ST PAUL, Minnesota — Has this notification popped up on your iPhone?
"In your region, iPhone will try to selectively charge when lower carbon emission electricity is available."
Apple rolled out its Clean Energy Charging feature last fall in the U.S. When enabled and connected to a charger, the iPhone (iOS 16.1 and later) gets a forecast of the carbon emissions in an iPhone user's local energy grid and uses it to charge the iPhone when the grid is using cleaner energy sources like solar or wind or during off-peak hours.
"When we think of demand of electricity on the grid, it's always going to be advantageous to avoid times when demand is highest. So this is going to be a financial benefit, as well as a clean benefit. Any time we're avoiding increasing the peak in the highest demand, then we're avoiding using some of the dirtier and more expensive energy generation systems," said Aaron Hanson, energy program specialist for the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment.
The feature also considers an iPhone user's patterns. According to Apple, Clean Energy Charging only engages where you would normally charge for longer, like at home or work. Apple claims it will not engage while in a new location. For example, when traveling.
It works together with optimized battery charging, which helps improve a battery's lifespan.
"We don't know what kind of financial incentive Apple might have on the backend with the various utilities that are also benefiting from this. But as retail or residential consumers of electricity, we have flat rates and so we might not see the dynamic financial benefit that's happening on the backend of the system," Hanson said. "But when rates are decided by the utilities and the public utilities commissions that regulate those rates, if we can have that system operating... in a more efficient way, then there is a cost-benefit to ratepayers, in general, in the end."
But the feature is receiving some pushback on social media. One complaint is that it is turned on by default although it can be turned off in settings under "battery health & charging." There's also an option when the notification pops up to choose "charge now," if needed.
Some users online have voiced frustrations over slower charging speeds. However, others may not have noticed. For example, the feature has not engaged on my iPhone once since the rollout although it is enabled in my phone's settings.
"That is the risk that Apple is taking with this new feature. They don't want to disrupt their user experience so they're signaling that they have confidence in their data analytics to write a program that avoids that," Hanson said.
Hanson went on to say, "Your phone charging isn't taking a large amount of energy. But when you add up the thousands or even millions of Apple customers that are perhaps simultaneously charging their phones, even ramping down that aggregated consumption could have huge benefits for us in terms of grid reliability and not just costs."
Besides reducing one's carbon footprint, relying more on cleaner energy sources also helps cut down on air pollution.
"Right now we are faced with a climate challenge which tells us that we need to clean up our energy system in terms of carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases. So this is big. We need all of our smart features to make smart decisions and avoid unnecessary emissions, take advantage of renewables when they are in surplus... when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining," Hanson said.
Microsoft also rolled out its own features earlier this year which are more focused on when to push out updates and powering down consoles when they're not in use.
Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S consoles now default to the shutdown (energy saving) power option versus sleep mode. However, gamers can choose sleep mode instead. According to Microsoft, shutdown mode uses 20 times less power than the sleep option. Consoles still receive system, game or app downloads overnight although in this mode, consoles experience a slower boot time.
Xbox is also now "carbon aware." When a console is plugged in, on shutdown mode, connected to the internet and able to able to access "regional carbon intensity data," Xbox will schedule updates at times when the console can use the most renewable energy.
"There's a much larger window to make those decisions about avoiding peak demand which typically corresponds with the dirtiest fuel mix in terms of emissions and also the costliest," Hanson explained.
Xcel Energy has its own programs for achieving a carbon-free future.
When it comes to the iPhone feature, Xcel Energy spokesperson Theo Keith said, "The new iPhone setting could make a carbon reduction impact if thoroughly adopted by Apple's approximately 140 million U.S. users. It's important to note that we don't provide the carbon data that informs this iPhone charging setting."
In the coming years, Xcel Energy plans to transition customers to time-of-use rates. The program is already operating in Colorado.
Xcel Energy gave its own recommendations, saying:
"Using a smart thermostat and pre-cooling your house or apartment during off-peak hours is the best way to reduce your carbon use. Using large appliances during off-peak hours and adding renewable programs like residential heat pumps to your energy mix are other options to consider. Electric vehicle owners can use our Accelerate at Home program, which charges their EV during off-peak hours overnight, providing savings to vehicle owners and reducing the peak load during times of high usage."
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