Apple eyes solar panels

Apple has its eye on the sun as a source of energy for iPods, reports CNET News.

Company employees have applied for a patent relating to powering electronic devices using integrated solar cells, the Patently Apple site has uncovered. Called 'Power management circuitry and solar cells', the application dates back to August 2008 and was officially published on 22 January this year.

It appears, though, that it's not the first Apple patent application relating to solar-powered gadgets. In October 2006, a more general patent under the title 'Solar cells on portable devices' was filed by at least one of the same people. When that application was published in 2008, it was traced back to Apple iPod engineers.

The emerging US market for carbon reporting software is set to grow seven-fold over the next two years, as more and more firms begin measuring and reporting their carbon emissions, states Computing.co.uk.

That is the prediction of a new report from analyst firm Groom Energy Research, which found that despite the gloomy economic climate, venture capital investment in enterprise carbon accounting firms topped $46 million last year.

The study also noted that the number of companies offering carbon software solutions grew from 40 to 60 over the course of the year, with software giants Microsoft and Computer Associates among those to unveil carbon reporting software applications for the first time.

Ontario signed a $7 billion deal with a consortium led by South Korean industrial giant Samsung Group and Korea Electric Power to build 2 500 megawatts (MW) of wind and solar power, says UPI.

The first stage of the project, scheduled for completion by the first quarter of 2013, includes a 500MW cluster, 400MW in wind and 100MW in solar, to be built in Southern Ontario. The resulting capacity will help to replace power currently provided by a coal plant due to be decommissioned by 2014.

The plan also calls for Samsung to establish a base of operations to manufacture wind and solar equipment to export clean electricity to the growing green-energy market in North America.