Fast Train to Hell and other News

The Interstate Traveler Hydrogen Superhighway is due to begin construction sometime in 2008, to link Ann Arbor with Detroit.

The public transit system would combine high speed magnetically levitated cars running on elevated parallel magnetic rails, laminated solar cells, and the conduit cluster that would be used to distribute electricity, water, fuels, etc. Each mile of rail should produce about 844,800 watts of electricity per hour using solar energy. Hydrogen would be used in fuel cells, internal combustion engines, micro turbines and other energy conversion devices to generate power. ...The cars will be able to carry both people and normal vehicles and move on four runners attached to the metallic polls and will be managed by TCP/IP signaling.____NextEnergy

Yep, that should remediate Detroit, certainly.

Another interesting approach to generating clean energy is the Cool Earth Solar Balloon.

Because its design uses relatively cheap and readily available components, these solar concentrators can generate electricity at a cost comparable to that of natural-gas plants. The inflated solar collectors can withstand 100 mile-per-hour wind....The setup can also be unfurled globally, rather than only in places with available funding for expensive energy projects. The company says it's negotiating with utilities to sell electricity from its solar farms....Although most people envision rooftop panels when they think of solar electricity, many new solar technologies are being developed for power plants. Utilities in some US states, notably California, need to comply with renewable-energy mandates. And certain regions, such as the desert in America's southwest and parts of Spain, are well-suited for solar-thermal power plants. ___Source

Finally, here is a video of an interesting roof-top wind turbine design (PDF). It is made in modular sections which can be connected to construct ever longer turbines. It can be installed horizontally, or vertically.