Browsing through this gift guide you’ll find a handpicked selection of some of the most luxurious Apple-related items from across the globe. There’s something for everyone, from a handmade iPod case and chic designer MacBook sleeve for her, to a solar powered iPod dock and OS X-themed photo frame for him.

So it’s time to forget that last minute flurry of festive purchases and set aside your gift hunting woes as you browse the alternative Apple gift guide.

Hard Graft’s 2UNFOLD Laptop Bag ($564)

One of the most luxurious items in the gift guide, each limited edition 2UNFOLD is assembled in Italy, individually handmade and numbered. The bag is immaculately constructed but also fervently utilitarian: with a few simple folds it can be re-configured from backpack to shoulderbag, briefcase to clutch. There’s room for a couple of Monocle back issues alongside, of course, ample space for your 13″, 15″ or even 17″ MacBook.

ReNu’s Solar Powered iPod Dock (from $199)

Unlike other iPod docks, this one makes use of ReNu’s solar module, charging your iPhone or iPod by harnessing the power of the sun. After charging up using this elegant device, you’re also left with that warm smugness that can only come from being environmentally friendly. If you’ve got this item in mind for the Christmas season, potential purchasers should note that the docks are set to ship in February 2010. However, order now and you can take advantage of ReNu’s early supporter price.

Byrd & Belle’s Felt and Leather iPhone Case ($19)

Handmade from soft wool felt, these cases are a classic look ideal for both guys and girls. The soft felt outer and cotton fabric inner will protect your precious iPhone from dust and scratches while the hand-dyed leather strap will make sure it’s always secure inside the case. Byrd & Belle’s iPhone cases are produced in limited runs. If there’s none left in stock it’s worth checking out the other beautiful items available in their store too, all worthy additions to any Apple connoisseur’s collection.

ThinkGeek’s Image.jpg Photo Frame ($24.99)

This clever photo frame mixes digital with analog. Styled after OS X’s Aqua aesthetic, the Image.jpg photo frame is a quirky item that’s sure to draw attention to whatever photo it happens to be housing. As ThinkGeek point out, it’s totally analog, which means no registering and no software updates — just slide a photo in to the wooden frame and you’re good to go.

Mulberry for Apple (from $180)

If there’s a lady in your life who’s looking for a true taste of British style then Mulberry’s new range of Apple bags, cases and clutches may be the perfect gift. Established in 1971, Mulberry has moved with the times ensuring that its items always stay fashion-forward while capturing the original essence of the brand. Highlights of the Mulberry for Apple range include the chic Drew sleeve for the 15″ MacBook and the Bayswater Mini Messenger clutch for iPhone.

iamhuman’s MacBook Covers (from $30)

With MacBook’s becoming a mainstream notebook, it’s becoming increasingly important that we’re able to give our digital companions a twist of individuality. This brand new range from iamhuman offsets the generic stylings of your MacBook with a natural finish. Alongside a range of textile covers, made from materials such as denim, there’s also a premium range created from the finest rosewood, ebony and cork.

Twelve South’s Bookarc ($49.99)

The BookArc is a neat solution for keeping your MacBook in pride of place on your desktop while giving you the clarity of thought that a clutter-free workspace brings. Your MacBook can be placed comfortably and securely in the BookArc. All the ports and plugs are still accessible too. For those looking to spread a little clarity throughout their workspace, the BookArc is available at a discounted rate as a 6-pack.

The Griffin + Threadless Collection ($34.99)

Threadless, purveyor of fine t-shirts, has collaborated with Griffin to create a pair of iPhone cases which simultaneously protect and ooze cool. The first design, entitled Birds of a Feather, comes in white while the second, Clouds within Thunder, is a dazzling hipster yellow. Both designs are available as t-shirts too, presenting the possibility of an excellent combination gift. The cases themselves are snap-on shells, protecting from scratches, dust and, according to Threadless, boringness too.

Instructables’ Sewable iPod Remote (DIY)

Getting your hands dirty with a DIY gift might not immediately sound like the most luxurious prospect but there’s nothing quite as classy as creating your own handmade item. This ten-minute tutorial, available from Instructables, walks you through creating a delightful Hello Kitty iPod remote. You’ll need a basic grasp of electronics and a dash of confidence too but making this yourself means that you can give someone special a genuine one-off piece with a personal twist.

