Israel’s seven week housing and economic protests against high housing prices and the rising cost of living in general is finally coming to an end with the dismantling of numerous ‘tent cities’ in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and other locations from Kiryat Shmona to Ashkelon and Beer Sheva. Green issues, such as traffic congestion into Israel’s largest city, which was partially solved by building a “fast lane” to handle incoming traffic ; and green building designs for new housing projects had taken a backseat to more basic issues such as any kind of affordable housing and being able to finish the month on already insufficient salaries. These issues  caused hundreds of thousands of Israelis to participate in huge public gatherings, including the largest one entitled March of the Million that in end did amount to over half a million participants all over Israel with the largest number, 406,000, being in Tel Aviv. Some were asking about a New Green Deal.

Consumer  prices were also protested

The Israeli government, in response to such a large turnout, and due to the publicity the tent cities and their activists have received by the media, have promised a number of economic and social reforms, and ordered the formation of a special committee, the Trajtenberg Committee, to try to come up with some viable solutions to satisfy a diverse group of people who have come from all elements of society with a joint feeling that “enough is enough” as far as rising housing and consumer prices go.

As the tents and other temporary dwellings begin to be dismantled, a number of them are still there as they represent a section of society who simply have no other place to go. The homeless have used Tent Cities as an opportunity to set up their tents in the most affluent neighbourhoods of the city.

The plight of these unfortunates bears to mind another incident that occurred in Tel Aviv back in 2003 and was known as the Kikar haLechem housing and economic protests that finally ended when the High Court ordered the then temporary structures at Kikar Medinah, renamed Kikar Ha Lechem (Bread Square) to be dismantled.

For the homeless, life returns to “normal”

The poor and the homeless (some who are drug addicts) who became part of this summer’s housing protests are now being left to fend for themselves. As one homeless woman named Rachel said to a Jerusalem Post reporter:

“What happens at other campsites has nothing to do with us. We are people with nothing left to lose and we aren’t going anywhere.”

One positive result of these protests is that some of the participants have offered to restore the areas they were camping in, including planting greenery that was damaged or even destroyed during the nearly two month event.

At least that effort will help restore some green aspects to Rothschild Boulevard, downtown Jerusalem, and other locations.

::Jerusalem Post

More on green issues in the Non Stop City of Tel Aviv:

Green Houses Open to Public During Tel Aviv’s Annual Architecture Weekend

Tel Aviv’s Fast Lane for Traffic Safety and the Environment

Azouri Brothers Eco Tower Planned for Tel Aviv

Solar panels at a testing site in Abu Dhabi. (photo by Jesse Fox)

According to a report published this week in Globes, Israel’s public housing company Amidar is set to begin installing photovoltaic solar panels on the roofs of its buildings. And with 72,000 housing units in its portfolio, that could add up to a lot of renewable energy.

The plan, already approved by the company’s board, is to install photovoltaics in three small pilot projects in the south, and later in another ten sites in the center of the country. If everything works as planned, the company will begin installing solar panels on the remainder of its properties throughout the country. Amidar CEO Yaakov Brosh estimated that each building could eventually produce up to 50KW of clean electricity.

Similar projects have had success in places like California and Singapore. The Vatican even hopes to use rooftop solar arrays to help it become the world’s first cabon-neutral state. In Israel, the idea of generating solar energy on the country’s numerous flat roofs is just beginning to take hold.

However, it appears that Amidar, which has been criticized for its (mis)treatment of public housing residents, is focused more on its own bottom line than on looking out for its tenants. Instead of benefiting residents of the buildings directly, electricity generated from rooftop solar panels on Amidar buildings will apparently be sold to the grid, with the profits pumped back into the company’s coffers.

Brosh’s claim that the extra income will help Amidar expand public housing is questionable, considering that Amidar stopped building new public housing years ago, and today makes do with providing those eligible for its assistance with ever-shrinking rental subsidies.

Via Globes (Hebrew link).

More solar power in Israel reading:

1. Lots of Sunshine Power in the Holy Land as China and Israel Complete Solar Plant 
2. Immersion Arabic Course in First Solar Bedouin Village in Israel 
3. Siemens Mulls Buying Israeli Solar Company Solel 

Photo of Sarouj, Syria by upyernoz

With the unbearable heat of a Middle Eastern July upon us, many of us try to find ways to stay cool.  Though regular energy-guzzling air conditioning is tempting, some of us will try to relieve our consciences with more energy effecient cooling methods, such as using the cross breeze or a solar powered air conditioner.

