Israel’s got natural gas. A lot of it. Cleaner burning than coal or bitumen, natural gas has a reputation for being more environmentally friendly. Countries like Qatar have a lot of natural gas and now Israel – with help from the American company Noble Energy – has found enough gas to make it energy independent for decades.

Following previous natural gas finds by Yitzhak Tshuva’s Yam Tethys Energy Exploration Company, as well as those by Texas-based Noble Energy Company in the Tamar gas field off Israel’s Mediterranean coast, the fortunes of Israeli billionaire Yitzhak Tshuva now appear to be increasing with the discovery of yet another large undersea gas reservoir.

The new gas find, announced Sunday afternoon on Israel’s Channel 2 news program, is located in the Tanin 1 gas field, just north of the Tamar field, in an area that is is being hotly disputed by both Israel and Lebanon.

Lebanon’s challenge to the validity of gas fields close to its coastline has resulted in it threatening to take its energy rights claims directly to the UN General Assembly.

Israel’s latest gas find is in a location that slants northwest of its northern border frontier with Lebanon (see large yellow area on map above Tamar gas field). Located in an area being claimed by Israel, the gas field is also in an area claimed by Lebanon as being in its sovereign territorial waters.

Israel is also involved in natural gas exploration with the Republic of Cyprus, which is now doing its own gas exploration program that Turkey contests. Turkey, which still occupies the northern third of Cyprus, is very much against these gas explorations and has threatened “serious consequences” if the Republic of Cyprus continues them; especially in cooperation with Israel.

With Iranian oil exports to Turkey and Greece being stymied by increased sanctions , large amounts of undersea natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean is of particular interest to both of these countries, who have been importing oil from the Islamic Republic.

Israel, for its part, is in dire need of natural gas for running electric power plants. Natural gas received by Israel from Egypt has been nearly curtailed by constant acts of sabotage and by Turkey asking Egypt to divert the gas away from Israel.

As the stakes increase so will the political and security risks; especially with both Lebanon and Turkey so diametrically opposed to Israel’s involvement.

Read more on Israel natural gas exploration issues:

Israel, Cyprus and Turkey Near “High Noon” Standoff Over Med’s Natural Gas
Lebanon Challenges Israel’s Natural Gas Borders at Sea
Greek Cyprus Over Offshore Gas Well Drilling
Tshuva’s Yam Tethys Gas Company Wins in Natural Gas While Environment Suffers

Ever wonder what makes the meat patties used in hamburgers in fast food eateries like McDonalds and Burger King seem so fresh? The secret is not really how much meat glue is used, or whether the meat patty used is actually 50 percent or more n-hexane based soy protein. The real issue has been the use of a meat quality enhancer, or a product  known scientifically as ammonium hydroxide which turns fatty beef residue into a mixture that has been non-affectionately called “pink slime”.

Even the sound of Pink slime sounds yucky, especially when it is composed of fatty meat residues from cows and composed of a non-safe chemical, ammonia. When mixed with water, according to the NIH, it becomes ammonium hydroxide - a deadly poison that can release ammonia gas into the air and ammonia into the body.

Pink slime has been used for years as an important ingredient for hamburger patties in such American fast food chains as the two previously mentioned, as well as the popular Mexican fast food chain Taco Bell. Supposedly, the use of ammonium hydroxide has been effective for killing large quantities of e-coli Salmonella contamination which is a common problem when using meat scraps to create meat patties.

The problem became such an issue a few years back that a USDA microbiologist, Gerald Zirnstein, called the processed beef “pink slime” in a 2002 e-mail message to colleagues and said, “I do not consider the stuff to be ground beef, and I consider allowing it in ground beef to be a form of fraudulent labeling.”

This problem came to a head when it was revealed in 2008 that 5.5 million pounds of ammonia treated beef had been used in the US School Lunch Program. As a result concerned public health advocates have succeeded in having pink slime eliminated from meat being served in McDonald’s, Burger King and Taco Bell in the USA.

Not strawberry ice cream or saltwater taffy but beef, fat and ammonium hydroxide – yuck!

