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If they're serious about reducing their pollution, they'll give more consideration to the end of the product life cycle.

by lokl 6y ago

jjcon 6y ago
On the other hand, if the device has no footprint then it doesn’t matter as much. If Apple wants sustainability without compromising form/function this is a great way to do it. One can always do more - that’s an easy and always applying criticism. Let’s applaud when people do something good.
- fahrradflucht 6y ago
  But "no footprint" seams pretty far away if not impossible. They claim _carbon_ neutrality in 10 years. There will still be pollution and resource over consumption which product lifecycle extension could work to improve up on.
- Wowfunhappy 6y ago
  > On the other hand, if the device has no footprint then it doesn’t matter as much. Agreed. The problem is, I'm sure "carbon neutral" means they're using carbon offsets to a significant degree. Offsets are good, and I certainly wouldn't want to discourage any company from using them. But, they're also not a panacea—certainly not to the point where there's zero harm in buying a new phone versus fixing an existing one.
  - Despegar 6y ago
    >The problem is, I'm sure "carbon neutral" means they're using carbon offsets to a significant degree. They aren't. See page 18. https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/Apple_Environmental_Progress_Report_2020.pdf https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/Apple_Environmental_Pr...
    - monocasa 6y ago
      That page only accounts for electricity used at Apple-owned facilities. There's a lot more to the carbon footprint than that.
      - Despegar 6y ago
        Keep reading from page 18. The good news is that they're using the same strategy for all their suppliers, which is putting renewable energy onto the grid.
        monocasa 6y ago
        First off, the way they're describing the suppliers sounds different, and sounds like offsets. Secondly, electricity used in facilities is not the whole of their carbon footprint. You've got all the shipping across the supply chain for one example.
        Despegar 6y ago
        >We launched the Supplier Clean Energy Program in October 2015 to advance those goals through our manufacturing supply chain. Since then, we have made strong progress toward our initial goal of bringing online 4 gigawatts of new clean energy by 2020. Building on that momentum, we recently set a new, even more ambitious goal: to transition our entire manufacturing supply chain to 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030. >We’re proud of the progress our suppliers have made so far. As of June 2020, 71 manufacturing partners in 17 different countries have committed to 100 percent renewable energy for Apple production. And Apple itself has continued to invest directly in renewable energy projects to cover a portion of upstream emissions. The Supplier Clean Energy Program now has 7.8 gigawatts of clean energy commitments, of which 2.7 gigawatts was operational in 2019. They're funding new renewable energy projects all over the world, including in China [1]. >Secondly, electricity used in facilities is not the whole of their carbon footprint. It's just the vast majority of their carbon footprint. >Since 2018, we’ve generated or sourced 100 percent renewable electricity for all of Apple’s global facilities, driving our scope 2 emissions from electricity to zero. And we estimate that in our manufacturing supply chain, which itself makes up 75 percent of Apple’s overall carbon footprint, around 70 percent of emissions come from electricity. [1] https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/09/apple-launched-china-clean-energy-fund-invests-in-three-wind-farms/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/09/apple-launched-china-...
kitotik 6y ago
Are there consumer tech product companies that have longer support cycles? (Sent from my 2012 MacBook Air running latest macOS)
zepto 6y ago
They already do give far more consideration to the end of the product life cycle than any competitor and they continue to improve.
snowwrestler 6y ago
I think they do give some consideration to that. For example you can send any Apple device back to Apple, or drop it off at one of their stores, and they will recycle it. In the U.S. at least, they will send you a prepaid shipping label to ship it. https://www.apple.com/recycling/nationalservices/ https://www.apple.com/recycling/nationalservices/ And if that doesn't happen, and the machine ends up in a landfill, that's where their standard list of "made without arsenic, lead, etc" can help. In terms of the shell, aluminum and glass, while energy-intensive to produce, are arguably more benign substances to have in a landfill than plastic.

