The average energy consumed by Apple products has been reduced by 68 percent since 2008, the company announced in its latest environmental responsibility report.
“When we measure our carbon footprint, we even include the energy consumers use to run their devices. And we continue to make advancements in our products’ efficiency.
“For example, iMac consumes up to 96 percent less energy in sleep mode than the first generation,' said the report issued on Thursday.
“The 12-inch MacBook uses less than 0.5 watt in sleep mode. And you can charge your iPhone X once a day for a year for only 75 cents. When you multiply these reductions by all the Apple devices in the world, the impact on our carbon footprint really adds up,' the company noted.
According to the report, the product energy use compared with previous generations has declined over time, falling from 23.2 kWh/year in 2008 to 7.2 kWh/year in 2017.
-Closed-loop supply chain
The tech giant said they also prioritize “thinking of ways to use fewer of the earth’s precious resources and ways to use them again”, like recovering more of the high-quality materials in old devices to make new products.
“Through more efficient recycling technologies and other innovations, we hope that one day we can stop mining the earth altogether,” it said.
The company warned that the traditional supply chains –in which materials are mined, manufactured as products, and often end up in landfills after use; and then more materials are extracted from the earth for new products – damaged the environment and depleted the earth's resources.
“So in 2017, we announced our commitment to a closed-loop supply chain—where products are made using recycled or renewable materials only.'
“And where we return an equivalent amount of material back to the market to be used by us or others. It’s an ambitious goal that will require years of collaboration across Apple teams, our suppliers, and recyclers—but our work is already underway,” it said.
-Daisy
The company also announced its newest disassembly robot, Daisy, calling it “the most innovative and efficient way to reclaim more of the valuable materials stored in iPhone”.
“Daisy can take apart up to 200 iPhone devices per hour, removing and sorting components, so we can recover materials that traditional recyclers can’t—and at a higher quality.'
“By meticulously disassembling our products, we can direct components and materials to those recyclers who can recover what‘s important. These materials will then be sent back into secondary materials markets—closing the loop on these materials and reducing the need to mine more resources from the earth,” it said.
Noting that Daisy built upon the learnings from Liam, the company’s R&D experiment in automated disassembly announced in 2016, Apple said it created Daisy “to have a smaller footprint and the capability to disassemble multiple models of iPhone with higher variation compared to Liam”.
For every 100,000 iPhone devices, Daisy has the potential to recover 1,900 kg of aluminum, 7.5 kg of silver, 710 kg of copper, 770 kg of cobalt, 93 kg of tungsten and 42 kg of tin among others.
Apple intends to install Daisy in multiple locations around the world starting with the United States and Europe.
The robot will process end-of-life iPhones returned by customers or via AppleCare.
“The program’s success depends in part on customers returning their end-of-life devices to Apple, so we are launching Apple GiveBack to make it easier for them to do so,” it said.
By Hale Turkes
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr