This will be a multi-year demonstration of the zero emissions capability of this stationary fuel cell located approximately 44 miles north of Akron, Ohio. The purpose of the fuel cell is to provide peak energy to homes and businesses cleanly especially during hot summer months when homeowners and businesses alike are running air conditioning, lights and other machines and appliances that are a drain to electricity supplies.

Peak energy for a power company is also the time where most pollution is generated by either coal or natural gas. So, having this utility scale hydrogen fuel cell supplying power to the peak load for the utility company will do double duty in cutting emissions.

Look more an increasing number of stationary utility scale hydrogen fuel cells to be coming onto the market in the near future.

Right on the side of the car it says, “Powered By Your Waste” and what this means is when 70 people flush their toilets, this is enough to power this Beetle Juice bug for around 10,000 miles (of course if there were a way to hook the human hiney up to the gas tank directly from flatulence to tank this would be even better).

The British 2-liter 114 mph gas bomb will take advantage of just a little of the 18 million cubic meters of biogas produced locally each year. Now many people have yearned to have a car run on water for years.

In addition, there have been countless jokes about cars being able to run on human gas. The reasoning is that if college students can drink beer and light their farts on fire, then why can we not power an automobile this way as well?

Well, the Bio-Bug has turned a crappy little Beetle into a crap-eating biogas Bug that ironically put out few tailpipe emissions, being cleaner than a gasoline or diesel power car or truck. So, this little gas bomb helps recycle human waste while putting very little pollution into the air.

I know that I sound like I’m full of crap but you can read the article I’ve linked to for yourself.

The X Prize Foundation will be calling all scientists, engineers and others to put their creative minds to work to solve the devastation caused by the oil spill. In the past a large cash award has been offered for the efforts.

In the recent past I’ve talked about the $10 million Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize that is still ongoing that will make an award to the vehicle that is able to achieve 100 mpge (miles per gallon equivalent) and that people will want to buy.

In 2004, the X Prize Foundation awarded Burt Rutan the $10 million Ansari X prize for flying the first space vehicle into low earth orbit, thereby launching the space tourism industry. The Oil Cleanup X Challenge will put the brightest eco minds to work with a cash incentive in order to solve this nation’s largest ecological disaster to date.

The Horizon MiniPak is a portable, reusable electronics charger that is based upon hydrogen technology. One simply inserts a HydroStik cartridge into the MiniPak and in a moment, the light comes on and the device is ready to dispense electricity through a USB connection to any device that uses this connection.

This means that laptops, cell phones, digital cameras and the like can all be run off the MiniPak. And like a battery, when the HydroStik runs dry, you simply pop in a new one. For the environmentalists who want to go the extra mile to save on energy, Horizon has also introduced the HydroFill home personal hydrogen station.

Horizon is calling this “disruptive technology” and if you watch the video, you’ll see why. The Horizon MiniPak will compete directly with the myriad of batteries on the market that don’t have as long of life and are not nearly as versatile.

Since the BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast region has been such a huge environmental disaster and will be for months and likely years to come, PBS thought that a little technology was needed to document the spill.

So, PBS came up with this Gulf Oil Tracker widget that tells how many estimated gallons are leaked at any given moment. It is both outrageous and hypnotic at the same time. The oil industry is like the antithesis to green technology.

Yet, we need high tech to keep the oil barons in check and to protect our environment the best that we can. The BP Gulf Oil spill is just further evidence that we need to put more resources towards green technology now.

“This month, FastCompany identified car2go as one of the 2010 best and boldest ideas to construct the perfect city. It’s going to revolutionize the way we address our transportation needs in congested cities, and Austin may be just the beginning. It also demonstrates how Daimler is leading the auto industry by expanding its core business and creating new business models to address the changing needs of society.

“Imagine a fleet of 200 car2gos, located throughout your city. You can take off at affordable “by-the-minute” rates whenever you want without worrying about fuel, insurance, maintenance or even parking. Unlike traditional car sharing programs, Residents of Austin will soon be able to rent a car and be charged by the minute, rather than a full day, and charges include not only fuel but also parking. There is NO OTHER PROGRAM LIKE THIS anywhere in the U.S. Members can drive where they want and for as long as they want, then can simply park the car at their final destination within the greater Downtown Area and be done. With car2go, you do not need to return the car to the spot where you picked it up.

“Car2go recently concluded a 6-month pilot program with the City of Austin and will be recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on May 20th for their innovative efforts to improve air quality.”

The program is noteworthy but not the first. The authors of this program should give Zipcar and a few others a little credit for there pioneering work in this area of conservation and innovation.

Since it is Earth Day 2010, I thought I would check to see who else is talking about straw bale houses. It looks like there is some chatter at STLToday and USAToday over this rejuvenated type of building.

Straw bale houses have actually been around for years starting in the old days in Oklahoma where there were few other building materials around. Those were pretty crude.

Now, however, straw bale houses, like the name implies are made of waste straw. This means, when bought in bulk the bales are fairly cheap. There are several designs for straw bale houses. One design uses the straw as part of the structure of the house where the roof sits on top and the straw supports it and settles over time.

Another type of home uses a basic wood structure and then straw bales are used as insulation for the home. Clay is applied by hand to make an adobe style dwelling that is quiet, well insulated and unique in style and design.

If done correctly, the straw bale house can be cheaper to build that a traditional home, especially if the homeowner puts some sweat equity into the building process. So, happy Earth Day and go forth and build a straw home and invite all of your friends to help out.

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.

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.

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.