Roger Fingas
Apple has entered into a joint venture with wind turbine maker Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology — better known as Goldwind — that should help bring more clean energy to its Chinese suppliers.
A subsidiary of Goldwind, Beijing Tianrun New Energy Investment, is transferring its 30 percent stakes in four project firms to Apple, according to a Hong Kong stock exchange filing seen by the South China Morning Post. The document didn't disclose what Apple's contribution will be, but while the project firms will stay subsidiaries under Goldwind for stock exchange purposes, they won't be consolidated in the company's financial statements, since key decisions will require unanimous approval by the firms' directors.
The Post didn't indicate which Apple suppliers would benefit from the arrangement, or how much power Apple is hoping to supply. Recently, however, Lens Technology said it would fully power its glass production with renewable sources by the end of 2018, doing so partly through wind farms in Hunan province.
To date, Apple's efforts at compensating for the dirty, non-sustainable power its suppliers often depend on have revolved around solar. The company is building out 200 megawatts of solar farms to offset its suppliers' impact, and working with them directly to install over 4 gigawatts of clean energy worldwide, half of that in China. Foxconn — Apple's main manufacturing partner — will be constructing 400 megawatts of solar to compensate for its iPhone facility in Zhengzhou.
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12 Comments
This is great news. If everything we consumed - from phones to steel in buildings - was manufactured in our own countries, we'd be a lot more vocal about sustainable production. Instead, the Chinese population has to put up with our pollution. Good to see Apple taking steps to right some of our wrongs
Doesn't Tim know the new administration will be banning wind? ;)
Cue the Tim haters. "What is the left-wing tree-hugger doing? Doesn't he know that the only job of a CEO is to make money for shareholders whether the earth is despoiled in the process or not? This just proves that climate change is a Chinese plot to get us to support their green energy businesses."
Does nimby-ism exist with wind too?
- mining for metals & rare earth minerals for the magnets
- energy needed to fabricate, transport, install, maintain and ultimately dispose of the turbines
- visual and physical transformations of the natural world
- low frequency (including inaudible) sound effects still under study
Wind is indeed renewable, and arguably cleaner, but can we call it clean ?