Apple has said it assesses on average three years of use for each iPhone and iPad, and just four years for Mac products, based on energy usage
In laying out its global environmental goals and a new Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) campaign, Apple has said it assesses on average three years of use for each iPhone and iPad and just four years for Mac products based on energy usage patterns.
Apple today launched a new alliance with WWF under the headline Apps for Earth, with various Earth-inspired eco-apps from 24 developers ranging from Rovio to King, Disney, Blizzard and Supercell, to name a few.
In doing so, Apple also expanded upon its commitment to a greener, safer planet and provided an overview of its efforts, which includes greenhouse gas life-cycle assessment in all of its products from manufacturing to final disposal and recycling of materials.
‘Years of use, which are based on first owners, are assumed to be four years for OS X and tvOS devices and three years for iOS and watchOS devices’
– APPLE
It’s efforts include an impressive array of seemingly novel initiatives that actually can have a lasting impact, from a robot called Liam who scavages for renewable materials from old devices; plans for 100pc renewable energy; solar panels distributed across 800 rooftops in Singapore; achievement of a 99pc packaging recycling goal; and efforts to sustain 1m acres of forest.
Expanding on its footprint in terms of manufacturing and energy consumed by users in its products, Apple revealed in an FAQ how long it expects the average lifetime of the iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV to be.
Its assessments include the iPhone lasting three years and OS X devices like the MacBook Air to last four years.
Before anyone runs off declaring the conspiracy theories are true that Apple devices have built-in redundancy, these are assessments based on Apple’s own research of user patterns.
It said: “To model customer use, we measure the power consumed by a product while it is running in a simulated scenario. Daily usage patterns are specific to each product and are a mixture of actual and modeled customer use data. Years of use, which are based on first owners, are assumed to be four years for OS X and tvOS devices and three years for iOS and watchOS devices.”
Last year, Greenpeace reported how Apple, Facebook and Google are leading efforts towards a cleaner, renewably-powered internet, but warned that the speed of growth of the internet is only increasing rapid energy demand.
For its part, Apple’s data centres, stores and offices are all powered through renewable energy, and new data centres that the company is building in the west of Ireland and in Denmark will be powered entirely through renewable energy.
Apps for Earth
Earlier today, Apple warned that the world is losing forests at the rate of 48 football fields per minute.
It said that, while 71pc of the planet’s surface is oceans, less than 1pc of the world’s water is fresh and accessible.
WWF’s 2014 Living Planet report found wildlife populations of vertebrate species – mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish – have declined by 52pc over the last 40 years.
‘The worst consequences of climate change can still be prevented if we act now to change the way our nation and nations around the globe choose and use energy’
– APPLE
As part of its collaboration with WWF’s global efforts, Apple has kicked off a campaign with 24 app publishers from which 100pc of the proceeds and associated in-app purchases will go to WWF.
Apps include Rovio’s Angry Birds 2, which involves preventing dastardly piggies from overfishing, and King’s Candy Crush, which has a live in-game event focused on conserving the planet. Cooking Dash 2016 from Glu Games also has a menu of new dishes using sustainable ingredients for cooking responsibly.
Apple will also turn the leaf of the Apple logo green at 132 Apple Stores around the world from today, employees will wear green t-shirts, and select stores will hold “Talks for Earth”.
“Today, more than 7 billion people consume 1.5 times what the Earth’s natural resources can supply,” Apple said in a statement.
“By 2050, the world’s population will reach 9bn and the demand for food will double. By improving efficiency and productivity while reducing waste and shifting consumption patterns, we can produce enough food for everyone by 2050 on roughly the same amount of land we currently use.
“The worst consequences of climate change can still be prevented if we act now to change the way our nation and nations around the globe choose and use energy.”
Main iPhone image via Shutterstock
