UCLA and Egyptian scientist accidentally find a new way to bottle stored energy. This missing link for solar energy, hydro and electric cars could be a fast, tiny, biodegradable battery Penicillin, Teflon, microwave ovens and superglue were all discovered by accident. And now graphene super-capacitors might be the most important accidental discovery of our time [...]
With everything else, this Hamat gader croc may have to put up with oil well drilling as well The Golan Heights, that disputed piece of real estate that Israel captured from Syria in 1967 is returning to world attention due to the possibility that there are oil and natural gas reserves in its southern sector. [...]
By the end of the decade, Morocco hopes to generate a full 2,000 megawatts of wind energy, but for now, the North African country needs all the help it can get from foreign investors. No stranger to wind, GDF Suez from France inked a 20 year deal with to build and operate a 300 MW [...]
While some designers spend time figuring out how to deal with today’s rampant problems: urban density, water shortages, lack of public transportation in many cities and other pressing concerns, the team behind MAKH Architects have concerned themselves with zombies. More specifically, they have devised a conceptual home for future residents who will roam the globe [...]
Masdar CEO Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber signed a joint declaration with the French government, paving the way for new collaboration on advancing clean energy projects in France. The deal facilitates co-development of new technology and allows for easier transnational exchange of expertise and experience. In also underscores existing cooperation on the Global Atlas of Renewable [...]
When 97 percent of a nation’s energy is imported, every renewable energy gift counts. Jordan received a $300 million grant from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which Minister of Energy and Transportation Alaa Batayneh says will be used to develop a host of solar and wind energy projects in southern Jordan, The Jordan Times reports.
Who’s got the wind in the Middle East? Morocco and Egypt have the biggest wind power plants, but don’t discount Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Wind power has taken a backseat to solar power across the Middle East and North Africa, but there are still some ambitious projects in wind power [...]
As part of its plan to shake off its unprofitable solar shackles, including Israel’s Solel initiative, German giant Siemens has exited the ambitious Desertec project. But that doesn’t seem to have deterred the strength of the initiative, which is designed to enable Europe to import one fifth of its power by 2050 from renewable energy [...]
Tekirdağ Province, in northwestern Turkey, will be the site of several new wind power plants over the next few years. This has been a big year for wind power in Turkey, with more than 5,000 MW of wind power projects (WPPs) licensed and awaiting permitting. Foreign companies such as Nordex and GE are jumping into the [...]
Training, teaching and researching the wind: Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane gets Africa’s first wind-hydrogen system. Morocco’s renewable energy push received yet another boost last week with the installation of the first-ever wind-hydrogen system in Africa. Activists and industry experts are excited that the government is pushing forward on its continued promises to create clean energy for [...]
A flailing Egypt still aims for 20 percent renewables by 2020. Egypt’s Supreme Council of Energy last week pushed forward a new round of concessions aimed at boosting investment in renewable and clean energy in the country. According to the Council, it said it would exempt parts and components used in the production of electricity [...]
Determined to stay its unpopular nuclear course, Iran is now turning to wind power and other renewable energy sources to blow past sanctions. Last year Karin reported that the current regime plans to produce 5,000 MW of solar energy by 2015, and in May this year, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad put aside an additional $620 million [...]
While solar advancements continue apace, wind energy technology has remained fairly stagnant over the years, making it in most cases less viable than fossil fuels or nuclear energy. It’s expensive, harmful to birds and bats, deeply inefficient and comes with a host of annoyances such as noise and vibration. Responding to what they perceive as [...]
Africa’s largest wind farm to date is slated to begin construction as soon as a long-delayed financing agreement is completed, according to Wind Power Monthly. Morocco’s state utility Office National d’Electricite (ONE) awarded a $350 million, 20-year PPA contract for the 300 MW Tarfaya wind power plant to a consortium consisting of the local firm Nareva and [...]
It is estimated that BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster spilled 205 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Local fishermen and other cleanup workers suffered from the toxic oil and carcinogenic dispersants, but at best only 3% of this oil was ever recovered. The absorbent booms were never designed for open water. When Cesar [...]
In 2009, Lebanon pledged to produce 12% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020- is this target optimistic today? Renewables are becoming an important source of discussion in the Middle East, as it should. Vestas estimates renewables accounts for only 0.2 % of power production in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), an [...]
With a rotor diameter of 100 meters and hub heights of 80 meters, GE’s 1.6-100 MW turbines have the highest power production capacity of any turbines in their category. A 50 MW wind farm in a town near Istanbul will be the first site in Europe to use GE’s revolutionary 1.6-100 MW wind turbines, GE [...]
Two solar energy companies are part of a larger conflict and dilemma in Israel: should solar panels be installed on limited open space or on rooftops? There is a small war going on in Israel and it has nothing to do with a nuclear Iran or local terror cells. This war is over the sun. Two companies [...]
Virgin wilderness on Turkey’s western coast is threatened by the construction of new wind infrastructure. Above, an image of a traditional Turkish windmill. An organic farmer near İzmir in western Turkey awoke a few weeks ago to the sound of poles and transmission lines being installed on a hill near his farm. The lines will [...]
German wind turbine manufacturer Nordex will construct eleven 2.5 MW turbines for the Tektuğ Elektrik Group’s first wind project. This autumn, on a mountain ridge in southeastern Turkey’s Adiyaman province, construction will begin on the 27.5 MW “Sincik” wind energy farm, Nordex announced today. It will be the flagship wind energy project of the Tektuğ Elektrik [...]
