There’s some rumors circulating about Apple potentially preparing a solar powered device—or at least including technology to do so for some yet-unannounced product. This is all based on the uncovering of a Q1 2009 patent filing for a small, low-powered solar array for mobile devices. The patent is cited by an article on TechCrunch, but details are scant.

Reading the abstract of the patent gives a particular focus of the general description of their intent:

“Portable devices having multiple power interfaces are described herein. According to one embodiment of the invention, a portable electronic device includes, but is not limited to, a processor, a memory coupled to the processor for storing instructions, when executed from the memory, cause the processor to perform one or more functions, a battery coupled to provide power to the processor and the memory, and a battery charging manager coupled to charge the battery using power derived from a plurality of power sources including a solar power source. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.”

Running out of power is an extremely common problem for all mobile and portable devices. In fact, I have to recharge my phone nightly. City power grids have been suffering immensely under the onslaught of new devices that plug into our homes and consume further and further power from our resources—and this doesn’t just include vampire power in the form of wall-warts that we just leave plugged into sockets and forget that suckle power even when they’re not charging a device. (My phone has a built-in reminder to warn me that my wall-wart is still plugged in even after I disconnect it from the charger.)

Solar power charging for something like an iPhone might be a huge book for households who want to help save energy, money, and the environment all at the same time as leaving their phone upside-down in a spot of sunlight on the table or couch normally set aside for the family cat to sun herself. (Sorry, Foofy, phone needs the warm spot for a while.)

Combine this with an anti-vampire power strip and you’ve got a much more sensible energy outlook for your household. Especially if people consider that we drain our wallets for almost a hundred or more a year from vampire power and charging our phones. Whatever extra amount that solar charging adds to the price of a phone might just pay for itself in the long run when we get free energy from the sun that otherwise leaps back out our windows.