The Kibbutz Movement celebrated its centenary in 2010, but the last decades of the 20th Century were not kind to Israel’s collective settlements. The shift in Israel’s economy, politics and society beginning in the late 70s stripped the kibbutzim of their status and pioneering role, and brought harsh economic realities to their doorsteps. Being the pioneer elite for Zionism was no longer enough; kibbutzim were now required to pay their own way as well.

The patient has now stabilised, but in many cases this has meant kibbutzim having to abandon their socialist ideals and privatise their internal economies. While kibbutzim still offer an attractive lifestyle, based on their bucolic setting and community orientation, they have not managed to regain their sense of mission and purpose and leadership role in Israeli society. They are moving into the business of clean tech, Bloomberg reports.

There are signs, however, that the cleantech sector could become the engine that drives a revival, both of the kibbutz economy and of its status within Israeli society and the Green movement globally. The cleantech sector offers the benefits of profitability plus altruism, dividends plus saving the planet (or at least making parts of it a better place to live or work).

While the allure of socialism has waned, the kibbutz itself still has much to offer. If kibbutzim are to survive and thrive, though, the movement needs a new sense of purpose, a new vision and new markets. Cleantech may well provide those ingredients.

“The partnership works well for both sides,” said Eliezer Tokman, chief executive officer of Siemens Israel in the Bloomberg report. “The guys at Arava are the entrepreneurs. They initiate projects and deal with regulation, and we design, build and maintain the projects.”

See video on Arava Power’s Yosef I. Abramowitz below:

Think this may be stretching things a bit? Have a look at this list of familiar Israeli cleantech enterprises, all featured on Green Prophet. As well as Israel and cleantech, they all have something else in common; a healthy kibbutz upbringing!

• Amiad
• Arad Group
• Arava Power
• Bio-Bee
• Car2go
• Chromagen
• Netafim
• Sunday Energy

::Israel’s Kibbutz Collectives Find New Purpose in Green Ventures – Bloomberg

Further reading on Israeli kibbutzim:
5 Must-See Green & Tech Travel Stops at Israeli Kibbutzes
Israel’s cleantech kibbutzim pioneers

Image credit: Uriel Sinai/Bloomberg Businessweek

The post Israel's Kibbutzim: Renewal through Cleantech? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Yavne, in Israel’s Central District, was briefly home to ancient Israel’s Sanhedrin (its highest rabbinical assembly). The town of 32,000 can also claim to be the original home of Ormat Technologies, Inc, now a multinational listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ORA) and headquartered in Reno, Nevada. Ormat has been around for the last 40 years, and has a market capitalisation of $2 billion and annual revenues of $250 million.

Ormat specialises in building power stations fuelled by renewable geothermal energy. This energy emanates ultimately from the Earth’s molten core, and it’s the “renewable” part of the equation that has driven Ormat’s recent growth. Ormat owns and operates a dozen geothermal energy power plants worldwide, with another eight or so under development. By their nature, the plants tend to be located in geyser and volcano-rich areas.

What does this have to do with Alaska?  Ormat leased some 36,000 acres of Federal land in Alaska back in 2008, but has carried out only exploratory work until now. With Alaska just having reformed its geothermal energy royalties system, it has now become financially viable to begin core drilling, leading up to actual development and construction at the site.

The changes to the royalties system mean that, instead of handing over 10-15 percent of gross revenues as royalties, companies such as Ormat will pay only 1.75% for the first 10 years of the project and 3.75% for its remaining life. Construction of the Alaska plant should take about 3 years.

Alaska is believed to have substantial potential for geothermal energy. The Ormat plant alone is expected to supply one-thrid of the electricity requirements of south central Alaska, which currently relies on an almost-depleted supply of natural gas from Cook Inlet.

With the world steadily waking up to the real costs of energy based on non-renewable fossil fuels – both to our economies and to the planet – the future for geothermal energy and Ormat looks bright.

::Ormat is Ready: New Law Sets Stage for Development of Alaska’s Geothermal Resources

Further reading on Ormat:
Ormat gears up to develop its first geothermal plant in Alaska
Ormat Technologies: Heating Up the Geothermal Landscape
Ormat Industries – Israeli energy pioneer
Israel’s Ormat makes clean fuel that is good to go

Ormat Technologies Inc. website

Above image:  An Ormat geothermal power plant in Nevada (via Ormat Technologies)

The post Ormat Set to Release Alaska's Geothermal Energy Potential appeared first on Green Prophet.

On the one hand, Zionism was initially very much a “back to the land” movement, in the European Romantic tradition. Trees were being planted in Palestine as early as 1901, there was a strong emphasis on agriculture and “redemption of the land”, and communal settlements blossomed.

There is no doubt, however, that the growth of the Yishuv –– Jewish community in Palestine –– also put a huge strain on the country’s environment and natural resources, especially post-1948. The emphasis was on the huge challenges of defence and security, development, absorption of immigrants and building the state. Given this mixed record, it would probably be fair to say that the founding fathers mostly followed the best practices of their day, but those practices would not pass our Green scrutiny today.

