Tesla’s electric roadster (above) and Nissan’s LEAF could evade import tax to Lebanon this year. Israel probably thought it was alone in the region with its plans to lift (and then stiff) taxes from hybrids and electric cars until now: Its northern neighbor Lebanon says it will likely do the same. In the 2010 draft […]
A totally redundant and ungreen invention automates Middle East meat cutting. We were fooled by Grist yesterday and the news that McDonald’s meals won’t compost for 1,000 years, but this meat-cutting robot, a donor-robo looks like no joke. Designed by Turkish engineers, your Middle East street meat will never be the same, boast developers of […]
New disturbing news about the McDonald restaurant chains that have found themselves in practically every Middle Eastern country except for Syria and Iran: With plans to set up a worldwide composting program, the Mc-company canned its plans after learning that its food scraps simply will not decompose. Well, not for the next 500 or 1,000 […]
Green Prophet has reported on the research of Dr. Salit Kark a couple of months ago. I went on to interview her, and here’s a story about our conversation and her research that aims to save billions in conservation efforts in the unique Middle East region. An Israeli researcher is playing a leading role in […]
Every day is a beach day in Morocco. In a smart move, the country unveils its plans to solar-ize the nation. Image via joaomaximo Countries in the Arab world are starting to wake up to the potential of solar energy, especially those with no known oil reserves. Morocco is the latest to announce its intentions […]
In terms of green investment, they’ve got the perfect track record: Richard Branson’s Virgin Green Ventures has invested in the fuel-saving tech of GreenRoad. Now Al Gore’s fund. Karin reports. Both average folk and environmentalists wait in earnest for all-electric vehicles like the Nissan LEAF, the Chevy Volt or Israel’s Better Place-Renault car to roll […]
A new study finds that smokers tend to have lower IQs. If you live in the Middle East, like I do, you’ll notice one of the most irritating habits you can’t escape is smoking. Cigarettes, pot, hookah pipe. Either you fight it or join them – something I did after being a virgin non-smoker for […]
A new super-sex protein jock shake “A Breakfast of Champions” for fruit flies and mosquitoes to make them better lovers, and mercenaries of their own race? Writing from the beach in Panama City, Florida during Spring Break this new research from Hebrew U seems to ring true: that “males with the muscle,” get the chicks […]
A large insurance company from Israel invests about $30 milliom in solar energy company Sunday. Image via mcohenchromiste. The sun makes us old and wrinkly, but in Israel getting some “sun” through your pension plan can make you green. Without the possibility of buying green bonds, many Israelis wonder how they can invest in solar […]
A young, ‘green’ peacemaker Ilana Meallem, who first wanted to serve her country in the army, now devotes herself to coexistence and environmental good works. You’ll find her wherever the peacemakers and ecologists roam, at venues like the annual United Religions Initiative Middle East North Africa (MENA) region conference. Today Ilana Muallem is one of […]
Sea levels off Israel’s coast have been rising and falling over the last 2,500 years suggesting that short-term trends of rising sea levels may not necessarily reveal a long-term trend. Researchers around the world are putting their minds together, focusing on both global and local patterns to find symptoms of climate change. Is there going […]
If you were an aspiring actor, it would be like getting an invitation to a wine and cheese Hollywood party with the industry’s top directors. Or an aspiring chef, getting some in-person training with Le Cordon Bleu masters in Paris. If you are an Israeli clean technology entrepreneur in focus areas of renewable energy, water, […]
Projects like Dubai’s “The World” will cause untold damage of shoreline erosion and habitat loss. So do modern ports, threatening endangered species. But there are solutions, says US expert. Coastal waters are evolutionary hotspots, says Jerry Berne, a shoreline expert from the NGO Sustainable Shorelines in the US. Based in Charlotte, NC, USA, Berne is […]
BrightSource gets more than a billion in loan guarantees to shine its solar lights brightly and power California homes. We reported on BrightSource, the solar thermal energy company, and its nearly $1.5 billion in loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy last week. This was the biggest clean tech news in March. I spoke […]
Karin meets Prince Hassan of Jordan at a water security conference in Switzerland last week. It was a meeting of minds, water minds. Water consultants, ambassadors who’ve built water treaties, and government specialists and negotiators from around the Middle East and Europe gathered in Montreux, Switzerland for a two-day workshop on Water Security in the […]
An act of redemption for family sins: Etti Altman co-founder and spokesperson of Let the Animals Live is pushing for anti-fur law she hopes will be passed this February 24. Israel would be the first in the world to ban fur. While fur was in vogue in the 1950s and ’60s and some people still […]
Getting close to his subject: marine biologist Prof. Zvy Dubinsky hopes to understand the changes global warming will cause to the world’s delicate coral reefs. A new EU grant will give the corals a chance. Israeli marine biologist Zvy Dubinksy is worried. Coral reefs all over the world – from the Great Barrier Reef in […]
Karin attends Better Place press conference as company launches its electric car testing facility for the public, in Israel. The sun’s in her eyes as she clutches the door of the new Renault Nissan car. Or maybe she’s blinded by all the excitement? The media gathered outside the old oil storage containers –– a remnant […]
Want to accelerate your solar idea and move more developments into the Middle East? The MENASOL conference in Cairo’s gathering a critical mass of opinion leaders, experts and financing personnel this May. In a part of the world where it can take centuries for there to be something new under the sun, Cairo will be […]
Political extremists launched a boycott campaign targeting Israel last year, pressuring Spain into expelling Ariel University Center (AUC) from the 2010 Solar Decathlon as Green Prophet reported. The Solar Decathlon is an international competition that calls on students in Europe to build a self-sustaining solar house. Ariel’s team was chosen as one of 20 finalists, […]
As a kid who grew up in Canada with natural gas heating, cooking and a natural gas clothes dryer, it’s great news to see that a Canadian company, the Bontan Oil and Gas Company, based in Toronto, has found what could be up to $6 billion dollars worth off natural gas off the coast of […]
Solar energy companies from Israel are expected to be of great interest in Texas. A new meet in February hopes to make matches between solar-strong Israel and wind-strong Texas. Everything is big in the State of Texas. The Stetson hats are big, the oil fields are big, the cars are big, and if state legislators […]
When we think of wind turbines, we tend to picture the standard massive turbine fans the size of airplane wings created by companies like Vestas.
With its year-round sunshine and high temperatures, Eilat and the region are a perfect location for the deployment of alternative energy projects. Here, Aora fires up its sun-focusing flower and solar collectors. While Israel generates numerous headlines as a solar energy innovator, the country still has plans to build additional coal plants, and there’s relatively […]
Partners shake hands on a new seawater-desert biofuel system to be located in Abu Dhabi. This news in from Dubai: The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Boeing [NYSE: BA], Etihad Airways and Honeywell announced at at press conference today that they will establish a major research and demo project in Abu Dhabi dedicated to […]