A solar airplane sets a new endurance record; San Diego plans the largest U.S. desalination plant; and arborsculpting yields living furniture and structures.

Solar plane makes record flight : A British-built solar powered aircraft has set a world endurance record by staying aloft for more than three days. The unmanned Zephyr-6 completed its record demonstration flight for the U.S. military at Arizona’s Yuma Proving Grounds, powered by wing-mounted solar cells and kept aloft at night by high-efficiency lithium-sulphur batteries. While production versions of the Zephyr will likely find service as military reconnaissance platforms, civilian editions could be used for emergency communication relays, resource surveys, or weather research. (BBC)

Texas Breeze: Landowners Call Wind Turbines Ugly; Court Says Too Bad: The windpower industry scored a potentially precedent-setting court decision last week. A Texas judge dismissed a suit brought by landowners against FPL Energy, which operates wind farms. The suit sought to enjoin FPL from operating on the grounds that its turbines are noisy and unsightly. While sympathizing with the landowners, the court found that their complaints were not sufficiently grave to put a halt to FPL’s project. The American Wind Energy Association says that the average large turbine puts out about the same amount of noise at 1000 feet as a home refrigerator. (WSJ.com)

Biggest desalination plant in W.Hemisphere gets OK: San Diego will build the United States’ largest water Desalination plant. The $300 million project will become operational in 2011, processing 50 million gallons of drinking water each day. That’s enough to supply about 110,000 households. Built in Carlsbad, the new Desalination project will be twice the size of largest American facility in Tampa. (Reuters)

Chevy Volt Still Expected to Get 50 mpg In ICE Mode After Battery Depleted: It seems that pretty much every detail of General Motors’ upcoming Volt plug-in car has been mulled over by the automotive press, including its planned electric-only range of 30 miles. But what kind of fuel economy can motorists expect when the Volt’s engine kicks in? The GM-VOLT blog asked project chief engineer Andrew Farah. His response: a surprising 50 miles per gallon. And, then again, not a surprise — the Volt will use the same 1.4 liter 4 cylinder scheduled for the upcoming Chevy Cruze, which is targeting 40 MPG. The additional Volt efficiency will be derived from its hybridized drive train. (GM-VOLT blog)

Eco-architecture Could Produce ‘Grow Your Own’ Homes: An Israeli project is making the prospect of living architecture a bit more likely. A pair of Tel Aviv University professors have been developing a commercial method for arborsculpture — shaping living trees into furniture and functional structures. The process could lead to bus stops which grow their own shade, playgrounds fashioned from trees, and resilient, self-repairing lamp posts and gates. (Science Daily)