Tag: Greenhouse gases

Compared to 2015, Apple announced that it has reduced its global greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60%, taking another step closer to its goal of achieving full carbon neutrality by 2030. Simultaneously, Apple announced that it uses 99% recycled rare earth elements in all magnets and incorporates 99% recycled cobalt into battery components. Last year, it continued to promote the transition of its supply chain to renewable energy and increase the proportion of recycled materials in its products, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 41 million metric tons. Currently, Apple has incorporated 17.8 GW of renewable electricity into its global supply chain, and its supply chain reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 21.8 million metric tons last year, an increase of more than 17% compared to the previous year. Furthermore, suppliers working with Apple to improve energy efficiency have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 2 million metric tons. In addition, Apple announced that its 26 semiconductor suppliers have committed to reducing fluorinated greenhouse gas emissions from Apple's production facilities by at least 90% by 2030, which will also allow these supply chain suppliers to reduce their emissions of harmful gases when serving other customers. Last year, Apple's panel and semiconductor suppliers collectively reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 8.4 million metric tons, and will accelerate this reduction in the coming years. Apple also stated that suppliers participating in its Zero Waste program have transferred approximately 600,000 metric tons of waste, bringing the cumulative total since the program's inception in 2015 to 3.6 million metric tons, equivalent to reducing landfill space waste by 4.5 million square meters. Apple has also significantly increased the use of recycled materials in its products. For example, the new MacBook Air with the M4 processor uses more than 55% recycled materials, the new Mac mini is Apple's first carbon-neutral Mac model, and the Apple Watch is now fully carbon-neutral. Regarding water waste during product manufacturing, Apple explained that since launching its Clean Water for Suppliers program in 2013, it has saved over 90 billion gallons of freshwater with its suppliers. Last year, participating suppliers increased their average water reuse rate to 42%, saving an additional 14 billion gallons of freshwater. Apple also plans to replenish 100% of its freshwater intake in water-stressed areas by 2030, and is currently increasing replenishment rates in new programs and existing projects in the US, India, and Africa, projected to generate nearly 9 billion gallons of water benefits over the next 20 years. In celebration of this year's Earth Day, Apple offers customers and users a range of learning and action opportunities, including participating in critical material recycling and enjoying Earth-themed content, encouraging everyone to protect our planet. On April 22nd, complete any physical workout for 30 minutes or more while wearing an Apple Watch to receive a limited-edition Earth Day badge.

Heritable Agriculture, a Google X startup that uses data and machine learning to improve farming practices, recently announced it has become an independent company. Heritable Agriculture stated that agricultural operations actually generate a significant amount of greenhouse gases (data shows it accounts for approximately 25% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions). The use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers also causes soil erosion and water pollution, and depletes groundwater, leading to soil loosening. Therefore, Heritable Agriculture plans to promote smarter agriculture through data analytics and machine learning. This includes analyzing crop genetic combinations to increase yields, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption, while also enhancing the carbon storage capacity of crop roots and soil. Heritable Agriculture is testing thousands of plants in a dedicated growing room within Google X, building relevant model data, and conducting fieldwork in California, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. Through data analysis, they are finding more suitable farming methods to reduce agriculture's environmental impact. Heritable Agriculture was founded and is headed by Brad Zamft, a former project manager and researcher at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior to that, Zamft served as Chief Scientific Officer at TL Biolabs, a venture-backed startup using microarray technology to analyze the genomes of beef and dairy cattle. He joined Google X in 2018. Zamft stated that while the market currently favors increasing crop yields through genetic modification, he believes that fundamentally improving crop yields through data analysis is more important, and that genetic modification can be used to further enhance yields in the future. Heritable Agriculture plans to commercialize its technology and has already raised a new round of seed funding through FTW Ventures, Mythos Ventures, and SVG Ventures. Google has also invested in the startup and holds a stake.

Google recently announced an agreement with Indian suppliers Varaha and Charm to reduce the significant carbon emissions generated by its cloud services by purchasing a large amount of carbon credits. This deal also marks Google's first collaboration with India's carbon removal industry. The partnership with Varaha will utilize agricultural waste such as wood, leaves, and dead plants to convert into biochar. Biochar can improve soil quality, increasing water retention capacity in sandy soils by 92% and water flow rate in clay soils by 300%. It can also capture greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, storing them in the soil in a stable form for extended periods. Google plans to purchase 10 tons of carbon credits from Varaha and Charm from now until 2030, effectively reducing its net-zero emissions target by 20 tons of carbon emissions. Varaha CEO Madhur Jain stated that the waste production from farms in India is sufficient to provide biochar capable of sequestering approximately 1 million tons of carbon emissions annually. In addition to collaborating with Varaha, Google is also planning to reduce carbon emissions through new technologies, because carbon removal is still controversial, with many arguing that such solutions do not truly address the problem of carbon dioxide emissions.

In its earlier environmental report, Google revealed that its greenhouse gas emissions from its services in 2023 increased by approximately 48% compared to 2019 and 13% compared to 2022, attributing this to the increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. In addition to the significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption for cooling data centers also increased significantly, by about 17% in 2023 compared to 2022, consuming approximately 61 billion liters—enough to irrigate about 41 golf courses in the southwestern United States annually. The current situation of high greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption at Google is primarily due to the widespread adoption of AI technologies this year, along with a significant increase in the number of users of Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, and other services. This may pose a greater challenge to Google's original goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2030. And Google is not alone in facing the problem of increased greenhouse gas emissions due to the promotion of AI; companies including Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple are also experiencing similar situations. Numerous studies have indicated that compared to the electricity consumption and significant greenhouse gas emissions from traditional search services, current artificial intelligence (AI) technology will generate even more greenhouse gas emissions, with significantly higher power consumption. Many believe AI will lead to energy use issues; for example, electricity demand in the United States has doubled due to AI development, and total consumption within the next two years may even exceed current supply. Taiwan, currently facing similar power supply problems, may also experience unstable power supply due to AI operations. Therefore, the market anticipates that the continued development of AI technology will simultaneously drive energy technology reform and growth, and accelerate the development of green energy-related technologies.