Posts Tagged ‘greenhouse effect’

14 October

Apple Combats Climate Change By Going 100% Clean Energy
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Dear Friends, Visitors/Viewers/Readers,

This is a repost from our sister publication, WindermereSun.com

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Aerial view of Apple Park, the corporate headquarters of Apple Inc., located in Cupertino, CA. The roof is covered in solar panels with an output of 17 MW, making it the biggest solar roofs in the world. Photo is taken from a Cessna 172M. (attribution: Daniel L. Lu (user: dllu), presented at: WindermereSun.com)

In China, solar panels are mounted high off the ground to let sunlight shine through so grass can grow and local yaks can eat it. (credit/attribution: Apple Inc., presented at: WindermereSun.com)

Apple’s headquarter in Cupertino, CA is powered by 100% renewable energy in part from a 17 megawatt onsite rooftop solar installation (credit/attribution: Apple Iinc., presented at: WindermereSun.com)

Ibiden, a component supplier outside Nagoya, Japan, maintains a floating solar photovoltaic facility to power 100 percent of its manufacturing. (credit/attribution: Apple, presented at: WindermereSun.com)

Windermere Blue Sunset (credit: Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker)

(Please click on red links & note magenta)

This week, Windermere Sun is devoting several posts on how some of the individuals, groups, or companies commit to help combat climate change and to create a healthier environment. Back in April of this year (2018), Apple announced its global facilities being powered with 100% clean energy. This was achieved through retail stores, offices, data centers and co-located facilities in 43 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and India. Apple also announced nine additional manufacturing partners committed to power all of their Apple production with 100% clean energy, bringing the total number of supplier commitments to 23.


Apple CEO Tim Cook said, “We’re committed to leaving the world better than we found it. After years of hard work we’re proud to have reached this significant milestone. We’re going to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible with the materials in our products, the way we recycle them, our facilities and our work with suppliers to establish new creative and forward-looking sources of renewable energy because we know the future depends on it.”

 


Excerpt from Apple’s press release, in italics, from April of 2018, below:

Apple and its partners are building new renewable energy projects around the world, improving the energy options for local communities, states and even entire countries. Apple creates or develops, with utilities, new regional renewable energy projects that would not otherwise exist. These projects represent a diverse range of energy sources, including solar arrays and wind farms as well as emerging technologies like biogas fuel cells, micro-hydro generation systems and energy storage technologies.
Apple currently has 25 operational renewable energy projects around the world, totaling 626 megawatts of generation capacity, with 286 megawatts of solar PV generation coming online in 2017, its most ever in one year. It also has 15 more projects in construction. Once built, over 1.4 gigawatts of clean renewable energy generation will be spread across 11 countries.
Since 2014, all of Apple’s data centers have been powered by 100 percent renewable energy. And since 2011, all of Apple’s renewable energy projects have reduced greenhouse gas emissions (CO2e) by 54 percent from its facilities worldwide and prevented nearly 2.1 million metric tons of CO2e from entering the atmosphere.
Apple’s renewable energy projects include:
  • Apple Park, Apple’s new headquarters in Cupertino, is now the largest LEED Platinum-certified office building in North America. It is powered by 100 percent renewable energy from multiple sources, including a 17-megawatt onsite rooftop solar installation and four megawatts of biogas fuel cells, and controlled by a microgrid with battery storage. It also gives clean energy back to the public grid during periods of low occupancy.
  • Over 485 megawatts of wind and solar projects have been developed across six provinces of China to address upstream manufacturing emissions.
  • Apple recently announced plans to build a 400,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art data center in Waukee, Iowa, that will run entirely on renewable energy from day one.
  • In Prineville, Oregon, the company signed a 200-megawatt power purchase agreement for an Oregon wind farm, the Montague Wind Power Project, set to come online by the end of 2019.
  • In Reno, Nevada, Apple created a partnership with the local utility, NV Energy, and over the last four years developed four new projects totaling 320 megawatts of solar PV generation.
  • In Japan, Apple is partnering with local solar company Daini Denryoku to install over 300 rooftop solar systems that will generate 18,000 megawatt-hours of clean energy every year — enough to power more than 3,000 Japanese homes.
  • Apple’s data center in Maiden, North Carolina, is supported by projects that generate 244 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy per year, which is equivalent to the energy used by 17,906 North Carolina homes.
  • In Singapore, where land is scarce, Apple adapted and built its renewable energy on 800 rooftops.
  • Apple is currently constructing two new data centers in Denmark that will run on 100 percent renewable energy from day one.
To get to 100 percent renewable energy for its own facilities, the company worked to set an example for others to follow. Apple also announced  that 23 of its suppliers are now committed to operating on 100 percent renewable energy, including nine new suppliers. Altogether, clean energy from supplier projects helped avoid over 1.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gases from being emitted in 2017 — the equivalent of taking more than 300,000 cars off the road. In addition, over 85 suppliers have registered for Apple’s Clean Energy Portal, an online platform that Apple developed to help suppliers identify commercially viable renewable energy solutions in regions around the world.
New supplier commitments include:
  • Arkema, a designer of high-performance bio-based polymers, which manufactures for Apple at its facilities in France, the United States and China.
  • DSM Engineering Plastics, which manufactures polymers and compounds in the Netherlands, Taiwan and China that are used in many Apple products, including connectors and cables.
  • ECCO Leather, the first soft goods supplier to commit to 100 percent clean energy for its Apple production. The leather that ECCO produces for Apple is of European origin, with tanning and cutting occurring at facilities in the Netherlands and China.
  • Finisar, a US industry-leading producer of optical communication components and vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), which power some of Apple’s most popular new features like Face ID, Portrait mode selfies and Animoji.
  • Luxshare-ICT, a supplier of accessories for Apple products. Luxshare-ICT’s production for Apple is predominantly located in Eastern China.
  • Pegatron, which assembles a number of products, including iPhone, at its two factories in Shanghai and Kunshan, China.
  • Quadrant, a supplier of magnets and magnetic components in a number of Apple’s products.
  • Quanta Computer, one of the first Mac suppliers to commit to 100 percent renewable energy for Apple production.
  • Taiyo Ink Mfg. Co., which produces solder masks for printed circuit boards in Japan.

