‘Greedy Lying Bastards’ opens with an image of environmental destruction, and a voiceover announces: “what if I told you all this was preventable?” This is a powerful opening for an in your face movie that is bound to win plaudits for its exposure of those who deny, and actually do their bit to cause, and [...]
About half of Abu Dhabi’s trash will ‘burn’ into green electricity in new $850 million power plant. Maybe you saw the wonderful movie, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. Or maybe you’d read stories on Green Prophet about Masdar, or Shams, the world’s largest CSP plant in Abu Dhabi. Arab nations and their economies are certainly [...]
Abu Dhabi has the world’s 5th highest proven oil reserve and the 6th highest reserve of natural gas. This is a hydrocarbon-based economy that – at first glance – should have no incentive to reduce their carbon footprint. And yet the United Arab Emirates as a whole seems to be taking climate change a lot [...]
Reduce one food source and increase pressure on others. We’re all going to die! Only a lot later and with healthier arteries according to political satirist Stephen Colbert’s side-splitting riff on recent reports that the global bacon supply is “cooked”. Britain’s National Pig Association released data recently showing that European pig herds are declining “at a significant [...]
The best news to come from Better Place is an attractive $510 leasing plan per month which includes 1000 km. Israel’s Better Place, headed by the iconic entrepeneur Shai Agassi has just released news of an attractive leasing deal bound to win over new subscribers: for NIS 1990 a month ($510 USD), for 36 months, [...]
A simple change in operations gives aviation an environmental win-win-win. Continuous Descent Arrival (CDA) is an aircraft operating technique in which arriving planes descend in a relatively straight line to the runway. In conventional descent, an aircraft drops in a stair-step manner, requesting control tower permission to descend to each new lower altitude, with portions of [...]
Gas is 15 cents a liter (60 cents a gallon) in Saudi Arabia: the government is fighting to keep both high standard of living and long-term energy security Saudi Arabia has been aggressively looking for anything and everything that can provide energy. Whether it is to maintain its status as the largest exporter of crude [...]
Going green and doing it for the troops, in Cyprus “Going green” is a new defense tactic modern military: From the use of solar energy to power field re-chargers for communication equipment to finding new ways to supply troops with drinking water by moisture condensation from vehicle AC units. Armies going green is a new tactical offensive in [...]
Morocco’s zero-carbon car factory opening earlier this month, via NY Times. The CEO of Renault–Nissan alliance Carlos Ghosn and Moroccan King Mohammed VI inaugerated French automaker’s one-billion-euro plant in Tangier which is set to boost Morocco’s automobile industry.The plant will build several new ‘low cost’ vehicles with an annual capacity that could reach ups 400,000 [...]
Climate change is here and it looks like there is no way back. Scientists and policymakers are increasing concerned about extreme weather and climate events. These include extended waves of abnormally hot or cold weather, unseasonal temperatures, changes in precipitation and wind patterns, along with more dramatic occurrences like unprecedented blizzards, cyclones sudden downpours, sudden [...]
Who doesn’t want to jump onto the carbon offset bandwagon when you see Coldplay advocating it? I mean come on, that’s a cool bunch of guys, and if they are doing it, it must be the right thing to do. As interest in environmental issues has grown, so has the alluring, politically correct, celebrity-sanctioned model [...]
My feet are big, at US women’s size 10, but my footprint is enormous. See how yours compares to other nations in the world Drop a teabag in a mug, add boiled water, and in the time it takes to brew, you can calculate your carbon weight. Trust me – you’ll need a comforting drink when [...]
The arid Middle Eastern desert climate offers little in the way of natural resources. But it does boast of brilliant and fierce sunlight. In a continuing effort to reach the goal of 10% renewable power by 2020, Israel has recently been issuing a slew of new solar licences, including a 120 MW thermal solar plant [...]
An underground underwater city and water complex idea an alternative to floating islands? 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 [...]
The countries that emit the most greenhouse gases only agreed to “vague, fragile” reduction targets at the recent climate change conference in Durban, according to Özgür Gürbüz, who was present at the conference. For MENA countries, there are some bright spots in the outcome of the most recent United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP17) [...]
Aircraft behemoth Boeing estimates at least 90,000 commercial planes fly daily: a massive fuel burn that translates into elephantine emissions of toxic air. There is opportunity for change in the Middle East. If you are not already afraid of the giant plume of methane gas now emitting greenhouses gases into the atmosphere, there’s another worry: [...]
Three brothers working in Pakistan’s remote Chitral communities are helping provide green electricity for 45,000 homes. Their micro hydro-electricity projects, 70 to date, include manufacturing and installation, giving Pakistani families clean and reliable power. So far they have helped supply 10 MW of clean greenhouse gas-free power in two years, working closely with the Clean [...]
Iran, becoming more isolated appeals to Pakistan to move ahead with natural gas “peace pipeline.” Saboteurs have already had their say in the idea. Image via BSO-NA As Iran becomes more marginalized with US-backed sanctions, Iran seeks to conduct business with more hospitable partners, like Pakistan. Every year floods devastate Pakistan, this year with a [...]
TaxiBot, A unique towing system for airplanes to save jet fuel will save billions of tons of greenhouse gases. The idea has been around for a while, but engineers weren’t able to make it work. At least as far as Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) knows, the Taxibot Dispatch Towing system is the world’s first tugboat-like [...]
The answer to climate woes for pines and and maples may be blowing in the wind. Sad news so soon after the Jewish New Year for the trees: Many tree species might become extinct due to climate change if no action is taken in time: This is the conclusion of a new research study from [...]
