Three Jordanian villagers returned this week from training at the Barefoot College in India (Petra photo). Here’s a heartwarming story published in the Jordan Times yesterday that can distract us for a few moments from the human and environmental catastrophe in Japan: A new grassroots program in Jordan aims to bring solar power to rural areas. […]
Tel Aviv is preparing to launch a bike-sharing program, joining over 200 cities in the world that already operate such systems. The pessimists and optimists will continue to disagree about the ultimate outcome of the amazing wave of protests sweeping through the Middle East (including bicycle-riding protestors in Cairo), but here’s one revolution everyone can […]
Friendly Energy has installed 70 rooftop solar systems in Israel, like this one in Beersheva. European companies continue to find interest in photovoltaic (PV) solar projects in Israel. For example, we recently reported about the joint venture between the Spanish multinational Soltec Renewable Energies and Shikun & Binui Solaria to build a solar power plant in […]
Israel’s first commercial photovoltaic field is slated to be completed at Kibbutz Ketura in May. As Susan laments in her recent post (What Holds Israeli Renewable Energy Back?), Israel has been slow in deploying solar energy at home, despite its pioneering R&D work in this field. And last week the country seemed to take another step […]
Solaria displays this image on its website, where it states that its vision is to “to enable every household and business in Israel to make use of and profit from advanced solar energy technology.” Israel-based Shikun & Binui Solaria, a subsidiary of the Arison Group’s Shikun & Binui Renewable Energies, will build a 6.7 MW […]
A new natural gas pipeline promises to cut air pollution in the Haifa Bay area by at least 75% by 2013. As noted in a previous post, there was some disappointing environmental news in Israel this week: The Finance Ministry slapped a freeze on development of large solar power plants, pending a review of the […]
Israel’s solar industry will showcase its wares next week at the Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy Conference. Just a week before the 4th annual celebration of Israel’s renewable energy industry in Eilat, the country’s slow progress toward generating green energy hit another bureaucratic snag and zigzag. The Ministry of Finance froze implementation of the feed-in tariffs the Electricity Authority […]
Bellisimo! Sunflower already produces some 24 MW of solar energy in Italy and Spain. Israel-based Sunflower Sustainable Investments is continuing to find sunny prospects in Italy for its solar activity, announcing the purchase of another solar energy farm last week. This comes on the heels of the financial investment house’s acquisition of three Italian solar […]
Enlightening! If you bought Enlight stock a year ago, your portfolio would be dazzling. Though it might be frigid in many parts of the world, it has been a sunny January for Israel-based Enlight Renewable Energy Solutions. So far this month, the photovoltaic (PV) solar power integrator has announced deals to install 13-16 small PV […]
No it’s not Spiderman and friends, just green activists trying to call attention to the environmental impact of coal-burning power plants. Greenpeace went to great heights yesterday to express opposition to plans for a new coal-burning power plant in Israel. Five Greenpeace activists scaled the cables of the Chords Bridge at the entrance to Jerusalem […]
Clinton’s visit came one week before Abu Dhabi hosts its annual World Future Energy Summit. Green Prophet has presented a number of negative assessments of Masdar and Abu Dhabi’s ambitious efforts to build a carbon-free city. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seems to have missed or dismissed these reports. During a visit to Masdar City […]
Our individual efforts to stem global warming seem mighty inconsequential when China is burning billions of tons of coal. As we reflect back on the past year and look forward to a greener 2011, it is tempting to believe that environmental awareness is gradually and inexorably growing, as reflected in recent Green Prophet reports about […]
A pilot program will bring a greener hybrid bus to Israel’s Sharon region. Here’s some good green news for 2011 in Israel: In addition to the thousands of electric cars that Better Place hopes to bring to Israel next year, a hybrid bus will also be tested that offers a 50% reduction in emissions and fuel […]
The annual Zayed Future Energy Prize, named for Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder of modern Abu Dhabi who died in 2004, recognizes pioneering work in the field of renewable energy. Six finalists have been selected from an original pool of nearly 400 nominees for the 2011 Zayed Future Energy Prize. The winner […]
American University in Cairo’s new campus was designed for efficient energy and water usage. Most observers would not think of Egypt as an environmental leader. Instead, the smog and litter of Cairo come to mind, or the negative environmental impact of the Aswan Dam. Yet we recently reported here that Egypt ranks No. 1 in […]
Comet-ME co-founder Elad Orian gets a supportive handshake from Bill Clinton. It is indeed exciting to report on mammoth solar projects, gigantic desalination plants and world-embracing electric car developments, but the Green Prophet – in the spirit of the biblical prophets one might say – also takes special pleasure in sharing news about individuals and communities […]
Arava Power, based in Kibbutz Ketura in southern Israel, is blazing the bureaucratic path for solar fields in Israel. Israel reached a milestone yesterday in its efforts to add a substantial solar component to its electric grid: National Infrastructures Minister Uzi Landau signed the country’s first power purchase agreement (PPA) for solar energy with Ketura […]
This statue by the United Nations HQ in New York City expresses the biblical vision of “beating swords into plowshares.” An Israeli industrial powerhouse is also seeking to transition from military to civilian applications. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Israel’s largest industrial exporter, whose current product mix is 70% military and 30% civilian, is seeking to enter the […]
Alstom, which is providing the trams for the Jerusalem Light Rail project, will invest in Israeli cleantech The French energy company Alstom, which recently acquired a 10% stake in the solar company BrightSource, is embarking on another green project in Israel, TheMarker reported this week. In a joint venture with Rotem Industries (the business arm […]
If all goes as plans, this ibex will be sharing the Negev with three solar power plants at Ashelim. Israel’s Ministry of Finance hosted ten companies last week to present its tender for a 30-megawatt photovoltaic (PV) power plant at the Ashelim site in the Negev desert, the Globes business newspaper reported. The NIS 450 […]
SolFocus CPV receivers will catch some rays in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has taken another step toward integrating solar power into its energy mix: Vision Electro Mechanical Co. (Vision) has signed an MoU with California-based SolFocus to build eight solar power stations in the kingdom, starting with a 130-kilowatt solar plant in the Bahra industrial complex […]
Nimrod Novik of the Merhav Group was not pleased by the frontal attack waged by Delek’s Yoram Turbowitz at an energy conference in Israel this week. The Israel Energy and Business Convention 2010 held this week in Ramat Gan addressed a range of energy-related issues and featured keynote speeches by several government ministers. Of particular […]
A new 100 MW wind energy project is slated for northern Israel. In the wake of the Israeli government’s support for a major wind farm on the Golan Heights, plans are underway for a similar project in the Galilee region, the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported. Measurements in the Galilee indicate that the wind is less […]
A new “crop” of 70 turbines is slated to be planted in the contested Golan Heights. Earlier this year, we reported here about a partnership between the Israeli company Multimatrix and the U.S. energy company AES to build a wind farm on the Golan Heights. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the state’s blessing to […]
This nanoparticle, 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, could star in clean energy applications. Researchers at Hebrew University of Jerusalem have created an artificial nanoparticle that looks like a six-pointed Star of David and offers potential for environmental applications, including use as photocatalysts for separating hydrogen from water to create clean fuel.