Apple Leads All U.S. Companies in Domestic Solar Energy Capacity

Apple had more installed solar energy capacity in the United States than any other company as of the end of 2018, according to a new report released by the Solar Energy Industries Association (via CNBC).

apple park solar
Apple led the way with 393.3 megawatts of installed solar energy capacity, topping Amazon and Target at 329.8 megawatts and 242.4 megawatts respectively. Google trailed in sixth with 142.9 megawatts. The rankings are based on both on-site and off-site solar installations in the United States.

Last year, Apple announced that all of its global facilities, including retail stores, offices, and data centers, are now powered with 100 percent renewable energy. Apple Park, for example, is powered by a 17-megawatt rooftop solar installation, four megawatts of biogas fuel cells, and other clean sources.

"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," said Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Top Rated Comments

G5isAlive Avatar
62 months ago
Money grabbing pigs, now they are stealing from the Sun! When will Apple's greed end?
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Butler Trumpet Avatar
62 months ago
Good! I hope more companies follow.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mac-lover3 Avatar
62 months ago
I applaud the positive stuff Apple does, but being the best at being least-bad still has a lot of room for improvement.

I like what Tim says, but if he means it then we need fewer glued-in batteries and a move away from proprietary/soldered-in/inaccessible storage/memory please, and longer support (even if only security updates) for older devices so that people feel less pressure to upgrade as quickly. That is called putting your money where your mouth is, and er, Apple have enough money to fill all their mouths (or something!).
Longer support really? We still got updates for an iPhone 4S this week? You still want support for your iPhone 3GS or something??
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
reden Avatar
62 months ago
Everyone else: not good enough Apple! Who cares about the planet, where’s my cheaper iPhone?
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Porco Avatar
62 months ago
I applaud the positive stuff Apple does, but being the best at being least-bad still has a lot of room for improvement.

I like what Tim says, but if he means it then we need fewer glued-in batteries and a move away from proprietary/soldered-in/inaccessible storage/memory please, and longer support (even if only security updates) for older devices so that people feel less pressure to upgrade as quickly. That is called putting your money where your mouth is, and er, Apple have enough money to fill all their mouths (or something!).
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
brueck Avatar
62 months ago
I know this sounds good. But have you ever calculated the land required per MW?
Not to mention what it takes to manufacture the Panels.
Yes, as have all the top environmental scientists in the world. Have you? We can generate 40% of our electricity needs simply by filling empty roof tops. That’s at current system efficiencies.

Have you ever looked into what it takes to manufacture oil and gas?
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Rumored to Add These 10 New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday April 24, 2024 2:05 pm PDT by
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
iPad And Calculator App Feature 1

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
macbook pro purple february

Best Buy Introduces Record Low Prices on Apple's M3 MacBook Pro for Members

Thursday April 25, 2024 7:41 am PDT by
Best Buy is discounting a collection of M3 MacBook Pro computers today, this time focusing on the 14-inch version of the laptop. Every deal in this sale requires you to have a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership, although non-members can still get solid second-best prices on these MacBook Pro models. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a...