Personal electronics just became more sustainable with the newest collaboration between Microsoft and Alcantara on the Microsoft Surface Pro Signature. Microsoft’s 2-in-1-Surface-To-Go PCs are known for their distinctive keyboard that features a soft, suede-like material. Now, they have been designed with the planet in mind. Once made of fibers 100 percent derived from petroleum, the finished material of the Surface Pro Signature keyboard is now made up of 12 percent renewable material derived from sugarcane waste.
Alcantara is an Italian industrial company that produces durable textiles for a variety of uses. The company is notably the first Italian industrial company, and among the first companies in the world, to achieve Carbon Neutrality, reaching the goal in 2009. A company being Carbon Neutral entails maintaining a net balance of CO2 emissions equal to zero during the production and disposal processes.
Microsoft began partnering with Alcantara on their line of Microsoft Surface PCs in 2017, but the Signature is the first keyboard partially composed of renewable material from sugarcane waste. In designing the keyboard out of such material, principal designer Alec Ishihara said in a promotional video for the new keyboard that Microsoft ensured it “looked the same, felt the same, and performed the same.” The incorporation of biobased material in the Signature keyboard is part of Microsoft’s larger mission to become carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste by 2030.
The Microsoft Surface Pro Signature keyboard is now available in the colors black, platinum, poppy red, forest green, and sapphire, with the latter two being inspired by hues found in nature. It is compatible with Surface Pro 8, Surface Pro 9, and Surface Pro X.
