{"id":1254,"date":"2012-11-21T10:24:49","date_gmt":"2012-11-21T18:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greentechgazette.com\/?p=1254"},"modified":"2021-07-27T12:16:27","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T20:16:27","slug":"is-apples-environmental-concern-improving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greentechgazette.com\/index.php\/environment\/is-apples-environmental-concern-improving\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Apple’s Environmental Concern Improving?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest Blog by Reese Jones<\/span><\/p>\n

With the declining progress of environment in today\u2019s world, many movements enter the scene to prevent it. Manufacturers begin to use eco-friendly materials to produce products that will help save the environment. However, recurring reports are against Apple\u2019s \u201ccontribution\u201d to the ecosystem.<\/p>\n

In the past few years, Apple has been faced with issues regarding the use of toxic chemicals (Lead, Cadmium, Arsenic, Mercury, and Brominated Flame Retardants) in producing their products. In turn, the late CEO Steve Jobs made a commitment to be more forthcoming about its programs and policies in the future. However, is it bearing fruit?<\/p>\n

Although they received some \u201ccautious\u201d praise from China about the latter\u2019s attempt to level the playing field with regards to environmental concerns. It may have been a major step for Apple. However, they still have to make drastic measures in order to redeem itself from previous transgressions against the environment.<\/p>\n

Matters took a turn for the worse when they fell rock bottom being named as the \u2018least green\u2019 tech company. According to a report from Greenpeace, Apple\u2019s North Carolina facility will triple their electricity consumptions for more production and income. The electricity demand was equal to 80,000 average US homes. This may have resulted to Apple having a large boost in their quarterly earnings. However, with the facility being powered with energy in a form of 62% of coal and 32% nuclear, fatal damages to the environment were to be expected.<\/p>\n

Is design and income more important than the safety and progress of the environment?<\/p>\n

According to a report by CNN<\/a> last July, Apple decided to add fuel on the fire when they dropped green EPEAT (Electronic Product Energy Assessment Tool) label from their products. \u201cThey said their design direction was no longer consistent with the EPEAT requirements,\u201d said EPEAT CEO Robert Frisbee<\/a>. Apparently, Apple withdrawing their entire line of products from the label damaged their own reputation, ranking behind HP and Dell in terms of environmental friendliness.<\/p>\n

In a few days after, CNN reported<\/a> that Apple has called back the decision to abandon the certification label, calling it a \u201cmistake.\u201d With loyal Apple customers disappointed with the abandonment of the label, the company thought about more losses and decided to bring it back instead.<\/p>\n

Loyal customers prefer a company that supports a clean environment, and Apple made a wise choice to get the certification back. To add, Greenpeace also applauded Apple\u2019s decision, but states that the latter still needs to show proof that their materials are recyclable.
\nA letter from Bob Mansfield, Apple\u2019s Senior VP of Hardware Engineering was released stating that the entire line of Apple products will be back on the EPEAT rating system, thus strengthening their bond with EPEAT and the environment itself.<\/p>\n

Sadly, in the 18th edition of Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics, Apple has dropped to 6th Position, stating they are still lacking transparency on Greenhouse emission reporting and clean energy transparency. Apple could have done better with if they\u2019re committed in their reformed act. However, if these are the results, what can we now expect from them?<\/p>\n

About the Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reese Jones is a tech and gadget lover, a die-hard fan of iOS and console games. She started her writing venture recently and writes about everything from quick tech tips, to mobile-specific news from the likes of O2<\/a>, to tech-related DIY.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest Blog by Reese Jones With the declining progress of environment in today\u2019s world, many movements enter the scene to prevent it. Manufacturers begin to use eco-friendly materials to produce products that will help save the environment. However, recurring reports are against Apple\u2019s \u201ccontribution\u201d to the ecosystem. In the past few years, Apple has been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greentechgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greentechgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greentechgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greentechgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greentechgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1254"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.greentechgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2338,"href":"https:\/\/www.greentechgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254\/revisions\/2338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greentechgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greentechgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greentechgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}