Sweden’s Hexicon to supply Malta with 10% of its electricity with a platform-mounting floating wind farm Despite the fact that the EU is willing to fund renewable energy in its climate laggard states, using cap & trade revenues from the sale of emission allowances, Malta still gets only 1% of its electricity from renewable energy. [...]
The German renewable energy giant Siemens Energy has just secured its first wind turbine orders within Africa, with orders for two new wind farms going up in Morocco. Siemens will supply turbines with a total capacity of 100 MW, 50 MW to the Haouma Wind Farm project in Northern Morocco, and 50 MW to Foum El Oued [...]
Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) Chairman Khaled Toukan champions a peaceful nuclear power program, despite opposition from environmentalists and Parliamentary MPs.The Chairman spoke earlier this month in a Lower House session, in reply to MP Mahmoud Kharabsheh’s claim that kick-off of a national nuclear program excluded proper assessment of feasibility and environmental impacts. MP Kharabsheh, a nuclear skeptic, [...]
Jordan hits a fork in the energy development road: each route inciting ardent support and dissidence. Environmental activists united in protest for a second time in six months urging public debate over Jordan’s emerging atomic energy program. Over two dozen anti-nuclear activists protested near Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh’s Amman offices last Saturday, in vocal reaction [...]
Israeli designer Adital Ela Asks for help with her WindyLight sustainable lighting project on Kickstarter. Kickstarting a new sustainable lighting project that employs wind in generating energy to create light is sustainable Israeli designer Adital Ela. Her project, WindyLight, is a “family of self-sufficient outdoor lights that perform on free, clean energy and create a [...]
With inconsistent messages to investors and the public, Israel to create a national plan for renewable energy. Even as Israel’s cabinet approved a national action plan for the promotion of clean technology growth, Israel’s government is also considering slashing incentives for mid-sized solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants due to fiscal constraints. The inconsistent policies represent [...]
Green Prophet is crossing the desert in a bus to attend one of the most important renewable energy conferences on earth. Green Prophet is heading across the desert to attend the second annual Dii Conference being held at the swanky Semiramis InterContinental Hotel in Cairo. Part of a concerted push to develop wind and solar energy [...]
Amidst economical concerns and heavy reliance on fossil fuels, Pakistan's first private wind turbine gains $169 mil in international investment through Turkish company Zorlu Enerji.
With crippling floods every year and regular power outages, a new internationally financed wind project in Pakistan is breezy green news to us. Iran, finding itself increasingly isolated due to US-backed sanctions, has been pressing energy-deficient Pakistan to connect with Iran’s natural gas “peace pipeline“. Natural gas is better than coal (which is killing miners) [...]
“They’re blazing a new path in Turkey” reads the headline over this photo of Akbıyık villagers standing in front of their new wind turbine. The lights in Akbıyık went out one and a half years ago, when the Turkish Electricity Distribution Company cut off the village’s electricity because of outstanding utility bills that amounted to TRY [...]
Turkey has used wind energy for more than ten years now, but never from locally developed and produced wind turbines. That’s about to change. In what Turkish newspapers are calling “the biggest project in the history of the republic,” the Turkish government recently announced the country’s first National Wind Energy System. The project, which is [...]
Jordan’s Star Trek theme park will be a sprawling 74 hectare development, but it does have an eco upside. Since its various eco-parks and green housing projects haven’t done enough to stimulate an appreciation of sustainable development in Jordan’s residents, perhaps the Kingdom’s crazy new Star Trek themed park can fill in the gaps. Once [...]
Inflatable wind turbines are lighter and cheaper than heavy conventional ones Following a number of Israeli clean technology companies being winners in the General Electric Company’s Green Innovation Marathon, GE has announced plans to establish a “Green Tech Shop” in Haifa in which a number of renewable energy and other green technology projects will be developed [...]
As Masdar’s partnership program gains traction in the London Thames estuary, the company is mooting wind power back home – in Abu Dhabi. Masdar is on target to complete the world’s largest offshore wind farm in London’s Thames estuary by the end of 2012. In partnership with the Danish firm Dong Energy and E. ON [...]
Made to reflect California’s leading Science and Technology institute, the Zewail City of Science and Technology in Egypt could lift the country out of its semi dark age Egypt experienced a huge brain drain during the three decades that Hosni Mubarak ruled the country. Formerly a highly acclaimed center for culture and education in the [...]
Egyptian environmentalists urge officials to reconsider their plans to acquire 11 nuclear power plants. Egypt’s military intends to acquire 11 nuclear power plants. This comes soon after press reported that government officials expressed concern about a potential radiation leak at the Anshas nuclear power plant just outside Cairo. Though the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority (EAEA) [...]
A cool green breeze will soon sweep through a new wind-powered mosque in German. The newest eco mosque in Nordesrstedt, Germany will get the majority of its power from the wind. Although the earliest mosques did not have minarets, they have evolved as a landmark to which Muslims direct their daily prayers. They can also [...]
The new roads required to transport wind turbines to installation sites in Turkey can delay projects and add to their costs, but also create hundreds of new construction jobs. An anonymous representative from one of Turkey’s largest wind energy companies says that every new wind project requires new access roads, because the best wind is [...]
Leviathan Energy will donate a small wind turbine in honor of Earth Day 2011. In honor of Earth Day, Israel’s Leviathan Energy will dedicate a small wind turbine to the Hilton Queen of Sheba in Eilat. The ceremony near the southern end of the Dead Sea will commence at 20h30 on March 24 this year. [...]
Turkey has a critical role to play in a clean energy future, says former vice president Al Gore. But when is it going to start taking that role seriously? The unusual political identity of Turkey — a stable, democratic, Islamic country — serves as inspiration for democratic reformers in the Arab world. Its government is [...]