Whether pink slime is now being used in fast food establishments here in the Middle East is a matter yet to be revealed; especially in Israel where  fast food restaurants are common.

Surely, the use of an ingredient that has been labeled as an actual poison  may be even more dangerous to public health than using ceramic “non stick” cookware to cook your food as exposed in the TV program Kolbotek.

A Kolbotek type of investigation might be launched against Israeli fast food chains to determine whether pink slime is a major ingredient of hamburger patties.

Similar investigations might be advisable in other countries like those in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Lebanon when fast foods are now becoming immensely popular. The main question now is how cooperative will the restaurant chains be in allowing this to be done?

Photo: Wikipedia:

More articles on food products:

Meat Glue: Is Anybody Talking About It?
The Explosive Truth About Veggie Burgers
Ceramic Coated Cooking Pans May be Killing You With Color

When previous articles of making shopping malls more sustainable and green, such as Amman Jordan’s new Mega Mall, were posted, it appeared that these large enclosed shopping centers are on the right track to becoming more environmentally friendly. The use of energy saving LEED lighting  in super glitzy malls such as those in Dubai may also be showing ways to provide adequate lighting at considerably less environmental risks.

Israel’s soon to be opened Ir Yamim (Sea City) shopping Mall, hailed as being the country’s first “green” shopping mall, was also given a considerable amount of kudos by me. But now it may be that this so-called “green shopping mall” may not be as green after all.

This mall is scheduled to open its doors to the public in mid to late March, and has been said to also be featuring energy saving LED lighting, as well as being architecturally designed to keep the sun’s heat from taxing the mall’s air conditioning systems during peak mid day and afternoon summer temperatures.

A principle environmental issue now effecting this mall is its air conditioning systems, which appear  to be driving nearby residents batty due to high amounts of noise being emitted from these systems. One resident, who lives just south of the mall, told Green Prophet that the sound from the mall’s AC systems, now being tested prior to the mall’s opening, have had a sound similar to “a commercial jetliner sitting on the airport runway tarmac with it’s taxing engines going full blast prior to takeoff.”

“I’m very disappointed with this project, and regret moving here,”  this person said, adding that people living close to the mall like he does have filed a complaint with the Netanya municipality.

One of the municipality’s commercial building engineers, who asked to remain anonymous, says that “if the mall’s project management doesn’t so something to reduce the noise being emitted by the mall’s AC system, the municipality will not allow the mall to open on it’s mid March target date. From an environmental standpoint, issues of noise pollution are no less serious than those of air or water pollution.  Although the noise from the AC systems has been reduced a bit the past few days, it still is reported to sound like “noise from living next to a busy motorway.”

And the increased traffic flow into and out from the mall when it opens is still an unknown factor in an area where traffic has already increased due to new people moving into the new Ir Yamin residential neighborhood, just south of the mall.

A good explanation for the noise from the air conditioning system is that its  only temporary since the AC system is now operating at full blast to test its strength as well as rid the inside of the building of large amounts of dust caused by work crews doing finishing work there. That explanation doesn’t appear to be enough to satisfy the irate people living nearby, and they will be the ones who will suffer the most when the mall opens.

To satisfy the project management’s claim of this shopping mall being more sustainable and “green” more efforts need to be made to satisfy area residents who now feel that both they and their families will suffer by not being able to open their windows or sit on their balconies due to the high noise levels. After all, noise pollution is still pollution.

More articles on making shopping malls more green:

Shopping Malls Go Green in Israel
Amman’s New Mega Mall is Antithesis of Sustainable Development
Justifying Dubai’s Shopping Malls with LEED

Many modern armies are now practicing clean technology by using equipment run on solar energy. This also holds true for the Israeli Defense Forces known as the IDF which aims to be greener. One of the prime issues in large military bases, often remote and off the grid, is finding greener solutions to getting rid of sewage. The solution to this problem is now on the way to being solved at Israel’s large Nevatim air force base in the country’s Negev desert region.

The solution at Nevatim, according to Haaretz, is in purifying the sewage water and then sending it to be used to irrigate a large park that will be built near the southern city of Beer Sheva.