But way before there were electronic ways to condition our temperatures, cooling methods were built into the architecture of traditional Middle Eastern homes.  Such as the beehive homes found in Syria.

Remaining beehive homes (nicknamed “beehive” because of their conical, tapered shapes) are located mainly in northern Syria – west and east of the Aleppo and along the Euphrates River.  Two towns that still have a number of these traditional beehive homes in good shape are Sarouj and Twalid Dabaghein.

The beehive homes keep the heat out in a few ways.  Their thick mud brick walls trap in the cool and keep the sun out as well (beehive homes have very few, if any, windows).  The high domes of the beehive houses also collect the hot air, moving it away from the residents sleeping at the bottom of the house.Combining natural elegance with architectural functionality, the shapes of the beehive homes keep interior temperatures between 75-85 degrees Fahrenheit.

The beehive homes also protect their residents from cold temperatures, serving as a strong guard against powerful desert winds and maintaining a comfortable temperature.

Read more about Syria::

Climate Change Kills 160 Syrian Villages

The United Nations Helps Syria Squeeze Out Environmentally-Friendly Olive Oil

After Five Years Without, Syria’s Presidnet Appoints Woman As New Environment Minister

If you’ve heard about the demise of the kibbutz movement, then you may also know that financially strapped communal farms have recently climbed out of debt by building suburban-style detached housing developments and selling them to upwardly mobile Israelis.

Suburbanizing kibbutzim and moshavim (village settlements), along with several new suburban-style towns like Shoham (near Ben Gurion Airport), Kochav Yair (on the West Bank border in the country’s center) and Maccabim-Re’ut (between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv) are transforming the Israeli landscape from what used to be small villages surrounded by agricultural fields towards American conceptions of large, well-appointed homes in neighborhoods dependent on cars.

One of the best looks at the roots of this revolution is Amiram Gonen’s 1995 book ‘Between City and Suburb’, an extensive academic take on the changing forms of Israeli communities.

Gonen, a professor of geography, begins with traditional Israeli perceptions of the city and the countryside. In the state’s first few decades, urban cores were sites of prestige, while low-quality housing estates and shabby development towns grew on the fringes of the cities and in the country’s periphery. Gonen says part of this was because of how late Israeli cities industrialized. While in the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries, factories made cities sooty and crowded, Industry only came to Israeli cities in the 1930s:

“The typical economic development that took place in the inner city was that of small-scale commerce and crafts, which can easily coexist with a residential population … a fact that kept the middle classes there for quite a while.”

Israeli workers enjoyed living near their place of employment, and often feared moving to the countryside where they might be vulnerable to attacks in the pre-state years. Moreover, many of the early Israelis were transplants from Europe; on the Continent the poor peasants lived in the countryside, while the bourgeoisie occupied the cities.

“In the recent past, the Israeli suburb was not associated with wealth, spaciousness, greenery and tranquility, as the term might often imply in the English language… the term in its Israeli context was associated with low income, low quality of life, poverty and remoteness.”

Shifts in Israeli consumer culture

However, Gonen shows that with time, Israelis grew to be more oriented to North American consumption patterns.

National car ownership rose, public transportation improved, and apartment dwellers started to dream about living in their own home with a private garden and a bedroom for each child.

As Israelis imagined “rurban,” or rural-urban, paradise in the 1990s, a million immigrants arrived from the Former Soviet Union, straining the housing capacity of the cities. In response, the government released thousands of acres of protected farmland and allowed residential building on what used to be the fields of communal farms.

However, rather than put up immigrant housing blocks as had been done in the past, the government left the construction to private developers, who maximized the value of the land lots by building single-family homes. Gonen writes that as a result of farmland privatization, “urban Israel is on the threshold of decontainment, each moshav and kibbutz near a city searching for opportunities to reap the economic fruits of this policy shift.”

This decontainment holds particularly dire consequences for the racial mix of the country, because it allows the primarily Ashkenazi upper-middle class to move to economically exclusive communities, which takes the lifeblood out of the cities and could lead to an American-style decline.

Gonen warns that “The city of Be’er Sheva, already undergoing a middle-class drain in the direction of new suburban towns established in its vicinity in recent decades, might continue to experience such a drain if adjacent agricultural settlements take the initiative to rezone their agricultural land and develop residential neighborhoods on it.”

In addition to tracking the birth of the suburban Israeli Dream, Gonen also dabbles in Ultra-Orthodox housing patterns, Arab urban planning and the ethnic gap between Israelis of Ashkenazi and Mizrachi extraction as seen through housing patterns.