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The idea is simple: companies pay Twitter users to mention their products in a favorable light. It’s paid content, not uncommon in the blogging world, brought to micro-blogging for the first time in a concerted, organized and coherent way. It even includes an attempt at transparency, via a “disclosure engine,” use of which is required for Sponsored Tweets posts.

For celebrity bloggers like Jessica Gottlieb, it’s a system that pays admirably. For every sponsored tweet she makes, she’s compensated to the tune of around $22, according to a Fast Company article on the new service by Lydia Dishman. Dishman’s own sponsored tweets would only be worth about $3 by comparison. Sponsored Tweets takes into account your number of followers and the frequency of your posting, among other factors, when determining your rate of compensation.

Arguments in favor of and against the scheme have already been popping up all over the place, with people making good points on both sides. Personally, I like to keep social networking and advertising as separate as possible, and have been known to delete Facebook friends after receiving a pitch message. I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about the same sort of thing on Twitter, since a 140-character tweet in my stream is much easier to ignore than a message that triggers an email, but at first blush, it isn’t something that sits well with me. I think the degree to which it becomes popular will end up having a lot to do with how tolerant I am of paid tweeting.

What are your thoughts on Sponsored Tweets? Do you produce paid content as a web worker already, and would you consider moving into this new space? How do you see tweet sponsoring affecting your Twitter usage, if at all?

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There weren’t too many details on the so-called Marine Spatial Plan from the government, but it will likely be similar to wind resource maps that are becoming common in the wind industry. Instead of gauging wind gusts, the marine power map will look at the tides and waves, and likely other environmental factors such as the seabed, water depth, and distance to shore.

Richard Lochhead, Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, said the new project will serve as a planning tool for developers, regulators and current users of the marine environment. But it could take some time to get the marine map ready. The government said a draft planning framework will be available by April, with an initial Marine Spatial Plan expected to be developed over the next 12 months. The government didn’t say who would be handling the mapping duties, but it has held talks with at least one company with a stake in marine energy — Scottish Power — as well as a number of Scottish and UK government agencies.

Companies like Seattle startup 3Tier may want to get in on the Scottish mapping action. 3Tier showed off its solar maps at the International Solar Power conference last year, but it’s also working on mapping tools for the wind and hydro markets. Backed by cleantech investor Good Energies, 3Tier already has a service for monitoring the Columbia Water Basin in the Pacific Northwest, and said it has set up short-range forecast systems for hydropower and flood-control projects in the U.S. and Panama.

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CanWEA said the wind industry in Canada might not be able to compete against the U.S. for investments and manufacturing under the new budget, which fails to expand and extend the ecoENERGY for Renewable Power Program. Launched in January 2007, the program is expected to allocate most of its C$1.48 billion ($1.22 billion) in incentives by the end of this year, supporting 4,000 megawatts of new projects that are set to be built by March 2011. The renewable energy industry had been hoping to get the program expanded to C$2.8 billion over five years to build at least 8,000 MW of renewable projects.

U.S. President Barack Obama has pledged to double renewable energy in that country within three years, and a proposed $825 billion stimulus bill making its way through Congress has earmarked $54 billion for clean power and energy efficiency.

The Canadian budget, which hinges on the support of the opposition Liberal Party, includes C$1 billion over five years for what the government calls “promising technologies” in clean energy, but the only technology mentioned is carbon capture and storage. Greenpeace says CCS is “unproven, risky and expensive,” and points out that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change doesn’t see CCS being commercially viable until around 2050 — potentially too late to alleviate the effects of climate change.

Biomass gets a brief mention in a separate part of the budget covering forestry, with C$80 million allocated over two years for a program led by the not-for-profit FPInnovations research institute, which focuses on forest biomass utilization, nanotechnology and next generation forest products. Biomass could also end up getting a piece of an additional C$40 million in the forestry budget for pilot-scale demonstration projects.

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Total new net summer capacity — which is tested during the summer peak demand period — increased by 8,673 MW in 2007, with wind accounting for the biggest percentage of that new capacity, at 5,186 MW. Natural gas and coal accounted for most of the remaining increase.

