Apple Inc. Planning Solar Farm for Reno Datacenter

          As part of Apple's plans to meet all power needs with renewable energy, Apple is setting its eyes on its third solar farm. The new farm is planned to power Apple's data center in Reno, Nevada and also aims to provide energy for the surrounding community. Apple currently has two solar farm projects underway at a datacenter in North Carolina. 

         Working in partnership with the Nevada utility company NV Energy, the solar farm should be able to produce "approximately 43.5 million kilowatt hours of clean energy, equivalent to taking 6,400 passenger vehicles off the road per year," according to a statement released by Apple. NV Energy CEO Michael Yackira responded in a statement, "We're excited to be in partnership with Apple on a new solar energy project, the first project under our new Green Energy Program. This program allows customers such as Apple to choose to have a greater proportion of their energy coming from renewables than the law requires, without having a cost impact on our other customers."  

Apple eyes another patent for solar-powered iPhone

Apple yet again faces to amaze me; the company files a patent application, regarding to solar panel technology towards their smaller end devices such as iPhones and iPods. With solar cells embedded over the "integrated touch sensor" (another word for the display screen for people who aren't tech savvy), the phone can act as a "solar charger" powering your phone, but at the same time, waiting for incoming calls outdoors. Though this idea may seem too good to be true, fellow Apple fans, don't have your hopes up too high for patent applications don't necessarily mean "Apple" will launch this device anytime soon. Especially with solar technology being a bit pricey in the current market towards production funds, the official launch of this project may take quite some time.

(Credit: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office)