As an environmentalist, I was disappointed with Gonen’s tepid reaction to Israeli suburbanization. I was gunning for a spirited condemnation, and found that his professorial tone stayed away from the rhetoric. However, this criticism is more of a complement, as Gonen keeps it professional although he discusses sensitive topics.

‘Between City and Suburb’ is a fascinating peek into how very personal dreams – the desire to own one’s home, the wish to live among fellow religiously observant Jews, the hope to move out of a development town – have shaped the form of the Israeli built landscape. A definite must-read for all of us concerned with the shifts in Israeli culture and how this impacts upon the environment.

‘Between City and Suburb – urban residential patterns and processes in Israel ‘

by Amiram Gonen, published 1995 by Avebury

This review was written by our very own Green Prophet Daniella Cheslow, a passionate environmentalist, activist, journalist and currently a master’s student at BGU. Her blog, The Truth Herzl, is packed full of her adventures, reviews, and more!

Windows are one of the most significant costs in building projects or home renovations. Next to that are the bills homeowners have to pay for heating and air conditioning. Solving two problems under one roof — literally — is an Israeli company Alubin that has developed all-season reversible windows. The solution is also good for the environment.

Based on the research of Professors Evyatar Erell and Yair Etzion from the Department of Man in the Desert at Ben Gurion University, Alubin is set to commercialize a unique two-sided window that promises to absorb and keep in the heat during the winter, while reflecting the sun for a cool indoors when the hot summer months strike.

Michal Segal, marketing manager for the company tells ISRAEL21c that Alubin has a few window projects underway. The company was established over 50 years ago, but takes on new projects all the time, and “green” ones, Segal admits, are close to her heart. Currently, the company is working on installing its new reversible window solution called Seasons Windows in a house in Jerusalem, and in an American news bureau in Ramallah interested in green building.

Working with architects and agents in Israel and America, Alubin makes its new windows to order.

A green window into the mainstream

“Ecological buildings have mainly two branches. We have the people who think about building from mud and who re-use grey water,” says Segal. “But I think if you want to bring on an ecological revolution to the construction market you have to work with [the mainstream] building industry.” That’s what Alubin is doing with its new windows, which resemble traditional windows, she says.

Seasons Windows are based on a ventilated solar-screen glazing system which converts solar radiation to heat either the inside of the house, or to the outside. In winter, the special tinted and absorbing glass faces inwards allowing short wave solar radiation to pass through, while a panel of clear glass blocks outward radiation.

With the flick of a switch, the window can be manually rotated along an axel, so that the same tinted glass once pointing inwards can absorb short wave solar radiation and redirect it to the outside world in summer.

Conserves energy passively

Offering a number of energy savings solutions, the Seasons Windows, says Segal are “more complicated” and do their green work by passively conserving energy. “You can turn them around for winter or summer mode,” she tells ISRAEL21c. “They can heat a room in the winter or ventilate like an air conditioner in the summer.”

Alubin is one of the largest aluminum manufacturing plants and die makers in Israel, and is based in the industrial park in Kiriat Bialik. Founded in 1958, it was purchased in 1998 by SHL, and both companies today function as one.

Admittedly, ecological solutions are more expensive than traditional ones, but the investment over time can amount to huge savings on energy costs, says Segal. “And of course early technologies are more expensive, but over the years they will pay back just like solar panels,” she concludes.

More on green homes:
Green Prophets Start At Home: The Kitchen
Green Prophet on the Living Room
Green Prophet on the Bedroom
Green Prophets Tackle Your Wardrobe
Green Prophet Greens Your Bathroom

This article was printed with permission from ISRAEL21c. Image credit lilivanilli.

It’s one thing to adopt environmentally conscious behavior, such as recycling, taking public transportation, and saving water or electricity. But that’s not enough for the future residents of the now developing community of Nurit. They plan to live green.

That’s because the Mt. Gilboa town of Nurit is set to be the first planned, eco-friendly community in Israel, with infrastructure and services designed not just to encourage, but to actually enforce environmentally responsible behavior. If you’re planning on living in Nurit, says Danny Atar, chairman of the Gilboa Regional Council, you’re by definition willing to go out of your way to save water, avoid excess waste, and in general reduce your carbon footprint. “Otherwise, Nurit is not for you,” he says.

The idea for Nurit stemmed from discussions conducted by Gilboa Regional Council officials nearly a decade ago, as they were seeking to build tourism in the area, as well as comply with new government requirements to introduce environmentally responsible educational programs and activities.

