Want to know the carbon emissions for your Mac?

onOct 23, 2008 @ 09:51 PDT

Part of the solution to climate change lies in companies being transparent when it comes to reporting their greenhouse gas emissions and Apple is a great example of how to do this right.

Apple has released its 2008 environmental report and here’s a handy list I’ve pulled together from their report on the total greenhouse emissions for each model of Mac computer, the iPhone and the iPod: (I’ve listed them from best to worst)

iPod Nano: total greenhouse gas emissions for the entire lifecyle of a single iPod Nano is 15 kg CO2_2e(CO2 equivalent). To give you an idea of how much greenhouse gas that actually is, burning a gallon of gasoline in your car produces about 11 kg C02_2e.

Here’s the entire environmental report on the iPod Nano (pdf).

iPod Touch: total greenhouse gas emissions= 30 kg CO22e

Here’s the entire environmental report on the iPod Touch (pdf).

iPhone 3G: total greenhouse gas emissions= 55 kg CO2_2e

Here’s the entire environmental report on the iPhone 3G (pdf).

MacBook Air: total greenhouse gas emissions = 340 kg CO2_2e.

Here’s the entire environmental report on the MacBook Air (pdf).

MacBook: total greenhouse gas emissions = 460 kg CO2_2e.

Here’s the entire environmental report on the MacBook (pdf).

15-inch MacBook Pro: total greenhouse gas emissions = 560 kg CO2_2e.

Here’s the entire environmental report on the MacBook Pro (pdf).

20-inch iMac: total greenhouse gas emissions = 1070 kg CO2_2e.

Here’s the entire environmental report on the 20-inch iMac (pdf).

24-inch iMac: total greenhouse gas emissions = 1500 kg CO2_2e.

Here’s the entire environmental report on the 24-inch iMac (pdf).

This is all very fine and good and as I mentioned at the outset, it is important that companies are open and transparent about their carbon emissions, but as Rob Knox points out, as have many others, Apple still has a long way to go before they could be considered friendly to the environment.

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.