In calculating the carbon footprint of a technological product, not only the amount of CO2 emitted during the procurement of raw materials, the production phase, shipping or disposal is included. The calculation also includes the estimate of energy consumption throughout the life cycle of the device. A more efficient product, which needs to be loaded less and consumes less energy for the same power output, will have a smaller footprint.
In the case of Apple, which collects this data in great detail in an annual report, the life cycle of products accounts for about 22% of the overall CO2 footprint (2021 figure). The Cupertino-based company, which has already achieved neutrality for all company operations in 2020, is now aiming for a complete decarbonisation of the entire supply chain and of all products by 2030.
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Eco-friendly electronics
The design of the chips that end up under the body of computers must necessarily be an integral part of a decarbonization plan that can be called such. Many of Apple’s competitors have taken similar and commendable paths, but Apple has a unique advantage in the sector: it manufactures all the chips in its products in-house, according to its needs and specifications, from iPhones to Apple Watches, from Apple TV to Mac. A journey that began at 65nm in 2010 with the A4 chip of the iPhone 4 and has now arrived at the 4nm M2 of Macs and iPads.
“Apple Silicon has brought tangible benefits to our products in terms of energy efficiency, improvements that can be measured directly and calculated based on the average use of the product” explains to Italian Tech, Doug Brooks, Mac Hardware Product Manager.
According to company data, a new Mac Studio with the M2 Ultra chip consumes about 1,000 kilowatt-hours less than an equivalent x86 PC. Similarly, already with the transition to the M1 chip, the Mac mini has come to consume about 60% less than the previous model. For Mac laptops, efficiency is directly reflected in battery life, which in the case of the latest MacBook Pro with M2 Pro reaches 22 hours. Anyone who has used an Apple laptop with an M chip recently knows what we’re talking about: the charger can now almost always be left at home.
«The advantage we have at Apple is that we can build the chips keeping in mind the characteristics of the product they will end up with and vice versa», explains Brooks again to illustrate the competitive advantage of vertical integration in electronic design. «In this way we can make the components in such a way that every function we equip them with ends up offering a concrete advantage to users. It is a continuous synergy between our product teams working in parallel».
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The research center in Munich
We meet Brooks in Munich, where Apple has invited us for an exclusive Italian visit to the new Apple Silicon research center on Karlstrasse. It is the first time that journalists have set foot there; the only official visit before ours was from CEO Tim Cook. The large building, with a minimal design in perfect Apple style, is spread over six floors and already employs around 2,000 engineers. Inside there are offices, conference rooms with names that celebrate the great minds of physics, but above all the laboratories where researchers design, develop and test key components for Apple products.
iPhones and Macs say “Designed by Apple in California,” but that’s true only if “design” refers to the product’s overall conception and aesthetics. The design of Apple devices and especially the components that move them is a global operation. The Munich center, the company reveals for example, contributed to the development of the iPhone 14 and the new MacBook Air M2.
In the case of the Mac, the contribution went precisely in the direction of energy efficiency. In fact, it is here in Germany that the APL109C and APL109D were born, two chips for power regulation that will say nothing to most, but which in reality are fundamental for the energy management of the M2 chip. In an abundance of detail uncharacteristic of Apple, we’re shown two chips on a logic board, then a memory test on a test board, then we move into a room to take a closer look at the chips and compare a motherboard. of an old Intel Mac and that of the new MacBook Pro M2. Even to the untrained eye, the difference is clear: the new board design is denser and the chip, while much more powerful, takes up a third of the space. Everything is more compact and lighter (and less materials are needed for production); under the body there is now space for an HDMI port, the newfound MagSafe connector and larger speakers.
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Logic board marketing
During the visit there are no black cloths to hide products yet to be presented, and we doubt that confidential or secret operations are being carried out in the aseptic but elegant laboratory in which we are admitted. However, Apple lends itself to showing us with unusual alacrity the innards of its computers, those already on the market, as it has never done in the past. It’s a scene we’d expect to see at an event organized by iFixit, the site famous for its teardowns of hundreds of electronic devices, not in an Apple research center.
However, it is clear that with the transition to chips developed directly by the company, even the layout of the components, the shape and size of the motherboard, or the internal engineering solutions become proprietary design elements that the communication and marketing division can show and actively promote. It is no coincidence that when the visit moves to the anechoic chamber where Apple tests the connectivity of products, including perhaps even the 5G modems with which it hopes to free itself from dependence on Qualcomm, the conversation becomes more theoretical. Here there are no products on display, only very expensive equipment, base-stations and robotic arms.
In the center of Europe
Here in Munich, Apple plans to expand further and has already announced investments totaling two billion euros over six years. The company explained to us that it chose this city to draw on the pool of top-level engineers coming from the Munich Polytechnic, but also because the capital of Bavaria is perfect for attracting talent from all over Europe.
It doesn’t hurt, and we add this, that the extra-EU talents who arrive in Germany with a highly specialized job in their pocket and a high-level salary in a multinational like Apple have very little difficulty in overcoming the bureaucratic obstacles to obtain a visa or a European Blue Card.
«Having teams working in centers around the world in different time zones is also an advantage because we can work covering 24 hours. “We use a lot of Apple technology to coordinate, of course,” Brooks adds.
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Technological contrasts
In the days when we visit Monaco, as it has been for some months now, the technological chronicles converge on a single hot topic: chatGPT.
OpenAI’s wonder machine is told in all its guises, and we ourselves offer daily coverage of the very rapid developments of a very new and fascinating technology. But there is a fundamental issue that still leaks too little: models like chatGPT consume a disproportionate amount of energy, in the order of millions of kW per month according to the most reliable estimates. They need to rely on supercomputers housed in hangar-sized processing centers. Here, while the world lets itself be captivated by the hype of large linguistic models, a visit to Apple’s silent Teutonic laboratories is almost a Zen experience, which makes peace with the aspirations and trajectories of technological evolution. It is heartening to know that in Silicon Valley there are not only those who compete to invest in a technology that is as promising as it is polluting: there are also those who devote resources and time to developing powerful but energy-efficient chips, computers and devices.
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