The sewage treatment facility at Nevatim is also being used to purify wastewater from the nearby Bedouin town of Arara, a community from where a school principal created another kind of ‘water issue’ in the Knesset when he took his students on a field trip to a human rights rally in Tel Aviv.

The sewage water purification plant built at Nevatim uses special oxygenation pools to aerate the water to purify it. The water will then be sent to a holding reservoir before being sent for use in irrigation. The purifying and recycling of sewage wastes is a big improvement over former practices of simply channeling the sewage into a nearby wadi (valley) and thereby causing area ground and ground water pollution.

Another southern air force base, Ramon, is also involved in sewage water purification by using what is known as a constructed wetland system in which plants act as bio-filters.

Although the costs of this project in Nevatim are rather high, they have been assisted by a large donation of NIS 7.5 million ( $2 million USD) from the US branch of the Jewish National Fund.

Oded Galili, head of infrastructure and environment of the Israel Defense Ministry, commented that “the cost of the piping alone for this project within the large Nevatim base costs around NIS 10 million.”

Whatever the costs involved, the eventual environmental benefits are very worthwhile.

Photo:  Wikipedia 

Read more on IDF and other military environmental improvement ideas and practices:
 Israeli IDF Officers to be Trained at Green Training Base
Going Green is a Tactical Offensive in War
How Israel’s Military Secrets Translate to Clean Technology

::Haaretz

Barcelona is not as hot as places like Abu Dhabi and Dubai, which now has an indoor snow ski slope. But they appear to be envious of Dubai’s very ungreen approach to denying that the country is a hot desert. Barcelona, home to art projects by Antoni Gaudi, Pablo Picasso, is also not the greenest city the world, even though it now is getting greener. Now Barcelona a Spanish, Catalonian coastal city with average winter temperatures ranging around 15 degrees Celsius is planning to build an indoor snow ski slope, similar to the one in Dubai. It will be called Snow World. And more than that, the ski slope will be a carbon neutral one, according to the developers of Dubai’s Ski World, who plan to create the same thing in Barcelona as well. But the one in Spain will be carbon neutral.

Building an indoor ski slope in a city that never freezes during winter months can’t be worse that building one in a place where summer temperatures soar to more than 45 degrees Celsius, like in Dubai.

According to the Guardian which translated the original article from Le Monde:

“Business activities will be integrated with the housing and connected to the city centre by the underground system. The two developments will be served by three plants generating heating and air-conditioning streams, fuelled by methanisation, solar power and plant waste from the city, primarily from Collserola, the world’s largest metropolitan park. Dalkia, a subsidiary of the French conglomerate Véolia Environnement, has won the tender for this part of the project.

“For the industrial cooling side, taking temperatures down to -10C, the designers plan to use the regasification facilities at Barcelona’s liquid natural gas terminal.”

And while Barcelona, like most of Spain has a chronic water problem, it is less serious than Dubai, where virtually all its water comes from desalinization. To add insult to injury, Dubai even considered building a special cooling system under its beachfront to actually cool the sand there so people could lie on it in the summer without being burnt. This project is in addition to a global warming ice/water park, an amusement center usually constructed only in a country with ample enough water resources.

Barcelona doesn’t have the problems of wild animals like lions and cheetahs kept by private people. But even so, building a ski slope in the city known for such artists and Gaudi, Joan Miro and Pablo Picasso is not a feat it should be proud of – especially in light of it trying to be a green city, carbon neutral and all. The fact that it will be using regasification techniques, though is commendable.

::Guardian

Read more on indoor ski slopes and extravagance:

Response to Treehugger’s Pablo: Don’t Forget Ski Dubai’s Water
Global Warming Message Gone Awry; A Water Park in DubaiAbu Dhabi’s White Gold Biofuel Mercedes; Another Dubious “Green” Development

After more than four years in the making, media reports and hype, visits to the Better Place Education and Test Drive Center and final delivery prices, Better Place Renault Fluence ZE electric cars are finally on their way to purchasers in Israel. In a high profile ceremony on Sunday, January 22, which we were invited to but could not make because of the rain, Better Place launched its first 100 cars sent off to customers from the Better Place Israel headquarters near Tel Aviv. The cars, all Renault Fluences that had been specially built for running exclusively on electricity were sent off in a ceremony that included Shai Agassi, Better Place USA CEO, Idan Ofer Chairman of the Board, and Moshe Kaplansky, CEO for Better Place Israel.

