According to a press statement, Apple is adding a new “Clean Energy Charging” feature to the iPhone via an update “later this year.” “Clean Energy Charging” aims to decrease the carbon footprint of the iPhone by optimizing charging times for when the grid is using cleaner energy sources. Clean Energy Charging will be available to users in America.
Andrew Griffin for The Independent:
The feature adds a new process to the iPhone that runs in the background and gathers information from the power grid about carbon emissions, according to data found in the code by blog 9to5Mac. That allows the phone to know when the electricity grid is running at the cleanest times.
The new feature will be able to wait until the power grid is using less energy, and is therefore running on more clean energy, before it starts charging. That could presumably allow iPhones to limit the load on the power grid, as well as charge using more clean sources, which could be useful in situations where power is limited.
The system works similar to those already in the phone to optimise the lifespan of the battery. Those work by monitoring when people tend to use their phone and keeping the battery below its maximum charge until it is needed – thereby lowering the strain on the battery.
MacDailyNews Take: Theoretically, this feature could eventually be introduced wherever power grid emissions data is available for Apple to utilize.
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