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Remember that they're in one of the sunniest places in the US (at least during the summer) and are supposedly 100% self-contained renewable energy.

Energy costs are typically, and by far, the lion's share of the operating costs of a major building like this.



There is a difference between sunny and hot. Cupertino has plenty of sunshine, but is not hot so doesn't require a ton of energy for cooling (the building doesn't even have AC!). If they were able to pull this off in say, Phoenix, it would be a lot more of a cost savings.

> Jobs hated air-conditioning and especially loathed fans. (He vigilantly tried to keep them out of his computers.) But he also didn’t want people opening windows, so he insisted on natural ventilation, a building that breathes just like the people who work inside it.


The article mentioned in-floor heating/cooling hydronic loops.


Interesting. Still, the sunshine to energy need ratio in Cupertino seems to support low energy costs.

Redwood City, just to the north, is famous for having the "best climate in the world" by WW2 era gov't test.




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