Apple is using a new type of reusable air filter in its data centers, which it says is helping it avoid sending 25 tons of discarded filters to landfill each year.

The tech giant revealed details of the project in its 2024 environmental progress report, which claims the iPhone maker has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent since 2015 across Scopes 1, 2, and 3. This has been driven by changes it has made to its corporate offices, its stores, and the seven data centers it operates around the world.

Like many large companies, Apple is aiming to be 100 percent carbon neutral across its products and supply chain by 2030.

Apple’s reusable data center air filters

Apple says it has installed the new air filters, developed in partnership with automotive filtration company K&N, at all its data centers.

It has been working with K&N on the project since 2019, carrying out development work at the Apple data center in Reno, Nevada.

“K&N prototyped and tested 20 versions of an all-new reusable filter design to meet high standards of performance and efficiency,” Apple said. “Today the reusable filters are quickly becoming standard, not just for Apple but industry-wide.”

It does not provide details of which other companies are using the filters, but says that - as well as saving on landfill from disposable filters - they have helped the company cut fan energy use at its data centers by 35 percent.

Apple water projects make a splash

Apple says it has also been taking steps to reduce the amount of water it uses, and the report notes that server upgrades in 2023 resulted in 12 million gallons of water saved.

The company also “piloted a resin water treatment system that reduced makeup water use by 30 percent and discharge by up to 60 percent.” It added that “based on this success, we’re implementing this technology at our data centers in Prineville, Oregon, and Mesa, Arizona.”

Other pilot projects include the use of moss to treat water, something that could potentially eliminate the need for biocides and corrosion inhibitors. Apple uses sustainably harvested sphagnum moss in the system, which is already up and running in its Reno and Maiden, North Carolina, data centers. A permanent installation is underway in the company’s facility in Mesa, Arizona.

Apple says five of its data centers now meet the Alliance for Water Stewardship standard, a framework which makes large water users accountable for the way they manage their systems. It hopes to certify its two facilities in China by 2025.

Powering on

The report highlights the massive power draw of Apple’s data centers, noting that they consumed 2.34 billion kWh of electricity in 2023.

As well as its own data centers, Apple rents space in colocation facilities and is reportedly Google Cloud’s largest customer when it comes to data storage.

It says its data center power usage - across its own facilities and colocation contracts - is entirely carbon neutral, thanks largely to power purchase agreements, which sees it buy renewable power to put back into the grid, as well as its funding of green energy projects.

“In 2023, we continued to see energy savings at data centers,” the report said. “A proprietary server design we deployed in 2021 that focused on energy and computing efficiency resulted in an additional 36 million kWh per year in energy savings.”