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Big Mac · Mar 27, 2011, 02:28 AM

I thought this was a really high quality recent article from AppleInsider: AppleInsider | Apple's aluminum strategy aids shift to greener products

It details Apple's shift to aircraft-grade aluminum (an increasing amount of which has come from recycled sources) since a 2007 open letter from SJ on making Apple "greener" through its aluminum usage. According to the article in 2009 Apple got its percentage of weight recycled of aluminum up to 64% and has a goal of getting that number to 70% by 2015. There's also an interesting statistic cited from aluminum giant Alcoa that aluminum is "infinitely recyclable" with 75% of all aluminum produced since 1888 still in active use today. That's much higher than I would have guessed.

Apple apparently reaps benefits in multiple areas by shifting most of its product cases to aluminum.

ShortcutToMoncton · Mar 27, 2011, 08:22 AM

Can this be evidence that at least one good thing has come out of Greenpeace?

glideslope · Mar 27, 2011, 10:15 AM

Nice article. Some real facts for all the Eco Energizers in the world.

"What? It's not just about rigidity, and heat transfer?"

Cold Warrior · Mar 27, 2011, 10:55 AM

AI has been doing very well-done pieces for a while now. They supplement rumors with long-ish features and offer a lot of revealing insight into Apple's strategies -- not simple tactics, but its strategies in depth.

ghporter · Mar 27, 2011, 01:06 PM

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton

Can this be evidence that at least one good thing has come out of Greenpeace?

Let's not confuse Greenpeace with the larger (and usually more level-headed) environmental movement. Environmentalism did not start with Greenpeace, and Greenpeace is not even close to mainstream in the movement.

Using renewable and recycled materials makes sense in many ways. Particularly in metals, recycling is exceptionally "green." Most steel made today, both here and abroad, is made with a substantial amount of "used" steel. Aluminum, on the other hand, is so much easier and cheaper to produce from recycled waste, that it's hard to imagine the need for "virgin" aluminum outside of some very exotic alloys for very specialized uses.

Spheric Harlot · Mar 27, 2011, 04:10 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

Let's not confuse Greenpeace with the larger (and usually more level-headed) environmental movement. Environmentalism did not start with Greenpeace, and Greenpeace is not even close to mainstream in the movement.

I keep wondering whether Greenpeace in the United States is this completely different entity from what it is in Europe.

Over here, Greenpeace absolutely spearheaded the publicity campaigns that brought environmental issues into the public awareness and made them mainstream politics.

That's their job, and while they've fallen a bit by the wayside in recent years (at least over here, where green politics indisputably arrived in the mainstream when the Green party became the junior partner in the coalition government in 1998), but aside from a few misjudgments, they've been extremely good at it.

Yeah, pile on.

From the looks of it, one of our states just got a green governor (the first in German history) in today's elections.

mattyb · Mar 27, 2011, 04:40 PM

Big deal, what about built in obsolescence?

AKcrab · Mar 27, 2011, 05:01 PM

From a repair standpoint, I find it odd that Apple doesn't want back every scrap of aluminum. We'll be required to send the dumbest little part pack to Apple, but the old topcase on a unibody doesn't get returned. That's a big chunk of aluminum.

The Godfather · Mar 27, 2011, 05:45 PM

To continue producing widgets despite tightening environmental standards is to be credited to Apple and all other industrialists, not Greenpeace or lobbyists.

iMOTOR · Mar 27, 2011, 08:08 PM

Originally Posted by mattyb

Big deal, what about built in obsolescence?

YouTube - The Story of Electronics (2010) ??

freudling · Mar 27, 2011, 09:33 PM

I'm sick of aluminum. Other than on the iPad, it conducts too much heat. MacBook Pros are virtually unusable because of how hot they get. You can fry eggs on iMacs. I should know, I've done it. Eggs actually fry on them.

Sizzle.

Sizzle.

Sizzle.

Big Mac · Mar 27, 2011, 09:47 PM

I've never had a problem with heat using Penryn MBPs even with demanding workloads. Is heat more of an issue with the unibody models?

Spheric Harlot · Mar 28, 2011, 12:54 AM

No.

mattyb · Mar 28, 2011, 07:52 AM

Originally Posted by freudling

I'm sick of aluminum. Other than on the iPad, it conducts too much heat. MacBook Pros are virtually unusable because of how hot they get. You can fry eggs on iMacs. I should know, I've done it. Eggs actually fry on them.

My plastic Feb 2007 iMac doesn't get hot.

P · Mar 28, 2011, 09:04 AM

Originally Posted by freudling

I'm sick of aluminum. Other than on the iPad, it conducts too much heat. MacBook Pros are virtually unusable because of how hot they get. You can fry eggs on iMacs. I should know, I've done it. Eggs actually fry on them.

Sizzle.

Sizzle.

Sizzle.

I wonder if it wouldn't be possible to add a thin coating of silicone or something like that to the handrests (and also the outer frame of the iPhone) to avoid that issue and the attenuation thing. This would of course keep some more heat in and thus increase required fan speed, but it need not be a big change.

Also: iMacs? The recent ones at least are hot in two places - the two top corners, where the heatpipes end. Do you often need to touch them there? Personally I'd much rather have a nicely quiet Mac than one that's cooler in a spot I never touch anyway.

Eug · Mar 28, 2011, 12:00 PM

My 13" MacBook Pro C2D doesn't get hot enough to be uncomfortable on the palmrests.

My 27" iMac Core i7 summer 2010 doesn't get hot either.

ShortcutToMoncton · Mar 28, 2011, 12:55 PM

My 27" iMac i5 gets very hot up around on top/back area. Can't say as that's ever been a problem for me however (only time I've noticed it is when trying to lean over/around the screen to attach a cable to the most-stupidly-designed-modern-Apple-ports.

mduell · Mar 29, 2011, 10:45 PM

Originally Posted by AKcrab

From a repair standpoint, I find it odd that Apple doesn't want back every scrap of aluminum. We'll be required to send the dumbest little part pack to Apple, but the old topcase on a unibody doesn't get returned. That's a big chunk of aluminum.

The topcase is probably worth a dollar in scrap. Not worth shipping.

Anyone know what alloy it is? 1000 series? 2000 series? Doubt it's any better than that.

AKcrab · Mar 29, 2011, 10:55 PM

The topcase on a unibody is what you might be thinking of as the bottom case of a non-unibody. It's a pretty good chunk of metal. I'll see if I have one around I can get a weight on.