Steve Jobs leaves legacy of innovation in energy efficient technology

We opened up our daily POLITICO Playbook email today expecting to find the news of Steve Jobs’ death in the headline. What we did not expect to find was this: “Steven Paul Jobs, who made the world more efficient and enjoyable.”

While Mike Allen was likely referring to efficiency in the organizational and professional sense, we couldn’t help but think of the revolution in green product design and implementation that Jobs inspired at Apple and beyond.

Before Apple, few companies talked about their environmental impact — especially tech companies. Electronic products are natural energy hogs. Even the “greenest” electronics aren’t all that great for the environment. 

Apple has become an easy target for environmental groups because they identify themselves as energy-aware, yet their products still require loads of energy for production, distribution, use and recycling.

But the point that critics are missing is that Apple has inspired companies to be conscious of their energy use and receptive to efficiency opportunities. As one of the first companies to start talking about their environmental footprint, Apple opened the door for sustainable solutions:

In 2009, we became the first company in our industry to report comprehensive calculations of our total carbon footprint — including environmental reports for every product — giving the public an opportunity to judge our efforts and track our progress in detail.

Steve Jobs has left a legacy of innovation, both in technology and efficiency. We think it’s safe to say he would not have been a leader in one without being a leader in the other.