The largest solar rooftop on the planet is being installed by none other than American automotive giant General Motors. The company announced on Tuesday that it plans to install the biggest rooftop solar photovoltaic power installation on Earth on top of its car assembly plant at Figueruelas, Zaragoza, Spain. The installation will cover over 2 million square feet of space with renewable electricity producing photovoltaic cells on 85,000 solar panels.

Partnering with Clairvoyant Energy, Veolia Environmental and the Government of the Spanish state of Aragon, GM will produce over 12 MW at peak output on the Zaragoza rooftop using United Solar Ovonic thin laminate panels - enough to power over 4,500 households per year. GM already operates two of the largest solar power installations in the United States at its plants at Fontana and Rancho Cucamongo, California. The latter facility powers 50% of its electricity by the solar installation.

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“As GM goes, so goes the nation.” the old adage goes. So perhaps it’s not surprising that with the United States economy teetering on a precipice amidst record high oil prices, that Merrill Lynch analysts described a General Motors bankruptcy as “not impossible” yesterday. The Wall Street investment bank said that the American automaker could need to raise up $15 Billion in capital to stay solvent should the auto market continue to slump. In accompanying news GM’s share price slumped to a 54-year low on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday.

Honestly, I’m having a hard time feeling bad about this. GM is now experiencing what’s commonly known as a market correction. The company that for years pushed big, boxy, unconscionably low mileage SUVs onto the American market and stifled any sort of innovation whatsoever when it came to fuel efficiency in their cars is now getting the brunt of what analysts for years have been predicting; increased demand and declining supply in the oil market. Who could miss the GM of today? Gone is the ‘57 Chevy and the other dream cars of America’s postwar boom with their gorgeous tailfins and brilliant designs. In their place we’re given gas guzzler boxes with lower average mileage than even Chinese automakers produce.

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Tesla Motors is currently in production on the 2008 model of their instant classic, all electric, sports car, the Tesla Roadster. If you feel like saving the environment in an energy efficient car that’s also sexy as all get out, the Tesla Roadster is the car for you. Factor in the added bonus of never having to stand at a gas pump again and it’s clear why this new American auto company has sold out its production orders of the Roadster.

But how does it work? You simply plug the car into the wall, charge it up and you’re off and running. The Roadster goes from 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds off the line. It has a range of 220 miles per charge. The equivalent energy efficiency of the vehicle to a gas powered car is 135 miles per gallon and the cost of running the Roadster is less than 2 cents per mile.

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A new Honda hybrid car is due out in 2009 from the Japanese automobile manufacturer. Honda Motor Corporation is pulling out all the stops to take on arch-rival Toyota in the swiftly growing hybrid market. Currently Honda only has one hybrid car on the market, the Honda Civic hybrid, after discontinuing it’s highly fuel efficient Honda Insight model in 2006.

The new car will be sold solely as a hybrid - and not as a separate version of a traditional gas powered model. Honda will also expand other existing lines into hybrid editions over the next three years, including a hybrid version of the sporty CR-Z and a Fit Subcompact version.

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