Apple teams with soy sauce company to build rooftop solar panels

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Apple Park
Apple Park is powered in part by a 17-megawatt rooftop solar installation.
Photo: Apple

Apple is developing rooftop solar arrays with a company best known for making soy sauce, a new report claims.

The Cupertino company has supposedly teamed up with Taiwan’s Wan Ja Shan Brewery Co. as part of its continued push to use renewable energy.

Bloomberg News notes that:

“The 50,000-square-meter soy sauce facility that will carry solar panels on its roof is located in the southern Taiwanese county of Pingtung. … The solar project is set to start before the end of this year.”

Reaching this point took 18 months of negotiations. There aren’t too many further details. However, this seems to be part of Apple’s push to get manufacturers to use sustainable energy sources.

In April last year, Apple reached the point where all its own buildings were powered with 100% sustainable energy. It is now working to make sure that its suppliers do the same. Since manufacturing makes up 74% of Apple’s carbon footprint, this is a pretty significant development.

Apple already uses solar panels in its facilities. Earlier this year, it was rated the number one company in the United States when it comes to embracing solar energy. According to the Solar Means Business Report, Apple has more off and on-site solar installations in the U.S. than any other major business.

Apple Park features an on-site 17 MW rooftop solar installation which helps generate energy. Last year, a drone photographer accidentally crash landed onto Apple Park’s solar roof.

Source: Bloomberg

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