Dubai’s Emirates National Oil Company (Enoc) launches the first “green station” in the UAE. The station features solar-powered lights, a waterless car wash system, eco-friendly products, and the vapor recovery system, a new technology that reduces carbon emission and fuel wastage.
Believed to have been started by arsonists, a deadly fire is racing out of control in UNESCO-protected Carmel Mountain. People, and animals, are being evacuated. Death toll is at 40. Some 40 people trapped in a bus are known to have been killed and 45 more reportedly injured as a massive fire on Israel’s Mount [...]
The Director of the Center for Oil Shale Technology and Research (COSTAR) talks to Green Prophet about the benefits and detriments of oil shale exploration. When we first submitted our open letter to David de Rothschild, in which we asked him to intervene in an oil-shale development project in the Elah Valley now backed by [...]
As a quick follow-up to the new oil shale pilot about to be conducted in Israel, here is a video of Al Gore saying how oil shale exploration is “insanity.” From the 2008 video, speaking about oil shale in America, Gore says: “It would vastly multiply the amount of CO2 from every gallon of gasoline. This [...]
Artificial islands are sinking in the mire: Dubai has to face new environmental woes that come with “progress.” When one thinks of Dubai shopping, economic prowess and cleanliness come to mind. While all three have become staples and synonymous with the Gulf city, the environmental toll that has been unleashed as a result is beginning [...]
Using heat pumps and expert data analysis, Phoebus is installing their energy saving solution at the Inbal Hotel in Jerusalem. They promise to offer energy savings, an ROI after 2 to 3 years. Some of the highest energy costs for large facilities today, especially in the hotel hospitality and health care industries, stem from their [...]
Israel and the Palestinian Authority are among 15 Mediterranean nations who have just signed a historic agreement to work together to combat the effects of climate change, one month ahead of the next United Nations conference on climate change, meeting at Cancun in November. The Mediterranean Climate Change Initiative was inaugurated by Greek Prime Minister [...]
Bill McKibben talks about fossil fuels, a “slightly earlier time,” and 350.org’s goal to ensure a future for the world’s youth. Bill McKibben needs very little introduction, but I’ll give one anyway. Not only is he considered one of America’s leading environmentalists, who has written a small sack full of books and contributes to numerous [...]
The United Arab Emirates has one of the largest carbon footprints in the world. Not surprising considering the small country has an indoor ski hill in the middle of the desert and a number of other Las Vegas-esque attractions (like the IceLand waterpark), but the government has said enough. A new high-tech plan was announced on [...]
What will Israel do if the Nile Delta becomes submerged from climate change? Brainstorming at the Climate Change Mitigation Policy Workshop today at Ben-Gurion University. (Image courtesy of Ophir Shoham) In his opening remarks at the Climate Change Mitigation Policy Workshop at Ben-Gurion University today, Prof. Alon Tal, one of Israel’s most revered environmentalists, referred [...]
Dr. Gotlieb comments on the attempts by economically and politically interested parties to obscure the climate change debate. Scientists are “street fighting” the demagoguery in prestigious journals, like Nature. There is a mean spirit blowing — and its not a sirocco out of the Maghreb. The issue began brewing around the time of the ill-fated [...]
The Icelandic volcano has both environmental and economic effects. Some Middle East passengers are stranded in Europe and wonder if it’s time to think about less polluting modes of travel. By ship? As a massive volcanic ash cloud hovers over most of Europe, Gulf-based airlines are increasingly concerned over the potential effects the Icelandic volcano [...]
While the final votes were being counted in the Iraqi elections this week, a three-day conference was held in Kuwait to discuss efforts to repair the environmental devastation inflicted by a previous Iraqi regime nearly two decades ago. In retreat from its seven-month occupation of Kuwait that triggered the Gulf War of 1991, Saddam Hussein’s [...]
If you enjoy sweet treats from Cairo, they are about to get sweeter: Cairo sugar co is now greening its emissions by switching to natural gas. Abu Dhabi’s Masdar energy and development company is helping to further make the Middle East more green by signing a 10 year CO2 Emissions Control Agreement with Egyptian Sugar [...]
It can take decades of forest growth before the ‘cooling’ CO2 sequestration can overtake these opposing ‘warming’ processes, finds new study on Yatir Forest (above). We’ve been buying carbon credits, and have been busy planting trees hoping to stave off climate change, but the simple formula we’ve learned in recent years – forests remove the [...]
Running for green issues in Beirut: but will the government listen? The year 2009 was bleak for Lebanon’s environmental track record, according to the country’s Daily Star. Despite the impressive action of IndyACT, Lebanon’s delegation brought little effect at December’s COP 15 climate change summit; they were not able to accomplish much of anything insofar [...]
The battle against the construction of the coal-fired power station in Ashkelon, Israel, last month, reached its peak. At 8 pm promptly, thousands of residents of southern Israel extinguished their lights for an hour, in order to protest against the construction of coal-fired station in their region. The residents were not standing alone in the [...]
If you read any story this week make it this one: What could be the most important event of the next decade, world leaders and activists are meeting as we speak in Copenhagen, Denmark to lay the foundations of a plan to stop climate change. On the forefront of representing the Arab world, and criticizing the [...]
Haifa Bay is lovely, but it’s extremely polluted. Chemical giant there now producing carbon credits with Citi bank. What would induce a significantly environmentally polluting company like Israel’s Haifa Chemicals to make an agreement with an international banking institution like Citi to meet targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Haifa Chemicals has long been a [...]
In advance of Copenhagen, a new survey shows that Israelis seek action against climate change. The Israeli public is a few steps ahead of its government in wanting to see strong action on climate change, according to a new poll conducted by Ben Gurion University. The survey was done ahead of the international Climate Summit [...]