this year
Apple Watch Series 4 Best Smartwatches

WatchOS 11 — Apple's next big Apple Watch update — is coming soon. Unfortunately, according to one new report, it looks like the update won't be available for one of Apple's best models.

According to iPhoneSoft, the iconic Apple Watch Series 4 will not be updated to watchOS 11 this year. Instead, the list of Apple Watches expected to receive the update is as follows:

Read more
How Intel and Microsoft are teaming up to take on Apple
An Intel Meteor Lake system-on-a-chip.

It seems like Apple might need to watch out, because Intel and Microsoft are coming for it after the latter two companies reportedly forged a close partnership during the development of Intel Lunar Lake chips. Lunar Lake refers to Intel's upcoming generation of mobile processors that are aimed specifically at the thin and light segment. While the specs are said to be fairly modest, some signs hint that Lunar Lake may have enough of an advantage to pose a threat to some of the best processors.

Today's round of Intel Lunar Lake leaks comes from Igor's Lab. The system-on-a-chip (SoC), pictured above, is Intel's low-power solution made for thin laptops that's said to be coming out later this year. Curiously, the chips weren't manufactured on Intel's own process, but on TSMC's N3B node. This is an interesting development because Intel typically sticks to its own fabs, and it even plans to sell its manufacturing services to rivals like AMD. This time, however, Intel opted for the N3B node for its compute tile.

Read more