Left to right:BP Board Chairman Idan Ofer, Israel CEO Moshe Kaplansky, and Better Place founder and CEO Shai Agassi. On right, Better Place cars ready to roll.

Besides private owners, the cars were also delivered to at least two rental car companies where the cars will be available for either tourists or local people wishing to try them out in normal road conditions. One of these companies the Eldan Group signed an agreement with Better Place in December to make the cars available for either rentals or on a long term lease basis.

The entire project was merely a dream in 2005 when Shai Agassi expressed his vision that one day electric cars would be seen on the roads of both Israel and the world at large. As contrasted with other electric car companies, including General Motors with their Volt electric-hybrid model, Better Place is not only offering a total electric car but also an infrastructure to run them.

This infrastructure, which is already in place in both Denmark and Holland, consists not only of special “charging posts” to recharge the car’s lithium ion batteries, but special battery pack exchange stations that enable the car’s battery pack to be exchanged for a freshly charged one in only about 3 minutes.

One of the big concerns involving electric cars is their rather short driving range of only around 140 km between charges. This is why the infrastructure being offered by Better Place will not only provide numerous charging posts for these cars (including one at the residence for those owing or leasing one of them) but also the battery exchange stations as well.

When asked how many of these stations are now available, Moshe Kaplansky Israel Better Place CEO smiled and told reporters at the car send off event at Pi Glilot: “There are enough such stations already in place to take care of this first ‘wave’ of electric cars. This many cars going off is already proof that the change to electric cars is already here.”

The sheer newness of electric cars in places like Israel is reminiscent of when gasoline powered cars began plying the roads more than 100 years ago. The owners of these “horseless carriages” were often ridiculed by people who would say “get a horse” when the newfangled contraptions stalled on the roads.

One might wonder if people nowadays will say “get a normal car” when electric cars are stalled on the road when their battery runs out of charge. Even so, there’s no turning back to what may now be heralding the future of driving on our roads and highways.

More about Better Place and other electric cars:
Better Place EV’s Priced in Israel at $35,623 for Summer Delivery
Chevy Volts Already Rolling into dealerships
Electric Cars Are Coming; Are Israelis Ready for Them?
Maurice Test Drives the Better Place Electric Car: “Like a Dragster”
 

The sea coasts of Oman and the Arabian Gulf  are those where fishermen still practice their trade in wooden sailing dhows and rare species of whales play offshore from the rugged Oman seacoasts.

Wooden dhows still ply these waters as they did in ancient times.

Geoscientists say that these same coasts, said to be the home of Sinbad the Sailor, are now sinking and shrinking due to rising sea levels as well as erosion from real estate building projects.

Global warming and climate change are being blamed for a lot of problems in coastal areas.

This not only affects countries like Oman that face oceans, but also more enclosed bodies of water like the Mediterranean Sea.

Oman’s Bandar al Jissah is sinking and shrinking due to rising sea levels

Ancient archaeological sites like those on Libyan, Egyptian, and Israeli seacoasts are also in trouble, one of which, the ancient Roman city of Caesarea, is being eroded due to a serious lack of sand to hold back the ravages of the sea. The situation in Caesarea has become so dire that a storm in mid December, 2010 caused severe damage to an ancient sea port and other nearby structures.

Sinbad seeks a safe haven

Real estate development along Oman’s Arabian seacoast, on which an ancient site called Bandar Jissah is being promoted as a heritage site and “safe haven” for vacationers and property investors, is itself in danger of eroding away due to rising sea levels.

Whether or not a character named Sinbad actually hailed from Bandar Jissah, the uniqueness of this site may soon be lost forever unless measures are taken to protect it. If area sea levels keep rising, human protection measures may simply not be enough to save Saraya or the rest of the Oman coastline.

