Colorful EE/RE entertainment

Searching through my IEEE Spectrum for articles germane to the solar energy case I’m writing, I found an article on the new Ferris wheel installed on the Santa Monica Pier last May. Living now in N. California, I hadn’t heard about it at the time.

The new wheel is energy efficient because it uses 160,000 LEDs instead of 5,400 incandescent bulbs, cutting energy consumption by 75%. Like its 1996 predecessor, it also uses renewable energy — powered by the same solar cells as the 1996 Ferris wheel. The old Ferris wheel was taken apart and sold for $132,400 on eBay to an Oklahoma developer.

Flickr photo by Marla Davis-Marinelli licensed under Creative Commons.