“We are also considering putting up a new town to attract more residents here from the center of the country, and the whole project just sort of made sense,” Atar tells ISRAEL21c. “Thus was Nurit born.”

First homes ready in a year

And, after intense study and consultations with environmental experts around the world, the town is ready for prime time; work has begun on infrastructure, and the first 100 homes will be ready next year. By 2012, there will be 400 families living in Nurit, Atar says.

Located on Mt. Gilboa itself, Nurit will take advantage of the mountain’s wind and sun to generate power, and will install dozens of wind turbines and photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, enough to provide electricity for all the public buildings in Nurit – and then some.

“We recently got approved for a program by the Israel Electric Company, where residents and public buildings will be able to mount solar PV units on their roofs and sell the electricity to the IEC,” says Atar.

“Together with turbines to generate electricity from wind, we expect that the electricity we generate will be enough to light most of the schools, offices, streetlights, and park lights in Nurit – as well as save homeowners money on their energy bill, since they can get credits for the power their roof PV systems generate that they don’t use, selling it back to the IEC.” Atar says.

The regional council has a program that provides loans for residents to buy and install the PV panel setup, or residents can design the systems into their construction plans, he adds.

Trees as cooling canopy

Residents will also be asked to grow tall, leafy trees around their homes, creating a natural “cooling canopy” that will help cut down on the need for artificial cooling and heating systems, “saving electricity and reducing pollutants in the atmosphere,” Atar says. And, residents will be asked to build their homes using effective insulation systems, to further reduce the need for air conditioners or heaters. “We hope to be able to limit the use of artificial heating and cooling solutions to the hottest or coldest days of the year,” Atar says.

Nurit residents will be required to save water – naturally. “In theory, Israel gets more than enough rainfall, but much of the rain is lost to evaporation or runs off to the sea,” Atar says. “We are requiring all residents to build rain collection systems and mini-reservoirs to store rainwater. The water will then be funneled into the town reservoir, allowing us to cut down significantly on our use of water from Mekorot, which is drawn from either the Kinneret or Israel’s underground aquifers.”

With the Kinneret [the Sea of Galilee] at an all time low, and Israel scrambling to build desalination plants to make up for projected water shortages, Nurit’s efforts could serve as a model for other, non eco-friendly communities as well.

Saving rainwater is important, but saving “gray water” is even more important, say many environmentalists – and Nurit is requiring all homeowners to install a gray water collection system, which will store waster water from dishwashing, bathing, and other non-sewage (“black water”) sources.

The storage of gray water entails building a separate drainage system, which funnels the water into a tank – and is then used for a variety of purposes, such as watering gardens, decorative fountains, etc. “No one in Nurit will be permitted to use fresh water to water his or her lawn,” Atar says. “Residents will use gray water to water their lawns and run watering systems for plants or orchards.”

Unfortunately, Nurit won’t be able to encourage its residents to trade in their cars for commuting by train, because there is no Israel Railways line in the area, at least for now. But the town will have a complete complement of local and inter-city bus service for those who need to travel. Actually, it is expected that most of Nurit’s residents will work in the area, either at home businesses, in tourist-oriented services such as bed and breakfasts or restaurants, or at one of the industrial zones in the area.

“Many of the homes have been zoned for use as businesses as well, so a resident can operate a small business in their backyard,” Atar says. “There is an industrial zone three minutes out of town, mostly with light manufacturing or agriculture industry allied services. And tourism in this region is expected to skyrocket when regular horse racing begins at the Afula Hippodrome, only a few minutes from here,” he adds.

Nurit is open to anyone willing to live by the town’s eco-friendly ethos – and many Israelis are willing, apparently, because there is already a long waiting list for lots.

“We’ve already got about 700 families who have made a deposit to get into the lottery for a chance to buy a plot, with more signing up all the time,” Atar says. “The lots, which will have extensive infrastructure to support the gray water drainage and reservoirs system, cost $120,000 to $150,000 – not particularly high for people coming from the center of the country, where many of the Nurit hopefuls come from, and certainly not expensive, when you consider the cost of the infrastructure.”

Most applicants are from big cities – Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and its suburbs. A few people from the kibbutzim in the area have signed up as well, but the majority are new to the lower Galilee. Which already makes Nurit a success, as far as Atar is concerned. “This is a beautiful part of the country to live in, and thanks to Nurit, hundreds of families are going to get the opportunity to find out just how beautiful it really is,” Atar says.

