iOS 16: a recharging option to reduce the carbon footprint of the iPhone


With the release of iOS 16 for iPhone owners worldwide, Apple also revealed an unexpected new battery charging feature that could help users reduce their device’s carbon footprint.

This new charging feature isn’t among the many features Apple unveiled during the year-long beta of iOS 16, such as satellite emergency calling and deleting or undoing text. already sent in Messages.

In its press release published earlier this week, Apple outlines a “clean energy charging” feature that will be available in an iOS update later this year in the United States.

“Clean Energy Charging aims to reduce the carbon footprint of the iPhone by optimizing charging times for times when the network uses cleaner energy sources”, explains the firm at the apple.

Load balancing

At this time, no one knows how Apple will change charging times to prefer times when the grid is using cleaner energy sources.

9to5Mac has discovered, however, that iOS 16 has a new background process, or daemon, that collects CO2 emissions data from local load-balancing authorities based near the location of the device. ‘device.

This information could be gleaned from the US Department of Energy’s statistical analysis and data-sharing unit, the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Smartphones are part of the group of consumer devices (TVs, PCs and game consoles) that consume about 21% of all household energy, according to 2015 data from the EIA. More than half of the energy used by households is for heating and cooling.

Carbon neutral objective in 2030

It’s also unclear how much of a difference Apple’s Clean Energy Charging feature makes, but it comes as renewable energy sources are becoming an increasingly important part of the power generation mix, primarily from wind and solar sources.

The US Department of Energy reported this month that in the first half of 2022, 24% of industrial-scale electricity generation in the United States came from renewable sources, compared to 21% for the same. period of the year, and 11% in 2010. In addition, renewable energy is the fastest growing source of electricity generation in the United States. Other renewable sources include hydroelectricity, geothermal energy and biomass.

Current iPhone battery settings allow for optimized battery charging, but this option aims to reduce battery aging and works by reducing the time the iPhone spends on full charge. If enabled, iPhone will delay charging beyond 80% in certain situations.

However, the clean energy charging feature is in line with Apple’s goal of making its manufacturing and supply chain carbon neutral by 2030. Apple claims that the iPhone 14 uses 57% energy in less than the US Department of Energy requires for battery charging systems. This figure is up from 54% for the iPhone 13 and 53% for the iPhone 12.

Source: ZDNet.com





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