You may also be interested in these articles below:

  1.  Landmark Report From UN’s IPCC: Glabal Warming Maximum at 1.5ºC
  2.  Hurricane Michael Intensifies, Aiming at Florida Panhandle 
  3.  How Fleet Farming of Central Florida Helps To Show Down Climate Change
  4.  How Concrete Industry Battles Climate Change
  5.  Howard Witt’s Petition For Improving Climate Change Impact Awareness
  6.  If Not Now, Then When Should We Talk About Climate Change?
  7.  Climate Change Denial Will Lead To Our Future Decline
  8.  Senator Bill Nelson Un-muzzles Censorship On “Climate Change”–>There Is Hope For Miami
  9.  New Data Analysis: Glacier Size & Sea Level may Change Rapidly
  10.  Florida Climate Summit of 2017 Will Take Place on Aug. 12
  11.  Climate March of Orlando on April 29, 2017
  12.  Climate march of Washington D.C. on April 29, 2017
  13.  Climate March in Communities (Including Washington D.C. and Orlando) on April 29, 2017
  14.  Scientists To The Data Refuge/Rescue
  15.  Global Warming Leads To Arctic Permafrost Thaw, To Greater CO2 & Mercury In Earth’s Atmosphere
  16.  Gainesville Community Leaders Initiate The Ethical Move-Break Free From Fossil Fuel, Private Prison, Racial Injustice, and Violations of Indigenous Sovereignty
  17.  City Mayors Leading To A Cleaner Future With E-Buses
  18.  European Designs (Selficient & Neighborhub) at Solar Decathlon 2017
  19.  The World Is Moving Toward EV
  20.  What Should We Do About This “New Normal”
  21.  Look Out For “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power”
  22.  Bravo For Clean Disruptions-Tony Seba Guiding Us Through Clean Disruptions
  23. Withdrawal From Paris Agreement, A Terrible Decision/Mistake
  24.  Solar Powered Flying Pods of Transit X Are Coming 
  25.  Ways To Care For Our Planet-Living Healthily & Sustainably
  26.  Let’s Delay The Flood–>Vote “NO” On Amendment 1 In November
  27.  Vote “NO” On Amendment 1 In November !!!
  28.  Vote YES On Amendment 4 On August Primary Ballot To Support Solar In Florida
  29.  Central Florida Solar Advocates Meet The Solar Installers
  30.  People Have Spoken-Keep The Oil In The Ground & Let The SunShine In
  31.  100% Efficient Transportation & 100% Solar By 2030
  32.  Thumbs Up For “Merchants of Doubt”
  33.  Peter Lehner (CEO & Executive Director of NRDC) Urges Floridians To Be Energy Efficient
  34.  Governor Scott, Can You Really Wish This Away?!
  35.  Wake Up Call-Iceberg Breaking Away From Larsen C In Antarctica
  36.  Hurray! Tesla Model 3 Is Finally Here!

 Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker
~have a bright and sunny day~

Any comments, suggestions, concerns regarding this post will be welcomed at sunisthefuture@gmail.com

Gathered, written, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker
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3 July

Evidence of Climate Change & How to Slow It Down
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Dear Friends, Visitors/Viewers/Readers,

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Updates on our Solar-FIT For Sunshine State petition: 167 signatures strong. We need more! Please help us to spread more sunshine by signing this petition and sharing it with others. It is our shared responsibility to move toward the renewable energy age and Sunshine is the cleanest, healthiest, and least war-prone way to go!
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As a result of our post on June 20, 2013 featuring the award-winning film Chasing Ice and the fact that the recent American Southwest has been boiling at triple-digit temperature for multiple consecutive days, smothering the region. In Death Valley, California, temperature reached a record high of 134 degrees Fahrenheit (57 degrees Celsius) on July 10, 2013. Fifty-six countries have set new temperature record, according to BBC report on July 3, 2013. I’ve been getting many questions such as: “what’s behind the heat wave” and “Is global warming a factor?” “Will we be seeing more droughts and floods?” To answer your questions satisfactorily, allow me to present to you:

  1. NASA Earth Observatory’s data. The world is getting warmer, be it due to human activity or natural variability . Thermometer reading around the world have risen steadily since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. According to an ongoing temperature analysis conducted by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), the average global temperature on Earth has increased by about 0.8°Celsius (1.4°Fahrenheit) since 1880. Two-thirds of the warming has occurred since 1975, at a rate of roughly 0.15-0.20°C per decade. Please click on this link http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WorldOfChange/decadaltemp.php to step through the decades.
  2. Series of 8 videos/movies by NASA Earthobservatory on Global Warming, below:


a. Global Warning: An Introduction ( The Earth’s average temperature rose by more than half a degree Celsius over the last century. What caused this change?). Read more about Global Warming at:  http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GlobalWarming/?src=youtube

b. Radiation from the Sun and Earth ( the Sun and Earth both emit electromagnetic radiation. This movie will help you describe the differences between the types of radiation emitted by the sun and the earth.)

c. The Earth’s Energy Balance (Earth’s energy balance will enable you to understand radiative equilibrium. You will also be able to recognize that the temperature of earth depends on the amount of solar energy that it absorbs.). Read more about Earth’s Energy Budget at:  http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/EnergyBalance/?src=youtube

d. The Greenhouse Effect (The temperature of earth has been relatively constant over time. This is possible because as the planet absorbs solar radiation, it also emits longwave radiation into space. Despite this radiative equilibrium, some longwave radiation remains trapped beneath the atmosphere of the earth and warms the surface of the earth. This phenomenon is called the “greenhouse effect.”)

e. Human Activities and Carbon Dioxide (Shortwave radiation emitted by the sun and longwave radiation emitted by carbon dioxide and water vapor contribute to the heating of the Earth’s surface. Over the past 120 years, scientists have observed that the Earth’s average global surface temperature has increased. At the same time, the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has also increased. Take a closer look at how these changes may have occurred.)

f. Modern Atmospheric Concentrations of Carbon Dioxide (The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing. This movie will help you describe how the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has changed over the last 100 years.)

g. Modern Global Temperature (Earth’s average global temperature changes over long periods of time. Past data records indicate that the global annual temperature of earth has increased throughout this century.)

This global annual temperature rise of approximately 1 degree Celsius since 1880’s will have severe impact on  local and regional weather conditions.

h. Computer Climate Models (Scientists use computer climate models, with mathematical equations, to help them understand how temperature in different regions of the world may change as carbon dioxide increases.) Such climate models enable scientists to make predictions/estimations about how the climate may change in the future.

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If we want to slow down the impact of climate change described above, to slow down the CO2 emissions into earth’s atmosphere and reduce the extreme weather conditions (such as increased droughts, hurricanes, and floods),we need to GO SOLAR Quickly! At Sun Is The Future, we take action by having launched the petition for Solar-FIT For Sunshine State and sharing information on how to Start A Community Solar Garden/Farm. Please participate and share these links/sites with others. This is not a partisan issue. It is a Necessary Earthly Movement!

~have a bright and sunny day~

gathered, written, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker

any of your comments or suggestions will be welcomed at comments area below or via sunisthefuture@gmail.com (be sure to note if you do not want your email to be shared).

Homepage: http://www.sunisthefuture.net


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