Apple's Climate Promise Depends on Taiwan Partners Going Green (bloomberg.com) 30
Apple has gone carbon neutral. But in order to say the same for its flagship iPhone, it's going to need help from Taiwan. From a report: More than three-quarters of the emissions that come from making Apple's ubiquitous products come from outside suppliers, according to the company's Environmental Progress Report. That includes Taiwanese electronics giants like TSMC and Foxconn, which still get about 90% of their power from non-renewable sources, according to company reports. That's changing though. The firms are installing solar panels and buying power from offshore wind farms in line with Apple's target of having all of its products be carbon-neutral by 2030. It underscores how climate pressure is increasingly coming not only from activists, but from within company's own supply chains. "What Apple and other companies are trying to do is contribute to meeting Paris climate targets by decarbonizing their own footprints and making it a precondition for their partners and suppliers to use renewable energy," said Prakash Sharma, director for the energy transition practice at consultancy Wood Mackenzie Ltd. "It's gaining momentum because more and more companies are moving in that direction."
See, it does work (Score:2)
Lots of people were saying it's "greenwashing" and won't make any difference. I pointed out that this tactic has already worked well, e.g. RoHS. Good on Apple for trying it.
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Lots of people were saying it's "greenwashing" and won't make any difference. I pointed out that this tactic has already worked well, e.g. RoHS. Good on Apple for trying it.
How much stuff has been landfilled before its time because of tin whiskers? What's the environmental cost of that?
Re:See, it does work (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't let perfect to be the enemy of the good.
If I am badly bleeding, and the only thing close to me is a dirty rag, I will use it to stop the bleeding, even though it will probably cause an infection. It is better to survive then battle the infection vs just die from blood loss, because you didn't want to take the tradeoff.
Also the infection can often be treatable, or stopped after your bleeding has been stabilized, or give you enough time to access sterile gauzes.
Landfills are a problem, however they are a local problem, with tools and resources to help manage them. Global Climate change is a Global Problem, without too many resources to fix and isolate the problem. The only solution is to reduce or capture emissions, and let the planet heal itself. .
We can also dig up, resort and recycle a lot of material that is in Landfills,
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Landfills are a problem, however they are a local problem, with tools and resources to help manage them. Global Climate change is a Global Problem, without too many resources to fix and isolate the problem.
My point was actually that comparing to RoHS is ridiculous. It's a poorly thought out solution to a problem which could better have been solved some other way. Force companies to be responsible for the recycling of their products, for example. And make them pay for it up front so that if they go out of business, they've still paid. And to make that actually work, write into the law that you can go after executives and investors for the money if necessary, and then actually do it. Instead we got shittier ele
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RoHS wasn't just about recycling or what goes in landfill. There were other rules for that kind of thing anyway.
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How much stuff has been landfilled before its time because of tin whiskers? What's the environmental cost of that?
In my city, there's waste containers for various type of waste: paper, textiles, glass (clear & coloured), and plastics / tin. These containers are clustered into 'islands', often next to supermarkets, or in the middle of residential areas. People often drop items next to these containers rather than in it (container full, item might be desired by someone else, doesn't fit through opening, no time to figure out what goes in where, ... whatever). For me, it has grown into a hobby of sorts to make a roun
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> It gets discarded due to other reasons (planned obsolescence being one of many).
If you want to beat on Apple for anything it would be planned obsolescence. Actually most phone manufacturers and Google. I buy a new phone so I can run the current Android OS which typically only gets you 2-3 updates. I need the updates for security patches for the network and the crap 2FA tools etc required by my company.
The next to go after would be smart TVs. Why can't you hardware upgrade the smart module?!
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If you want to beat on Apple for anything it would be planned obsolescence.
My six-year-old iPhone is still working fine.
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"RoHS caused tin whiskers" is a myth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Fortunately, experience thus far suggests deployed instances of RoHS compliant products are not failing due to whisker growth.
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That alone would extend most of their device lifetimes and massively reduce the environmental footprint they are responsible for.
Going green is a good investment. (Score:2, Interesting)
Despite the redirect from Oil companies lobbies going green makes financial sense.
1. Most green energy, YOU GENERATE THE POWER! This helps with vertical integration of your organization. Giving you more control of the power. Vs. having to deal with the whims of a power company, or fluctuating prices of Fossil Fuel companies, because countries are having a hissy fit with each other.
2. Over time it is cheaper. Solar is a cheap overtime (after the upfront investment) plus you can always expand.
3. Longer use
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Mod Up!
The reason why we have been using Fossil fuel is because we didn't quite have the technology to do better. Now that the tech is available and overall cheaper it is really a good business decision vs. just about environmental.
It is like why people are getting serious into buying electric cars. Faster Acceleration, Battery Life is good enough, especially if you charge at home (Every day a full tank), cheaper overall costs, ICE Cars have a lot more maintenance than electric ones.
I understand why people
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I currently model utility-scale power systems for a major US utility that has footprints in both wholesale markets and monopoly service areas. Posting anonymously just to avoid blowback, and I'll still caveat this that these are my opinions and not an official position of my employer.
You need to understand that the cost metrics used to judge renewable energy right now are skewed, sometimes intentionally. I don't personally care as a professional how your electricity is generated; I am paid to adhere to ou
Millions of Bricked devices are not green (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: Millions of Bricked devices are not green (Score:4, Informative)
"Non-removable battery"
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I can go to any mall kiosk and get a battery or screen replaced on a "non removable" battery.
Re: Millions of Bricked devices are not green (Score:4, Informative)
Bricking might be a bit strong but certainly they would make the batteries easily and cheaply replaceable. When you think how Apple really started that trend of being unrepairable back with the original iPod and how many billions of devices (including from other manufacturers emboldened by their anti-consumer move) ended up being replaced because of it... Well they have a lot to answer for.
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Given I can go to a mall kiosk and get my battery changed out for $30 and 10 minutes, I say the problem resolves itself
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Yes, easily replacable batteries are nice - they're essential on things that still use primary batteries like remote controls. That said, how many times do you find remote control battery covers inevitably taped shut because it was dropped one too many times and the snaps given out? Today you find cellphones the same way - tape on the front because th screen cracked, and tape on the back because the battery cover no fails to stay on the phone.
Alas, I can blame Apple for making it so phones don't fall apart explosively if you throw them on the ground. With battery covers that fly off and batteries that slide across the floor, tossing a phone on the ground was rather dramatic because pieces flew everywhere. You don't get that anymore. Maybe a few flakes of glass.
More importantly, if you don't need to accomodate user replaceable batteries you have more space to use for batteries - and you're not as tied up in the shape either. Both adds to the available battery capacity for the actual phone.
After those initial advantages, another one is more recent: It's far easier to waterproof the phone if you can't replace the battery.
Also, I've read somewhere - but can't find it - that Nokia after the initial announcement of the iPhone thought the phone was impossible. It woul
Re:Millions of Bricked devices are not green (Score:5, Interesting)
I have an original iPhone, that works fine, when I charge it up, and put in an updated SIM card.
I know people with iPhone 6 and 6s that they are still using. At work our oncall phone was an old iPhone SE that was working fine.
Unless you are hacking and jailbreaking every Apple Device out there (incorrectly) thus bricking them yourself I don't see your statement as true.
Now there is an issue, where Apple will stop supporting the OS on devices, and the non-replaceable battery can shorten a devices usefulness, but that is different than bricking it.
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My iPhone 6 battery still reports 85% life remaining. There was even an OS update last month for iOS 12! I certainly can't complain about lack of support.