Through The Looking Glass

San Francisco Water, Power and Sewer is beginning a city-wide project late this year to replace 18,500 high-pressure sodium street light fixtures with LED fixtures. The new fixtures will use 50 percent less energy than the existing street lights and will cost far less to maintain since they only have to be replaced every 15 - 20 years compared to the current bulbs that have to be replaced every four years.

The swapping out of the lighting fixtures is expected to take 30 minutes per street light with the whole project being completed in about 14 months.

The new lights have more benefits than just the energy and cost savings. The lights will have smart controllers that let the city remotely monitor and adjust their light level and alert maintenance crews when the lights fail or are about to fail.

via San Francisco Water Power Sewer

via ecogeek.org.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, the movie, has lost its writer and director David O. Russell. O.Russell left the project due to creative differences with Sony. According to Variety, Sony is looking for a new writer to redraft the film.

The movie is based on Sony and Naughty Dog's 2007 game of the same name. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and was rumored to star O.Russell's friend Mark Walhberg as Nathan Drake. With a new writer and director, a new cast seems more than likely. That's right folks, Nathan Fillion still has a chance!

So who do you think should play Nathan Drake? Any thoughts on a director?

Source: Variety

While NASA still hasn't made an official announcement, sources say that the Shuttle Enterprise will be landing in New York City! It's final trip will have it landing on the deck of the Intrepid (okay, so it will probably be towed there), where later today they'll be screening the official announcement on a 40-foot wall.

The exciting news comes after months and months of lobbying for a shuttle... but why did we get the shuttle that isn't even capable of flight, and has never orbited space?! On the upside, in 1976 it was greeted by the cast members from the Star Trek television series. So that's... something.

via gothamist.com.

In China, the development of residential and retail property in certain regions outstrips the government's ability to keep these buildings occupied. An Australian film crew recently visited China's vacant real estate and saw these strangely silent cities firsthand.

Note the documentarians at Dateline:

Vast new cities of apartments and shops are being built across China at a rate of ten a year, but they remain almost completely uninhabited ghost towns. It's all part of the government's efforts to keep the economy booming, and there are many people who would love to move in, but it's simply too expensive for most. Video journalist Adrian Brown wanders through malls of vacant shops, and roads lined with empty apartment buildings… 64 million apartments are said to be empty across the country and one of the few shop owners says he once didn't sell anything for four or five days.

And for more scenes of China's sprawling uninhabited suburbia, check out Ordos City.

[Dateline via Nerdcore]

via io9.com.

Most offshore wind turbines currently in use are 5 MW and under, but that won't be the case for long. Many of the major wind turbine makers are trying to go bigger, bigger, bigger.

Turbine company Vestas recently revealed a 7 MW offshore wind turbine design called the V164 that has three 80-meter-long blades and is 187 meters tall. The sweep area of the turbine will be 21,124 square meters. The V164 will generate 30 percent more energy per ton than current turbines and the power needed to produce the turbines themselves will be paid back in 10 months of use. The V164 could be built sometime next year.

California-based turbine company Clipper is working on a 10 MW turbine called the Britannia, which they plan to unveil in 2012, while Norwegian company Sway is working on a floating turbine of the same size.

One of the advantages to these super-sized turbines is construction costs. A large part of the cost of an offshore wind farm comes from the underwater foundations that support the turbines, so if you can generate more power from a single turbine, then you reduce the amount of foundations you need. Also, it allows for an easier scaling up of wind farm energy output by adding a few larger turbines rather than a lot of smaller ones.

via New Scientist

via ecogeek.org.

A report from the European Union's European Commission branch reveals a plan to remove gas and diesel-fueled cars from the continent's cities by 2050.

The plan describes a "single European transport area" where the gas-fueled vehicles are gradually phased out and replaced with alternatively-fueled cars and where new infrastructure will be constructed to cater to these vehicles. The transition would cost upwards of $2 trillion.

The proposed plan also calls for a ban on the shortest flights and that rail travel should be required for trips more than 186 miles.

While the architects of the plan themselves refer to it as "very radical" and "very ambitious," it's still a plan that is looking four decades into the future. By then, the idea may seem like a rather safe solution.

via Treehugger

via ecogeek.org.

A seafaring high commander of morning goodness for decades, Cap'n Crunch may now be walking the plank, because PepsiCo apparently hasn't so much as put out a press release about the cereal since 2007.

Daily Finance speculates the cereal, which packs a timbers-shivering 12 grams of sugar per serving, may be getting thrown overboard because its sugar content runs counter to the company's goal over the next decade to reduce added sugar per serving in products by 25 percent and saturated fat by 15 percent.

A rep from Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity tells DailyFinance:

“Our research shows that PepsiCo is no longer marketing Cap'n Crunch cereal directly to children. In a sense, you could say that they have retired Cap'n Crunch, and that's a good thing. Unfortunately, children continue to view hundreds of ads per year for high-sugar cereals from General Mills, Kellogg's and Post Foods.”

Has the lack of marketing made you abandon the Cap'n? Consumerist talked to a rep for Quaker, the PepsiCo division responsible for the sugar cereal:

“Quaker has a large and diverse product portfolio, which includes Cap'n Crunch — one of the most iconic brands in America, especially among adults who grew up eating this cereal. With such a broad portfolio, we need to focus our efforts and so in 2011, you will see increased communications on our flagship Quaker brands, in large part because they meet the continued consumer demand for healthier products.

However, we are pleased to report that our Cap'n Crunch brand will soon have an official social media presence, so adult consumers can stay up-to-date on all things Cap'n Crunch. While stepping up our digital presence, our plans for Cap'n Crunch will continue to meet our commitments to the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative.”