Apple Environmental Responsibility Report

Using the water risk analyses we began in 2015, we have targeted water
conservation efforts at some of our highest-priority locations, based on
water stress and use. These include our offices in Santa Clara Valley and
Israel, as well as our data centers. In Santa Clara Valley, we continued to
expand our deployment of high-definition flow sensors and sub-meters in
our landscaping. This will reduce irrigation water use by up to 30 percent
compared with fiscal year 2015—saving about 15.3 million gallons per year.
Once opened, Apple Park will use recycled water from the city of Sunnyvale
for flushing, cooling and irrigation needs, reducing our freshwater usage by
over 20 million gallons annually. In Israel, our buildings have installed a smart
water monitoring and leak detection system to conserve water, a system
that is now being tested in Santa Clara Valley offices. As a result of these
conservation efforts, our corporate water use per employee declined by
2 percent in fiscal year 2016.
We also installed extensive sub-metering at our data centers to pinpoint
areas of use, detect leakage, and develop better ways to conserve
water. At our Maiden data center, our newest building uses captured
rainwater for cooling, cutting our water needs by 50 percent from
previous designs. Today, recycled water makes up 1 percent of our water
usage across all facilities, and we continue to look for opportunities to
reuse and recycle water. For example, we are working with the city of
Prineville, Oregon, to build a wastewater treatment plant that will supply
our cooling needs, reducing our reliance on potable water and leaving it
available for other users.
We’re planting more than 9000 droughtresistant
trees at our new campus in
Cupertino. We selected many tree
varieties that were native to the area
as well as others that could thrive in
a range of climate change scenarios.
Environmental Responsibility Report | 2017 Progress Report, Covering FY2016
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