ARCHIVED: The Coal Truth about Apple’s energy use

Apple, like every company, can only get a small percentage of its electricity from unreliable “renewable” sources like solar and wind–which need 24/7 life support. But since being “100% renewable” is fashionable and Apple is rich, Apple pays others to take the blame for its massive use of reliable, “non-renewable” coal, gas, and nuclear power.

The Claim

For more than a decade, companies have looked for opportunities to join the fashionable trend of “going green,” winning themselves praise from celebrities, the media, and political leaders, while drawing in “socially conscious” customers and investors.

An increasingly popular way that companies are establishing their green bona fides is by declaring that they get all of their energy from “renewable” sources like the sun and the wind.

Recently tech giant Apple joined that trend, claiming it is “now globally powered by 100 percent renewable energy.”

As part of its commitment to combat climate change and create a healthier environment, Apple today announced its global facilities are powered with 100 percent clean energy. This achievement includes retail stores, offices, data centers and co-located facilities in 43 countries — including the United States, the United Kingdom, China and India.

By portraying itself as a “green” leader Apple has been able to gain status as a forward-looking, idealistic company spearheading a politically popular cause–and to position itself as superior to less “green” companies including the energy producers who, as we’ll see, supply most of the energy Apple actually uses.

The Lie

When companies claim to be “100% renewable” they want us to think they’re getting 100% of their energy from wind and solar, the two most popular forms of “renewable” energy. That’s why Apple’s 2017 Environmental Responsibility Report features images of solar panels and why its website assures us that “every time you send an iMessage or ask Siri a question, it’s powered by renewable energy.”

If true, that would be front page news because wind and solar are intermittent sources that can never produce the right amount of energy at the right time. They require backup–either from cost-prohibitive batteries and other storage technologies or from reliable sources of energy like fossil fuels, which is why no electricity grid on earth comes close to being 100% powered by solar and wind.

If Apple had truly solved solar and wind’s intermittency problem, you would think it would be eager to share with the world how it did it. Instead, despite plastering claims about being “100% renewable” across press releases, reports, and its website, the company is incredibly vague about how it has achieved this goal.

Take, as one example, Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, CA, which the company claims to be mostly powered by its rooftop solar, some additional solar power from a nearby solar farm, and a small number of fuel cells. Solar power, however, overproduces on sunny days and creates a massive energy shortfall at night, both of which would destroy or blackout Apple’s electrical systems.

Apple never tells us how it solves that problem. Does it have millions of dollars worth of batteries in its basement that it refuses to tell us about? Or–far more likely–is Apple’s headquarters actually grid-connected so it has access reliable power from sources like fossil fuels?

When we can check Apple’s claims, it becomes clear why Apple is so vague about how it powers its operations through 100% renewables: it doesn’t.

Let’s take a look at Apple’s flagship data center in Maiden, NC. Apple claims that it is 100% renewable, running predominantly on its own solar capacity and fuel cells. But as analysts familiar with the case have pointed out, the solar panels and fuel cells do not actually supply the power for the data center. They supply power to the grid via the local utility, Duke Energy, and it’s this grid that powers the data center using a reliable local grid mix, which is over 50% nuclear power, 33% coal, and less than 1% renewable, according to Apple’s own data.

Even Apple’s report admits that 36% of the energy for the data center in Maiden, NC is renewable in name only: Apple receives the same grid energy mix as everyone else, but the company literally pays other energy users to pretend that they only use coal, gas, and nuclear power so that Apple can claim to use only renewable power.

Think of it this way. A grid can get away with adding some renewables, the way a healthy person can tolerate the occasional treat–but trying to run on 100% renewables would be like trying to survive on 100% chocolate. Imagine, though, that you wanted to sell people on the fantasy that it was possible to thrive on an all-chocolate diet. Since you can’t actually live on Hershey’s bars and M&Ms, you get nine friends who all agree to replace 10% of their meals with chocolate and you pay them in exchange for “chocolate energy credits.” Then you advertise to the world how you get 100% of your energy from “healthy” chocolate while your friends are forced to deny their chocolate consumption.

That’s basically what Apple is doing with its energy accounting sleight of hand. Just as we wouldn’t praise a 100% chocolate advocate for bankrolling free packets of M&Ms to be dumped in school cafeterias so we shouldn’t praise Apple for using its iPhone profits to dump unreliable energy on the grid for consumers.

The dishonesty doesn’t stop there. Apple also claims that the Maiden data center gets some of its energy from “biogas” fuel cells. But these actually run on conventional natural gas from a pipeline. Once again, Apple justifies its bogus “100% renewable” claim by buying renewable “biogas” that is used elsewhere.

This kind of creative energy accounting runs through Apple’s entire environmental report and enables the company to pretend to be 100% reliant on solar and wind while not having to worry about actually relying on unreliable, intermittent power. It gets to position itself as an idealistic “green” leader, superior to companies who use “non-renewable” energy, while still benefiting from reliable energy only fossil fuels, nuclear, and hydropower can provide.

The Damage

The real news here is not that Apple is 100% renewable–it’s that solar and wind are so inferior that even the richest company on earth can’t power itself through 100% renewable energy despite desperately wanting to.

That should make us incredibly skeptical of policies that favor solar and wind and restrict affordable, reliable sources of energy like coal. Instead, Apple is using the status it gains from being a “green” leader to actively push for anti-fossil fuel policies like the Clean Power Plan that will make energy more expensive for millions of Americans and billions around the world.

Apple’s millionaires and billionaires may be able afford to pay higher energy costs in order to appear “green.” But for poorer Americans, who already spend upwards of 20% of their income on energy, increasing that burden means they have less to spend on everything else–food, clothing, housing, medicine. They have to make painful choices like: a warm home or a necessary medication—a running air conditioner or fresh food.

Our Demands

As members of the coal industry we are proud of our contribution to the digital world and we deserve credit for helping to power it. But Apple’s lies and the lies of the entire 100% renewable movement not only deprive us of credit for our contribution–they help convince voters to pass anti-fossil fuel policies that are driving us out of business.

That is bad for us–and it’s bad for everyone. When tech leaders promote bad energy policies they ultimately restrict access to energy for billions of people–with the poorest people hurting most.

Here’s what Apple must do to right these wrongs:

1. Retract: Apple should remove all mentions of “100% renewable” from its messaging.
2. Apologize: Apple should publicly apologize to all Americans including the workers of the coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear industries.
3. Educate: Apple should publicly acknowledge the vital role of coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear for decades to come.

You can help stop this injustice: email Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, asking him to apologize–and share The Coal Truth about Apple.