Top image via wikipedia. All others via Lonely Planet

More about Oman and other area ecological issues:
Geoscientists Say Oman is Sinking and Shrinking
New Arabian Humpbacked Whale Species Discovered in Oman
Baharain Fishermen Plea for Help With Their Catch

The use of ornate wood products in building homes, furniture and ships has been part of humanity since time began. Even the Bible gives note to using wood for ornate construction projects with such examples as King David living in “a palace made of cedar”, and of King Hiram of Tyre sending his best wood craftsmen and “trunks of cedar” to King Solomon in Jerusalem for use in building the First Temple for the Jewish people. With world forests being depleted at a very rapid rate, continued use of wood in architectural projects as well as for furniture has often been put into question as whether this  practice is sustainable in today’s climate changing world. Wood can be used as a carbon sink, but what if it’s being shipped around the world?

American black walnut tree in its prime

Wood flooring and even parquet flooring, often makes use of recycled wood products as is planned for a new green eco tower in Tel Aviv Israel.  A project in which American walnut hardwood was used in architecture could be an issue in the recently awarded  construction of a library at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. This project, which cost $4 million USD and entailed the use of American walnut hardwood for building the library bookshelves and flooring was selected due to the walnut wood’s beauty and durability. T

he resulting project enabled it to win an award from the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) which is a leading international trade association for the American hardwood industry.

Just positive PR for itself?

The choice of American walnut for use in the library was explained by Carrie Das, design manager with AHK International: “We had chosen to use American walnut across the whole library because of its … straight grained appearance and its durability, being highly resistant to heartwood decay. It was also able to warm the environment and simultaneously provides a modern, classic and comfortable feeling.”

While this beautiful wood certainly does create a feeling of warmth, it undoubtedly did so at the expense of a great number of walnut trees that take much longer to grow to maturity than other types of wood such as pine and fir.

The length of time for re- growth of hardwood trees, including those like oak was recently pointed out following the disastrous Carmel Forest fire in Israel in which more than 30 thousand Dunam (3,000 hectare) for pine and hardwood forest were destroyed in early December 2010. This included a significant portion of forestland and residences at nearby Kibbutz Beit Oren.

“It takes 50 years or longer for hardwood trees to be fully grown” says Sela Rotenberg

Beit Oren’s resident ecologist, Sela Rotenberg explained to Green Prophet that it takes only 15 to 20 years for pine trees to reach maturity; but that hardwood trees like oak take 50 years or longer. This also holds true for replacing the American hardwood trees that were harvested for their wood to construct the Abu Dhabi library.

A more feasible idea, from an ecological standpoint, could involve the use of recycled wood products from doors and other wood products for making parquet flooring and in constructing tables and bookshelves.

It’s not that we are advocating the non-use of wood in designing such projects as the library, but simply to incorporate a more sustainable use of wood by recycling wood already used in other products; thereby saving some live trees. A trend in North America is to re-use old wood. Or to purchase trees grown sustainably and sustainably harvested.

::Hardwood Floors Manufacturing

More about wood use issues in building and design:
 13 Principals of Sustainable Architecture from Nadir Khalili Student
 Recycled Furniture From Middle East Rugs and Doors
 Studio Ubico’s Furniture Collection Reincarnates Wood into Trees
 Tel Aviv’s $60 Million Sustainable Office Tower A Go

Climate change is causing sea levels to rise, so much that the president of the Maldives wants to locate his island nation. Some parts of the world are preparing themselves for this new reality, while urban planners look for new solutions to deal with rising waters. The Dutch, masters of the dyke concept know the threats of encraoching sea water. Moshe Zwart, a Dutch architect has dreamed up another solution: underwater cities! Illustration of Zwart’s under city parking and leisure complex

The Dutch are well aware of the need to protect themselves against the encroaches of the sea as the Netherlands has had to deal with this problem for centuries.

But the time my come, however, when even building numerous dikes, and artificial land areas will not be enough when sea levels simply rise too high. The possibility of this occurring has resulting in an even more novel idea being put forward by the sea beleaguered Dutchmen: underwater cities.

