Steve Jobs discusses Apple and environmental issues

"Except for one keynote speech he gave on Sept. 9, Apple CEO Steven P. Jobs has shunned the press since he went on medical leave in January," Peter Burrows reports for BusinessWeek. "But Jobs spoke with BusinessWeek on Sept. 22 about a subject that has nothing to do with the Mac, iPods, or iPhones."

"The topic was Apple's reputation with regard to the environment and its effort to reposition itself as a leader instead of a laggard. While environmentalists tend to focus on carbon emissions from corporate operations and companies' publicly stated goals to do better, Jobs says Apple wants to set the pace in addressing what he says is a bigger challenge: reducing the amount of power required to run the company's products," Burrows reports. "'Unfortunately, we're way ahead of our competitors,' Jobs contends... 'We tend to report rather than predict,' says Jobs. 'You won't see us out there saying what the PC is going to look like in 2016. We quietly go try to invent the PC for 2016.'"

Burrows reports, "The company has finished a multiyear data-mining project to fully understand its environmental impact on the planet and has published data that may stir up controversy. Apple takes issue with studies that hand accolades to rivals such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard for cutting emissions at their facilities. Apple's research suggests that those emissions make up only a small slice of a company's larger environmental impact—a mere 3% in Apple's case. Far more of the carbon footprint, he says—53%—is generated by Apple's products. 'Everyone focuses on whether you have motion detectors in the conference room' so the lights will go off when it's unattended, says Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook. 'But making products cleaner involves real engineering. It's about innovating, and it's hard work.'"

Burrows reports, "Apple is also winning kudos for an intensified effort to eliminate toxic materials. While many tech companies have promised to stop using particular commercial compounds that include bromine and chlorine, Apple two years ago began requiring suppliers to prove that their products included none of these chemicals at all. That required a major investment, says COO Cook, including hiring chemists to help suppliers come up with alternatives. Take PVC, the additive that gives computer cables their flexibility. To avoid using the material inside its products, Apple came up with a 'special blend' of polyester."

Burrows reports, "Meantime, while both Dell and HP had promised to stop using PVC by the end of 2009, both recently said the goal was impossible because of a lack of commercial substitutes. Yet Apple met its target of 2008 for the innards of its devices, and sources say future products will ship with PVC-free power, mouse, and monitor cords."

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