Solar-powered AC Built Into Blinds; Microsoft eyes smart grid; Best Practices in Green Electronics; LG Cellphone has a solar charger built in; Schwarzenegger Wants to Buy Your Surplus Solar Power

Solar-powered AC Built Into Blinds Now this is a cool idea – an AC unit that doubles up as blinds and sources green power from the sun.

Microsoft eyes smart grid with utility software Microsoft, angling for a bigger piece of the utility business, said Tuesday that it has developed an architecture tailored for utility smart-grid programs. The Smart Energy Reference Architecture (SERA) is meant to give utilities a blueprint for integrating and modernizing their IT systems. Microsoft said that its software will work with devices specific to the power industry and help utilities better handle an anticipated wave of real-time data.

Apple, Sony Ericsson Demonstrate Best Practices in Green Electronics Apple established an innovative program that restricts the use of nearly all bromine and chlorine compounds across all their product lines. As such, Apple now offers a wide range of PVC- and BFR-free consumer products including iPhones and iPods, as well as computers that are free of BFRs and most uses of PVC.

New LG Cellphone has a solar charger built in. Wow…I love this idea. LG just rolled out its latest would-be iPhone killer called the LG GD510 aka the Pop. The company calls the phone “the most compact 3-inch full touchscreen phone ever made.” In the green tech category, the unit offers an optional solar charging replacement battery cover.

Gov. Schwarzenegger Wants to Buy Your Surplus Solar Power California law will require utilities to pay roughly one and half times the ‘market price’ to small-scale solar generators. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday signed a statewide solar feed-in tariff, a provision that requires utilities to buy solar energy back from customers at above-market prices.