Apple And Others Join RE100

RE100 - Renewable Energy

Apple is among a number of influential companies to have just joined the RE100; a collaborative, global initiative of major businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity.

The newly-minted member companies have made their pledges during Climate Week NYC.

93% of Apple’s global operations in 23 countries were already running on renewable power last year.

“Apple is committed to running on 100% renewable energy, and we’re happy to stand beside other companies that are working toward the same effort”, said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s Vice president for Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives.

One of Apple’s current major renewables projects is Apple’s Campus 2, which will be powered by 100% renewable energy – 16MW of solar panels and 4MW of bio-fuel based power using Bloom Energy fuel cell servers.

Apple Campus 2 - Solar Panels

Among the other big-hitters to have joined the RE100 in the last couple of days is Bank of America, Amalgamated Bank, Wells Fargo & Co., Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), VF Corporation, VMware Inc., Rackspace Inc., Diageo and DNB.

Last week, manufacturing giant General Motor also joined the alliance. GM’s 100% renewables target end date is some way off though – 2050.

There are now 81 members of RE100 and the membership list is a veritable who’s who of the business world.

The companies recently joining the campaign represent annual demand of 19.3TWh and the total demand being created by all RE100 members is estimated to be more 100TWh – 100 billion kilowatt-hours.

Companies committing to 100% renewables aren’t doing so just as a part of environmental stewardship efforts. Renewables simply make good business sense.

“Dozens of world leading companies joining RE100 are showing there’s a clear business case to invest in cleaner energy pathways that will accelerate the transition to net-zero emissions economies,” stated The Climate Group’s Acting CEO, Damian Ryan. ” Investors and policymakers must respond to rising corporate demand and ensure that supportive policies are in place.”

According to Australian commercial solar power installer Energy Matters, if a business is paying more than 15c/kWh for daytime electricity usage, a well-designed system sized to daytime load will provide a payback time of between 5 and 7 years. After the payback period, the electricity generated is essentially free.

Another way for Australian companies to go solar without having to outlay up-front capital is through a solar PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) arrangement; which also removes the burden of system ownership.

Apple Campus 2 image credit: City of Cupertino, California.

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