Things look good for the future, too. Over the next five years, renewable energy could make up 20 percent of the new capacity in the pipeline, although with the current global credit crunch, some of those planned projects could get dumped.

Overall numbers for renewables looked less stellar. Renewable energy contributed 2.5 percent, or 105 million megawatt hours, of total net generation in 2007. That’s the fourth consecutive year that the number has gone up, but wood biomass and wind power currently make up most of that 2.5 percent, with geothermal and biomass from other sources accounting for the rest.

But the EIA report isn’t all about utility-scale power, there are also more businesses and homes feeding small-scale renewable energy back into the grid. With net metering, people are credited on their bill for any excess electricity they send to the utilities. In 2007, there were 48,820 customers, mostly residential, participating in net metering programs across the country. That’s way up from just five years earlier, when there were only 4,472. And which state is leading the way in net metering? California, with 34,910.

But Texas beat out California in a different ranking, coming out on top for so-called “green pricing” programs. That’s where business and residential users can specifically purchase renewable energy from their utility. A total of 835,651 customers in the U.S., again mostly residential, went with a green pricing program, with Texas accounting for 17 percent. Oregon came in at No. 2 with 12 percent, and California had to settle for the No. 3 spot with 7 percent.

It wasn’t all good news. Carbon dioxide emissions by electric generators and combined heat and power facilities increased by 2.3 percent in 2007, to 2.52 billion metric tons, up from 2.460 billion. That reverses a decline in CO2 emissions reported for 2006.

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If passed, the deal will allow member states to run joint projects on renewable electricity production, heating or cooling. It also adds the ability for member states to fulfill their EU obligations using renewable electricity produced by new projects in third-party countries, as long as the electricity is consumed in the EU.

According to BusinessWeek, that means a country such as France could build big solar arrays in North Africa, and then plug into them from home and count the energy and the carbon dioxide savings toward its EU obligations.

The bill is part of a wider EU climate change package that’s targeting a 20-percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, as the AFP notes, as well as a 20-percent reduction in energy use.

Transportation is a significant part of the bill; it stipulates a goal of at least 10 percent renewable energy in the transport sector by 2020. Second-generation biofuels get extra credit, with biofuels produced from waste, residues, or non-food biomass to be counted at two times the input toward the 10-percent target.

There’s an extra incentive for electric cars as well, with renewable electricity consumed by electric cars to be credited at two-and-a-half times the input. But trains won’t be getting as much love; renewable electricity for railroads would only be counted once.

The AFP said that Italy, which doesn’t have much in the way of a renewable energy infrastructure right now, gained a concession in the bill that calls for the EU to review the agreement in 2014. But in a statement, the EU said that the review will not affect the overall 20-percent target but will “serve to improve, if necessary, the efficiency of cooperation mechanisms.”

At least one environmental activist group isn’t completely happy with the bill. The Climate Action Network is criticizing the use of so-called “effort sharing,” which sets energy reduction targets for individual sectors, including agriculture, transport and households, none of which are covered by carbon emission trading schemes. The group told AFP there was no credible mechanism to ensure compliance in those sectors, calling the effort-sharing part of the bill “a farce.”

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Shriram, a provider of engineering and construction services for renewable energy, water and wastewater projects, said in a statement that Orient Green now has access to $75 million in equity with this latest round of funding. Orient Green will use the cash to expand its renewable holdings, including setting up and acquiring biomass, cogeneration, wind, small hydro and biogas projects.

Another Indian cleantech firm got a boost earlier this month, when Azure Power raised an undisclosed amount of funding for its solar power projects. Helion Venture Partners and Foundation Capital led the Series A round. Azure said it has a number of grid-connected and off-grid sites under development across several Indian states.

Orient Green currently operates 70 megawatts (MW) of biomass and wind power, but it’s aiming for 500 MW of renewables within the next five years. The company has two 7.5 MW biomass plants in Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan and multiple wind farms in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Currently, it’s working on another 146 MW of hydro and biomass power.

In addition to selling power, Orient Green plans to make cash by selling Certified Emission Reduction credits under the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism. According to Orient Green’s web site, the company is also looking at getting into ethanol production.

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