If they're serious about reducing their pollution, they'll give more consideration to the end of the product life cycle.

by lokl 6y ago

If they're serious about reducing their pollution, they'll give more consideration to the end of the product life cycle.

jjcon 6y ago

On the other hand, if the device has no footprint then it doesn’t matter as much. If Apple wants sustainability without compromising form/function this is a great way to do it. One can always do more - that’s an easy and always applying criticism. Let’s applaud when people do something good.

fahrradflucht 6y ago
But "no footprint" seams pretty far away if not impossible. They claim _carbon_ neutrality in 10 years. There will still be pollution and resource over consumption which product lifecycle extension could work to improve up on.
Wowfunhappy 6y ago
> On the other hand, if the device has no footprint then it doesn’t matter as much. Agreed. The problem is, I'm sure "carbon neutral" means they're using carbon offsets to a significant degree. Offsets are good, and I certainly wouldn't want to discourage any company from using them. But, they're also not a panacea—certainly not to the point where there's zero harm in buying a new phone versus fixing an existing one.
- Despegar 6y ago
  >The problem is, I'm sure "carbon neutral" means they're using carbon offsets to a significant degree. They aren't. See page 18. https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/Apple_Environmental_Progress_Report_2020.pdf https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/Apple_Environmental_Pr...
  - monocasa 6y ago
    That page only accounts for electricity used at Apple-owned facilities. There's a lot more to the carbon footprint than that.
    - Despegar 6y ago
      Keep reading from page 18. The good news is that they're using the same strategy for all their suppliers, which is putting renewable energy onto the grid.
      - monocasa 6y ago
        First off, the way they're describing the suppliers sounds different, and sounds like offsets. Secondly, electricity used in facilities is not the whole of their carbon footprint. You've got all the shipping across the supply chain for one example.
        Despegar 6y ago
        >We launched the Supplier Clean Energy Program in October 2015 to advance those goals through our manufacturing supply chain. Since then, we have made strong progress toward our initial goal of bringing online 4 gigawatts of new clean energy by 2020. Building on that momentum, we recently set a new, even more ambitious goal: to transition our entire manufacturing supply chain to 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030. >We’re proud of the progress our suppliers have made so far. As of June 2020, 71 manufacturing partners in 17 different countries have committed to 100 percent renewable energy for Apple production. And Apple itself has continued to invest directly in renewable energy projects to cover a portion of upstream emissions. The Supplier Clean Energy Program now has 7.8 gigawatts of clean energy commitments, of which 2.7 gigawatts was operational in 2019. They're funding new renewable energy projects all over the world, including in China [1]. >Secondly, electricity used in facilities is not the whole of their carbon footprint. It's just the vast majority of their carbon footprint. >Since 2018, we’ve generated or sourced 100 percent renewable electricity for all of Apple’s global facilities, driving our scope 2 emissions from electricity to zero. And we estimate that in our manufacturing supply chain, which itself makes up 75 percent of Apple’s overall carbon footprint, around 70 percent of emissions come from electricity. [1] https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/09/apple-launched-china-clean-energy-fund-invests-in-three-wind-farms/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/09/apple-launched-china-...

kitotik 6y ago

Are there consumer tech product companies that have longer support cycles? (Sent from my 2012 MacBook Air running latest macOS)

zepto 6y ago

They already do give far more consideration to the end of the product life cycle than any competitor and they continue to improve.

snowwrestler 6y ago

I think they do give some consideration to that. For example you can send any Apple device back to Apple, or drop it off at one of their stores, and they will recycle it. In the U.S. at least, they will send you a prepaid shipping label to ship it. https://www.apple.com/recycling/nationalservices/ https://www.apple.com/recycling/nationalservices/ And if that doesn't happen, and the machine ends up in a landfill, that's where their standard list of "made without arsenic, lead, etc" can help. In terms of the shell, aluminum and glass, while energy-intensive to produce, are arguably more benign substances to have in a landfill than plastic.