Okay, this definitely comes under the WTF category, but being a green vehicle I just have to talk about it. Just by looking at this car, I want to break out into song such as “Dashing through the snow, in a one-horse open sleigh” or talk about the carriage rides in NYC and other places.

I read a blog that called this thing an Amish car. That would be quite amusing if it wasn’t only powered by the horse but for the horse. You see this vehicle is not built for the benefit of the person riding inside but it helps racehorses train for the big day.

According to the Kurt Systems website, “For on-track or off-track use suitable for racehorses, trotters, endurance and camel training fully adjustable and controlled speeds from walking pace to galloping at up to 16m/sec (60 km/h). Safe controlled training programs and performance evaluation. Confirm training intensity, with built-in hearth rate monitors. Allows trainers carry out regular fitness tests and comparisons.

“Various, precision designed hydraulically controlled, saddle/jockey weight accessories. Built-in, integrated, computerized testing systems, sophisticated fitness testing on the training/race track. Measure fitness with heart rate, blood lactate and oxygen uptake.”

Whatever happened to giving horses swimming lessons for training and rehab purposes? I was quite fond of seeing thoroughbreds doing the Australian crawl. As technology goes, they may be putting the cart before the horse on this one. Then again, perhaps the next Seattle Slew may be just around the corner.

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When I think of the Welsh I automatically think of the grape juice or the jelly (Okay, I’m not as worldly as I would like to be). I know the Welsh are known for many things besides this.

In fact, I am quite impressed now by the Welsh since I’ve found out that they are planning on building a hydrogen highway system in South Wales, UK along the M4 highway. The University of Glamorgan just off the M4 will be one of the stops since they already have a hydrogen fuel station for testing purposes.

The cities involved in this venture will include Swansea, Cardiff and Newport. The hydrogen fuel network will also be linked to Bristol, Swindon, London and the Midlands. And in some unknown time in the future I’m thinking the Brits will go all the way and link the stations to the three being built in Scotland as well.

One of the kickers to this whole proposal is that the hydrogen fuel is to be created by renewable energy. Of the hydrogen fueling stations in California, about 1/3 use renewable energy under the State’s mandate (which by the way has held back the creation of more hydrogen fuel stations).

But, in Wales, they are taking the bull by the horns so to speak and dictate that all hydrogen fuel produced will come from renewable means. One must wonder how much Scotland will play a role in this since they are already producing hydrogen using wind energy.

In a world now enamored with battery electric cars, it’s a relief to see that some people still see the value of hydrogen fuel and its critical role in a greener environment.

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I’ve talked about helical wind turbines before such as the Helix. I’ve also many times talked about the merits of solar energy. But, what if you could combine these two types of renewable energy systems into one device?

A company called Bluenergy has done just that. The Bluenergy SolarWind turbine is a helical wind generator covered with photovoltaic cells. The beauty of the SolarWind turbine, besides it aesthetically pleasing design, is that when the sun is shining it collects energy. Also, when the wind is churning (up to 90 mph) it is also collecting energy.

And, when the sun in shining and wind is blowing it is doing double duty in creating electricity. Solar energy is intermittent since the sun doesn’t shine all day. Wind energy is intermittent because the air isn’t always moving. The SolarWind turbine, however, has the potential to smooth out this intermittent renewable energy problem.

Because of the design by Bluenergy, the turbine turns as relatively low wind speeds. In addition, because of the helical design and the presumed turning of the turbine, the photovoltaic cells are receiving maximum sun coverage. The photovoltaic cells don’t have to track the sun from sunup to sundown in order to create energy.

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People living off the grid have done this for years. The will use wind or solar power and then store the extra electricity as either hydrogen or inside lead acid batteries for later use. Now, Panasonic has developed a home lithium ion battery that will rival all others for massive storage of home electricity.

Panasonic is promoting this battery for homeowners who already have solar or wind power in place or will in the very near future. And, this battery will surely store such energy.

But, one facet of this new Panasonic lithium ion home battery that is not being talked about is its value to every homeowner and not just those who are using renewable energy. What is so exciting is that homeowners will now have the ability to charge the home battery during off-peak hours from the power company when the rates are the lowest and use this battery power when the rates are the highest.

This means you don’t even have to go wind or solar to save green. If homeowners were to do this it would not only save them money but more evenly spread out the energy usage on the grid. This would also help the proliferation of wind to grid and solar to grid technology, which is intermittent, if homeowners were equipped to store this intermittent energy and use it as needed.

The only challenge now is bringing the cost of this home battery down to consumer-friendly levels. But, Panasonic has a history of doing just this and in a very short time both you and me could be saving money, storing our own energy and using it as needed around our homes.

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Our English-speaking friends in Australia and the United Kingdom are getting in on the geothermal energy craze. Let’s start with Australia first.

In Victoria Australia the first geothermal energy plant will go live in around three years. The new geothermal plant will provide enough energy to power 120,000 homes. Before the geothermal plant is built however a study will need to be conducted.

The study will have to find out whether or not the average underground temperature is 150° or more. This will dictate whether or not the geothermal plant will be built. Once this has been decided, then a 12 MW geothermal pilot plant will be built. After this has been demonstrated to be viable then the main geothermal power plant will be built.

Meanwhile in the UK 320,000 homes may get ground source heat pumps in order to provide energy. This type of geothermal energy can produce 30% of the energy of the United Kingdom by the year 2020.

Right now there are about 8,000 heat pumps installed in the UK. But that number is expected to increase dramatically by 2012. The British government has said that they will be giving businesses and homeowners incentives for using geothermal energy instead of gas or electricity.

While we’re on the subject of energy efficiency for homes, we must talk about geothermal energy to supply power for earth homes. This category of home includes underground homes, earth berm homes and earth sheltered homes.

Now just imagine these earth homes being powered by wind, solar or geothermal energy and what huge savings that will be. In fact your earth home could become a power generating station and you could sell your electricity back to the power company. How cool would that be? Both literally and figuratively, how cool would that be?

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