(This article was printed with permission by ISRAEL21c – www.israel21c.org)

If you don’t know what a yurt is, have no fear.  Most people don’t (including yours truly).  But yurts, with their portability, suitability for nature trips, and simple low-tech structures are highly suitable for eco-tourism – so they definitely deserve our attention.  And it certainly is exciting that yurts are entering the Israeli tourism scene.

So what is a yurt?  A yurt is a portable fabric covered dwelling with an underlying wooden structure that was first used by nomads in central Asia.

What do yurts have to do with Israeli eco tourism?  Thanks to the Indian Village at Moshav Avnei Eitan in the Galilee, plenty.

Located at the end of the Nahal El Al trail (which is a flowery, rocky, watery feast for the eyes of an eco tourist), the yurt campsite – though environmentally friendly in that is does not leave a permanent effect on the site and offers low impact housing – is a pampering version of your normal camping experience.  Meaning, for all those ladies out there who are a little squeamish about spending a romantic weekend in a tent, this is the perfect compromise.

Some of the yurts (like the one pictured above) even go so far as to include jacuzzis, and all of the couple yurts include small kitchenettes, air conditioning, and other little extras.  Pair that up with the beautiful scenery, the fresh outdoor breakfast that is included with a stay in the yurt, and the optional personal masseurs, and you’ve got an eco tourism option that is close to nature, but a pampering treat as well.

The site includes three small, couple sized yurts and a few larger teepees that can house large groups.  So whether you’re going away on a weekend vacation with your partner or having more of an experience with the family – the Indian Village is ready for you.

See a video of a yurt in Israel being built

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Indian Village, Moshav Avnei Eitan (Ramat Hagolan), tel. 04-6762151.

Read more about specific eco tourism spots in Israel: Green Prophet Visits Amirim, a Vegetarian Paradise in the Galilee
Adam and Eve: An Eco Farm Paradise in Modiin
Visit Yurts In The Desert

That’s why we were happy to see that the US is going to finance mortgages for people in the Palestinian Authority. The houses may not be green, but it’s one step, we believe, to creating sustainable communities and an all round greener Middle East.

In a press release we received this week from the US Embassy, they write that the President of the US government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) Robert Mosbacher, Jr. will provide up to $500 million for a residential mortgage loan program to support the expansion of affordable housing for Palestinians.

“Mortgage finance that is both affordable and accessible is a vital engine for home ownership and economic growth,” Mosbacher said. “This mortgage program will expand mortgage lending to the people who need it most, and in the process provide hope to average Palestinians living in the West Bank.”

The mortgages will be available with tenors of up to 25 years for low and middle income Palestinian households. In the agreement OPIC will provide up to a $250 million guaranty. The Palestine Investment Fund, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the Bank of Palestine will each provide up to $75 million.

A few other organizations will contribute $20 million or so here and there.

The agreement to launch the fund was signed by Mr. Mosbacher, Lars Thunnel, IFC’s president and CEO and Dr. Mohammad Mustafa, CEO of the Palestine Investment Fund. Palestinian President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad thanked the contributing donors for making this project a reality.

See Green Prophet related :: Controversial New Arab City in the Galilee and :: The First Modern City With Affordable Housing For Palestinians

Photo credit: Ahron

Excited by seeing the children riding around on donkeys and the general sense of choas, Mom commented on how very different this place seemed from the ‘other’ side of Jerusalem.She was right. Now we are not going to get into the endless and tiring political debate over who/what/wheres and whys of why this is so – but the reality is that the two Jerusalems are like two different planets.

Now if you are riding around on donkeys and scraping together food to survive, how on earth can the environment be a top priority? That’s why we like the news of a new ‘modern’ and environmental housing project set for Bir Zeit, near Ramallah.

It will be called Rawabi in Arabic or “hills,” and some 4,000 housing units intended to house 25,000 residents are being planned by architect Sami al-Abid; the cornerstones could be laid as early as this spring.

Total cost amounting to $200 million and prices of the houses (small cottages “villas” and apartments) will cost as much as $75,000.Parks, playgrounds and attention to environmental aspects – such as solar energy – will be part of the project, it is reported.

We hope when they say solar energy, they mean solar electricity and not the standard Dud Shemesh found everywhere in Israel. The latter is really the standard.Nevertheless, the Green Prophet loves this kind of news.

We believe people who are happy and housed, will have more energy for discussing and implementing environmental practices that can affect the whole Middle East. And peace on this planet.::Haaretz