I don’t know about you, but when I picture Queen Elizabeth, I envision a little old lady in tight gray curls and stiff tweeds, shuffling down some country path in Scotland. What I don’t picture is a radical greenie.

But now look at old Liz. She just purchased the world’s largest wind turbine. It’s a 10 megawatt behemoth which, at 574 feet is almost twice as big as Big Ben. Not that you’ll have a chance of seeing them side-by-side. The queen’s windmill, as some are calling it, will be stashed off the British coast as a prototype for HRH’s “Britannia Project,” which, in conjunction with a California company, is looking at ways of generating power from turbines deployed in deep seas. Projected to go online in 2012, the turbine is expected to provide enough juice for 3,700 homes and create the equivalent of a million barrels of oil’s worth of electricity over its lifetime.

The turbine acquisition probably isn’t surprising to inveterate Queen-watchers. A few years ago, she installed geothermal heating to warm Buckingham Palace. Pipes running under a four-acre lake on the property bring warmth to the formal state rooms where the Queen hosts banquets and the like. Also showing a progressive streak, the Queen had her state cars reconfigured to run on liquefied petroleum gas, which releases less carbon and fewer toxic fumes than conventional gasoline.

But that’s not all. The monarch has set up hydroelectric plants to power both Buckingham and Balmoral, the Queen’s summer retreat up in Scotland. (You know, that drafty place featured in the movie The Queen.) Balmoral is the first of HRH’s properties to be completely energy self-sufficient. The plant, located on a stream passing through the property, generates enough electricity not just for the estate but for 1,000 more homes.

Apparently, Balmoral isn’t just looking to green power. It has a complete bio-diversity plan. All organic waste (50 tons per year) gets turned into compost. Agricultural practices adhere to UK Soil Association organic farming principles. Biodisel fuels estate machinery. And even royal protection officers have been requested to leave the SUV’s in the garage and patrol the estate by bike instead.

Now, if only we could get the folks behind the sumptuous “Windsor Castle: A Royal Year” mini-series to do a piece on “The Queen’s Windmill” or "Balmoral Unplugged."