The carts will collect the energy from the sun’s rays via photovoltaic panels attached to its roof. The solar power will charge the battery that will run the cart. The collected energy from the panels will add around 4 to 7 miles to the range of the cart.

When the battery is fully charged, the golf cart will be able to take people 40 to 60 miles on average.

The manufacturers of the carts explained that the carts can be made legal in most parts of the United States where the speed limit is less than 35 mph or lower.

The Universal Studios are considering the Solar Electric Hybrid carts from Cruise Car Inc. for use in their 415 acre lot. The manufacturer produces around 50 variants of the carts.

Environmentalists and media experts commended the Universal Studios for its commitment and prompt action to be more earth friendly.

No deals have been signed yet but soon top caliber actresses and actors, executives, and staff will be roaming around the big sets using the solar charged and plug in vehicle. This will phase out the gasoline powered golf carts that have been on the service for several years.

This is not the first time Universal Studios took a step to be lighter on the carbon foot print. They were recently rewarded the Environmental Media Associations Green Seal Award as one of the most earth friendly amusement parks in the US.

Willie Nelson, the famous country singer, co-founded a company in 2005 called Willie Nelson’s Biodiesel. Under the name BioWillie, the vegetable oil fuel is sold through an exclusive license granted to Earth Biofuels, a biofuel company in Mississippi. Funding was secured for the reconstruction of a truck stop that would dispense both ethanol and BioWillie. Willie Nelson has long been a vocal opponent of wars feeling that the countries should be not be dependent on oil producing nations. He also wanted to help the average farmer so he started this eco-friendly bio fuel partnership.
Bill Gates, Microsoft founder, invested in Pacific Ethanol in 2006 to the tune of approximately eighty-four million US dollars. Although as recently as June 2008, he had divested of a large sum reducing his investment company’s stake in the firm by seven percent, he still holds many shares. In addition, sources claim that he will further reduce his stake to about half of the original investment. On the surface, it seems to be a negative for bio fuels but considering forty-two million is half of the initial investment, there still must be some interest in the new energy.

Sheryl Crow, another well known singer, toured campuses in 2007 to talk about global warming. Called the “Stop Global Warming College Tour”, the bus in which they traveled was fueled with biodiesel produced from vegetable oil.