Our civilization is flourishing at a break-neck pace: From one to six billion people in our parents' generation: moon landings, telecom, mobile phones, the Internet. Remarkable advances in materials, biotechnologies, and synthetics of all kinds. There are few reminders for just how fast this has all taken place.

"Horsepower" is a vestige of a time not long ago. Motors are rated using this metric, the motors in cars (which really did take over for horses) to the electric motors in our clothes dryers. A "half a horse" weighs about 20 pounds, a remarkable technological feat. A typical horse - whose height is measured in "hands" not "feet" - weighs 700 pounds. (Englishmen I know still weigh themselves in "stones," about 12 pounds each.)

So where did horsepower come from? Is it what a horse can do? The term was developed by James Watt whose name we all know as the most basic unit of power, "the watt." Working with ponies in coal mines, Watt developed a unit of work over time. The horsepower, he decided, is the amount of material that a horse can lift one foot in a minute. He set a standard: A horsepower lifts 33,000 pounds one foot in one minute.

That's a lot of coal. And it's 745.699872 watts and 2,545 BTUs, or 1,055 joules, or about 600 calories. That defines how much you have to feed the horse to sustain that level of activity, assuming 100% efficiency. This can be taken full circle: A 20-watt lightbulb consumes 0.0268 horsepower.

Later the auto industry glommed onto the term. An automotive horsepower - versus mechanical horsepower -- is derived by taking the square of the diameter of the engine's cylinder and dividing it by 2.5. A 2001 Corvette "with 385 horses under the hood" is propelled by the equivalent of about 49 horses, still a lot of horses, hay, and oats at work.

	Bahrain World Trade Center

In 1990, Denmark developed a national energy plan that targeted a 20% CO2 reduction by 2005. By 2007, the country had installed 5,267 turbines with a combined output of 3,135 MW. Today, Denmark gets 20% of its electricity from the wind, 21,000 citizens are employed in the wind industry, and wind has become an export crop. Vestas, a company whose roots were in manufacture of farm implements, is among the world's leading wind turbine manufacturers.

The Danish Energy Authority is in charge of carrying out the nation's ambitious wind plan. It now intends to double wind capacity by 2025 to fulfill the goal of harvesting the wind to produce half the nation's electricity. Using strong North Sea winds, the Danes plan to deploy 500 -1,000 offshore wind turbines.

Bahrain World Trade Center: The Bahrain World Trade Centers twin towers will feature three embedded wind turbines, visible in the photo above, that will generate 15% of the building's power.

U.S. Wind Production: This past year was big for domestic wind production, with an increase of 5,000 MW of capacity bringing total U.S. wind production up to 16,000 MW. Texas not only leads the nation - with 4,446 MW of wind capacity - but added a whopping 1,618 MW in 2007.

California, in contrast, installed 63 MW of wind capacity bringing the Golden State's total to 2,439 MW. California's wind capacity has been constrained by the State's transmission system. With major upgrades planned, 2,000 MW of new wind capacity is projected by 2013. Currently, California gets 2.6% of its electricity from the wind; Iowa leads the nation with 5.5%.

Wind, Jobs and the PTC: Executives of the four largest manufacturers of wind turbines sold in the United States -- GE Energy, Gamesa, Siemens, and Vestas -- convened in Washington DC last week to lobby for the extension of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) that is slated to expire at the end of 2008. The American Wind Energy Association claims that $19 billion of wind power investment and 116,000 jobs are at risk if the highly effective tax credit expires.

	T. Boone Pickens

	Virginia Nicols and Van Jones

Virginia's presentation probes: Why hasn't the United States been as successful as Germany in the solar policy arena? How can we - the public - demand a safe and sustainable energy future, and get it now? Look East friends. With Tiffany Tay, Virginia is now spearheading EcoMotion's Spanish Solar Research Tour scheduled for October 2008 to learn about Spain's remarkably successful renewable energy policies.

EcoMotion's Virginia Nicols recent presentation at the Municipal Green Building Conference & Expo held in Downey, California raised eyebrows and later drew many nods. Her presentation, "Why Germany is Winning the Solar Race," was based in large part on EcoMotion's October 2007 Study Tour, and centered on the German Feed-In Tariff. This policy, started in the early 1990s but revitalized in 2004, has led to Germany's having half the world's photovoltaic capacity.

Recently, a number of countries have come forward with feed-in tariffs of their own, including France, Spain, and Greece. Naturally, these tariffs get compared with the German model. Virginia highlighted the three main features of the German model which are useful in making such comparisons: simplicity, reliability, and rates. In brief:

1. Germany will accept all solar power fed into the grid, no matter who produces it - an individual, a group, an investment fund - and no matter how much is produced.
2. Once a system is producing, its owner will receive the same amount for every kWh produced for 20 years.
3. The tariff is high enough to be financially attractive. Even after three years of step-downs, the current tariff is approximately $0.65 per kWh, or about four times the cost of "regular" electricity.

As a result of these policies, Germany has not only installed systems on over 300,000 roofs, but it has developed a quarter million jobs in various aspects of solar and other renewable energy - from research and development to manufacturing, training, marketing and installation.

Given recent trends in the U.S., the economic development aspect of renewable energy may turn out to be even more compelling than the "clean" energy message. Entrepreneur and activist Van Jones, pictured with Virginia, was keynote speaker at the MGBE conference. In the face of global warming threats, Jones' Green for All movement connects the need for jobs and job training in urban centers in the U.S. with the need for massive "green" retrofits.

Years after the Clean Air Act was passed, years after the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, years after many other successes of Sen. Nelson's Earth Day, we still find ourselves entrenched in environmental concerns. For the 38th anniversary of Earth Day, environmentalists from all over the world hosted activities to educate and bring about attention to these environmental issues.

This year, thousands of cyclists gathered to advocate clean air and a pollution free environment for Earth Day celebrations in the Philippines. Green Apple Festival concerts for Earth Day took place in Washington D.C, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and five other major cities. At the same time, the Dalai Lama delivered a lecture titled "Earth Day Reflections" to the University of Michigan. The City of Los Angeles shut down part of Wilshire Boulevard for festivals of "Earth Day LA/Car Free Day 2008". Many other activities, campaigns, and educational programs revolving around Earth Day took place across the globe.

Despite the success of the environmental movement, there is still a long way to go. Energy crisis, global warming, diminishing oil supplies, and other concerns need to be dealt with. And even though we celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd, our actions must adhere to the code of global care everyday of our lives.

	Got gas?

New data shows that hybrid sales jumped 38 percent in 2007, even as overall vehicle sales dropped 3 percent. Analysts say that rising cost of gasoline, along with an increasing availability of different hybrid options, is prompting more Americans to buy hybrid cars, which combine gasoline with battery-powered electric motors. Driving a hybrid not only saves money at the pump, but also pollutes less, and best of all makes you feel good.