Mike Wuerthele
Apple manufacturing partner Ibiden is Apple's first supplier in Japan to pledge the use of 100 percent renewable energy, spread across 20 new energy facilities.
"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 Apple's vice president for Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives Lisa Jackson. "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."
Ibiden technology is used to "bring together the integrated circuitry and chip packages in Apple devices" according to Apple. The company is headquartered in Ogaki, Gifu prefecture, and specializes in printed circuit boards and integrated circuit packaging.
Ibiden will deliver over 12 megawatts of solar power, with a large portion coming from an array floating in a body of water in a converted lumberyard. The power generated is more than sufficient for the company's needs to construct products for Apple.
In part as a result of Ibiden's commitment, Apple and its manufacturing partners will generate over 2.5 billion kilowatt-hours per year by the end of 2018.
Apple has consistently scored well in green energy rankings. In January, Apple scored 83 percent on Greenpeace's Clean Energy Index, thanks to low usage of conventional energy sources like coal, nuclear, or natural gas. The company also scored top marks in categories like energy transparency and renewable procurement, with a B in advocacy.
While the 12MW generated by Ibiden is noteworthy, and stands above most east asia suppliers, it pales in comparison to Apple's efforts in the U.S. Most recently. Apple and NV energy forged a deal to build a 200MW solar farm in Nevada, scheduled to be completed in 2019.
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3 Comments
"with a large portion coming from an array floating in a body of water in a converted lumberyard" Nice application, using redundant space for solar.
Floating in the water sounds like a pain if any maintenance is ever required. In the article's image, that appears to be a retention pond, which typically collect some run-off from local businesses. Is this a common practice in Japan?
Edit- interesting read: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2015/01/150116-floating-solar-power-japan-yamakura/
I do wish "using 100% renewable energy" meant what we usually think it does. Some portion of it most often ends up being accomplished via Green Energy credits and such. Actually using only renewable energy at all of a companies plants and offices when they're spread across various locations is really unlikely. Someday we might actually produce power by using renewable energy sources as the norm, but not yet.