Apple said on Friday it was rejoining a program to certify its products as environmentally friendly after a controversy that could have dented sales of its popular gadgets.
The California company behind iPads, iPhones, iPods and Macbooks said it was reversing its decision to quit the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) global registry.
Apple senior vice president Bob Mansfield said that the company listened to “customers who were disappointed” by the action to delist from the registry.
“I recognize that this was a mistake. Starting today, all eligible Apple products are back on EPEAT,” he said in a letter posted on the company Web site. “It’s important to know that our commitment to protecting the environment has never changed, and today it is as strong as ever. Apple makes the most environmentally responsible products in our industry. In fact, our engineering teams have worked incredibly hard over the years to make our products even more environmentally friendly.”
In dropping out last month from the registry, Apple offered no explanation, but speculation centered around its use of batteries on some MacBooks that are glued into the frame and are not easily recycled.
Mansfield’s letter said that some common yardsticks for green products could be “upgraded” and made stronger.
He said Apple “led the industry in removing harmful toxins, such as brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC)” and is “the only company to comprehensively report greenhouse gas emissions for every product we make.”
The announcement came a day after San Francisco city officials said they would stop purchasing Apple products, citing a rule in place that requires laptops, computers or monitors bought by the city to meet top EPEAT standards.
San Francisco Chief Information Officer Jon Walton said on Thursday that San Francisco had “reached out to Apple” about the problem.
The procurement rule is similar to a standard used by other US cities and states, as well as by the federal government, Walton said.
EPEAT, which gives green ratings to computer desktops, laptops and monitors, was launched in the US in 2006 with corporations and other large IT purchasers in mind.
EPEAT chief executive Robert Frisbee welcomed Apple’s decision.
“We look forward to Apple’s strong and creative thoughts on ongoing standards development,” he said in a statement.
He said the group now has a “strengthened relationship with Apple.”
Greenpeace International analyst Casey Harrell welcomed the news.
“We applaud Apple for ‘thinking green, not greedy’ and listening to its customers’ calls not to pit design needs against the environment,” he said in a statement. “We await more details that ensure that future versions of Apple’s computers will be built with easily removable, recyclable and upgradable parts, unlike the current MacBook Pro. These design changes would make for a greener Apple product.”
Apple has faced criticism from Greenpeace in the past for using what the environmental group called “dirty” power, such as coal, for its data centers for cloud services.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six