The idea of underwater cities has been a fantasy and science fiction idea that has been around for years. Putting mere dreams into a plausible reality is something else. But now the idea of underwater cities is a step closer to reality. A Dutch architect, Professor Moshe Zwarts, who actually proposed this idea in 2008 with his concept of building an underground (and water) parking and entertainment complex under the city of Amsterdam to help solve that city’s chronic lack of usable space. The plan, when proposed in February 2008, was estimated to cost around US $ 14.4 billion to complete.

Zwart’s idea was to drain some the city’s many canals and build a multi level parking, shopping and entertainment complex underneath that when completed would  not interfere with what is occurring at street level, including refilling the canals themselves. As stated by Professor Zwart:

“Amsterdam sits on a 30-metre layer of waterproof clay which will be used together with concrete and sand to make new walls. Once we have resealed the canal floor, we will be able to carry on working underneath while pouring water back into the canals. It’s an easy technique and it doesn’t create issues with drilling noises on the streets.”

Environmentalists now believe that Zwart’s ideas are not ecologically and economically sustainable; with one of big issues dealing with ridding the underground complex from build-ups of carbon dioxide (CO2) which are sure to occur, especially with cars being parked there. This concept is currently more feasible than some type of domed “Atlantis” type of city as has often been mentioned in science fiction stories.

As for this type of  concept being feasible for the Nile Delta or other Middle East locations that could be threatened by rising sea waters, the floating islands concept may hold water better.

::World Architecture News

Based on algorithms – a pay scale depending on home many drivers are using the road – Tel Aviv’s “Fast Lane” which was opened for use in early 2011 and designed to reduce traffic flow from super congested Highway 1 is now being termed as a big success according to local newspapers. The one lane bypass, which is actually a toll lane, is now being used by hundreds of cars daily. These users  pay tolls ranging from about $5 to $15 US depending on the time of day. A great feature is that it includes free parking and a shuttle bus to inside the city.

Highway 1, the main highway artery heading into Tel Aviv from both Ben Gurion Airport and cities like Jerusalem and Modi’in is one of Israel’s most congested highways. Traffic on this highway during morning rush hours is literally bumper to bumper, while the fast lane enables drivers to bypass this section and reach Tel Aviv in only a few minutes.

For drivers entering the city daily to work, and those on company business, paying the toll is usually reimbursed by employers. For self employed persons, the fee is an allowable travel expense.

The fast lane also includes the option for drivers parking their cars in a large parking lot at the lane’s entrance and then taking a shuttle bus into the city. This option in itself eliminates hundreds of cars being on the highway going into Tel Aviv and on city streets as well; thereby reducing some of the city’s pollution in a city where free radicals can cause brain damage to joggers and bike riders .

The fast lane is part of other projects currently underway to reduce traffic congestion on Israel’s streets and highways. The Cross Israel Highway, otherwise known as Highway 6, is helping to reduce traffic congestion for cars traveling on the coastal highways. Known in Hebrew as Kvish Shesh, it is the country’s first toll road.

Another idea to reduce Tel Aviv traffic congestion during morning rush hours was a decision to ban large trucks going into the city during the rush hours. This ordinance was to have gone into affect in 2010, but as yet has not due to many objections. A light rail line, similar to the one now in Jerusalem, is being planned for Tel Aviv. If completed, it hopes to further eliminate pollution and traffic congestion; especially that caused by too many city buses in use.

The “park and ride” option currently in use with the Fast Lane is also in use by cities in other parts of the world.

The idea for the fast lane is the brainchild of Nitzan Yotzer, head of operations at the government company Trans-Israel Highway, which is also the supervisory authority for Highway 6, the fast lane, and the Carmel Tunnel as well (Israel’s first toll tunnel).

Nitzan told Haaretz: “The infrastructure in the greater Tel Aviv area can’t keep up with the growing volume of traffic.”

More on Tel Aviv traffic congestion:
Tel Aviv’s Fast Lane for Safety and the Environment
Free Radicals Attack Your Brain on Bikes in Polluted Cities
Tel Aviv Will Ban Trucks During Morning Rush Hour to Reduce Congestion