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.

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.

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?

There are several blue car offerings from Mercedes, Subaru, BMW and Toyota. The Mercedes-Benz E350 Bluetec is based upon clean diesel technology and will have an additional 32 horsepower bump due to direct injection.

The Subaru Hybrid Tourer Concept first premiered at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show. It uses a 2.0 Liter direct turbocharged gasoline engine plus a lithium ion battery pack and two electric motors front and back.

The BMW MINI Coupe Concept was originally unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show this year commemorating the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the first MINI. Besides being good on gas, this 2-seater has a 1.6L twin-scroll turbo-charged engine.

The Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid Concept also debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show this year. With all the hype about the Chevy Volt Plug-in Hybrid, the Toyota PHEV Prius may exceed everyone’s expectations and kick the Volt to the curb in sales. One of the reasons is that the Prius PHEV, using a 230 volt outlet will need only 1.5 hours to recharge.

These are the latest blue, green car North American debuts and concept cars that will be showcased at the L. A. Auto Show from December 4 – 13, 2009.

Every year NBC-TV runs a promotion called “Green Week” heightening awareness of environmental and energy saving issues through their television programming. Mr. Gore will appear in a scene on 30 with Kenneth the Page, who is in charge of helping the staff cut their carbon footprint by 5-percent.

Television stations usually don’t go to such lengths to create and promote awareness for a cause. Bringing the poster boy for cutting greenhouse gases, Al Gore works on the celebrity level, the humor level, the ratings level and the message level.

People need to be constantly reminded that not “Greed is good” but rather “Green is good” and NBC is doing a fine job of that this week.

There is a 130-turbine wind farm that has been planned to be built off Cape Cod. Many resident have vehemently opposed the wind farm because they say it will ruin their views.

Now, a couple of Wampanoag Indian tribes are arguing that the land that the wind farm is supposed to be built upon may be protected under the National Historic Register. These tribes don’t want the wind farms on their lands.

But, not all Native American tribes may feel this way. In the West there are hundreds of Indian reservations in prime locations for both solar energy and wind (and of course, casinos) Here is a map of the reservations across America.

Likewise, the “Saudi Arabia of Wind” corridor in the Midwest also has numerous Indian reservations that would also be ripe for wind turbines. I’m not an expert in Native American culture, but I would surmise that many tribes seeking self-reliance and independence may wish to get in on the renewable energy boon that is upon us. Anyway, it’s just a thought.

When finished in 2013, the concentrating solar power project will be able to supply green energy to 90,000 homes. The Mojave Solar plant is being built upon 1,765 acres of an abandoned alfalfa farm just west of Barstow, CA and will use less water than the farm did to operate.

According to Abengoa Solar, “The plant uses parabolic mirrors that are arranged in long troughs and track the sun’s movement continually during the day, concentrating the solar radiation onto a heat-absorbing pipe at the focal point of the mirrors. A heat transfer fluid circulating inside the pipe reaches temperatures of more than 700 degrees Fahrenheit. This heat is then used to generate steam that drives a conventional steam turbine.”

If you’ve ever driven through Barstow, you’ll soon realize why some call it the “armpit of California” and what better place to put a large solar facility than a place where summer temperatures typically exceed 100 degrees F.

The new Abengoa Solar plant excites me for several reasons. First, since it’s only 86 miles from my home it will be easy to take an occasional trip there to check it out, take pictures and see the progress of the facility.

Second, I also live in San Bernardino County and as a resident, I know that last month the unemployment rate was 14.2-percent, which is quite a bit above the national average. While not solving the unemployment problem in the county the Mojave Solar project will provide 1200-plus good green jobs in the area. And, third, maybe I’ll be one of the lucky recipients of this green solar power in the future.

The Mojave Solar project is just one of many in the works right now that will offer good green jobs to many and bluer skies for all.

According to Plug In America, “As you know, Toyota is a prominent member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which just launched a $100-million campaign to pour millions into killing clean energy via its lobbying efforts. Recently, an uprising of companies fighting back against the Chamber of Commerce has begun, led by companies like Apple, Nike, Johnson & Johnson, and GE.”

Plug In America has teamed up with MoveOn.org for a letter writing campaign to get Toyota to change its policy. They are encouraging people to write letters to the editor of their local newspapers.

One reason that Toyota may be slow to come around is that up until this week, Honda was also dismissing Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) in favor of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCV). Honda has reversed it position, leaving Toyota as the only major automaker without a plan for BEV in the near future.

But, then again, even if Toyota does choose FCV or BEV it is a mystery why they would want to kill the Obama Climate Bill unless this affects their bottom line. Without a few BEV in their lineup Toyota may not be able to make their mandate especially in California where the automakers may accrue penalties if they don’t sell enough plug-in hybrids, BEV and FCV.