Concern for the environment in Israel has grown exponentially in the last couple of decades, to the point where the Green movement in Israel has almost caught up to its Western counterparts.

The legacy Zionist bodies: the World Zionist Organisation (WZO), the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and the Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), though, have lagged behind somewhat when it comes to Green thought and action. The Green Zionist Alliance (GZA), with the resolutions it is proposing for the 36th World Zionist Congress happening June 15-17 in Jerusalem, is out to change all that!

While its resolutions at the 2006 congress were somewhat cautious, those for 2010 are much bolder and require the three bodies to thoroughly green their own premises, activities, governance and congresses.

The most significant of the resolutions, however, call for the further transformation of the KKL-JNF, turning it into a “Green leader” by means of the following proposals:

Making Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael / Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) a green leader

BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED THAT the Congress recommends that Zionist representatives on the board of KKL seek to influence KKL to:

1. Increase funding for environmental research, river restoration, sustainable development and academic studies on environmental issues.
2. Develop a sustainable-business incubation division whose purpose is to serve as an incubator for new Israeli companies specializing in green technologies and/or sustainable business practices. The KKL would provide funding, guidance and help with developing the new technologies and practices.
3. Implement and develop new environmental ideas and technologies, such as constructed wetlands and decentralized grey-water systems to maximize the country’s water resources; vertical farms, roof gardens and urban agriculture to more efficiently manage land and provide jobs and locally grown produce to city centers; and construction-material reuse facilities to help construction debris be reused instead of trashed.
4. Work with small farmers and communities to develop mutually beneficial relationships such as CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) programs in order to help ensure that all Israelis have access to healthy and nutritious food.
5. Ensure that the funding that the organization uses to financially support agricultural research is dedicated to sustainable farming practices.
6. Establish and maintain a seed bank and a gene bank of animal, plant, fungal and bacterial species indigenous to Israel.

The GZA is also proposing another half-dozen or so resolutions concerned with Greening the activities of the three bodies referred to (WZO, JAFI and KKL-JNF)

• Saving water and energy. Mandates the use of energy-efficient lighting and vehicles, and the use of solar panels and rainwater saving systems on premises.
• Abating climate change. Calls for carbon offsetting for delegates’ and other travel and a reduce, recycle, compost regime at congresses.
• Integrating immigrants into Israeli society. Will make the environment and sustainability part of the agenda and experience at JAFI absorption centres, including the growing of fruit and vegetables.
• Food justice. Congresses will be required to support small, local food producers and sustainable farming practices, reduce meat consumption and require meat slaughtered in a kosher, ethical and humane way.
• JNF governance. The paid posts of World Co-Chair and Deputy World Co-Chair would be eliminated and the savings applied elsewhere.
• Dor Chadash. 15% of all slates should be filled by those aged 31-45.

The full text of the proposed resolutions is well worth reading, and the GZA Website outlines a variety of ways to help accelerate the Greening of Zionism.

::Take Action

More articles on Green Zionism:
Green Zionism May Change Israel’s Pioneering Spirit
Meet Noam Dolgin of the Green Zionist Alliance
Plant a Tree for Jewish Earth Day

The post Green Zionist Alliance (GZA) – Bold Resolutions for 36th World Zionist Congress appeared first on Green Prophet.

Israel is, to all intents and purposes, a “desert island’, with finite – very finite – natural resources. Not your romantic desert island, and not an island geographically, but rather politically. Not a desert entirely, but dominated by arid lands, and with much of the rest what might be considered recovering or rehabilitated. Some of that is again under threat from various forces, mainly driven by economic and political factors, population growth and lifestyle.

So, while there have been few serious proposals for converting Israeli agricultural production to bio-fuel crop production, would it in theory make sense to ever do so?

Not if one applies the understandings shared by noted German economist Hans Werner Sinn in this Jerusalem Post article. The president of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research was visiting Israel last week to give the D.B. Doran Lecture on Population, Resources and Development at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem lecturing about the problems of land use for biofuel.

According to Sinn:

In much of the world, bio-fuels are produced from food crops using vast amounts of land, Sinn explained, which means that energy and food are now competing for the same space and resources. That hasn’t happened since the Middle Ages, when energy meant horses to ride or pull things, and they needed hay to eat.

The Industrial Revolution introduced coal as an energy source and freed up land to be planted for food. The major population boom that occurred in the years since can be traced to that shift. At the dawn of the industrial age, there were approximately 600 million people in the world, he said.

“And now there are seven billion, which means that linking the cost of energy and the cost of food is much more problematic. Food riots in 2007 and 2008 can be attributed to the rapid increase in bio-fuel production, particularly in America,” he told the Post.

[…]

“If one would replace just the energy needed for transportation, which is one fifth of the energy man uses, we would need the total acreage of the world planted as bio-fuel crops,” he pointed out.

Referring specifically to Israel, the article concluded:

Israeli scientists are working on energy crops that are not food crops and that can thrive on marginal land. While Israel still lacks the great swaths of land needed to grow energy crops, the technology will be marketed worldwide.

Given the momentum behind the conversion to bio-fuels, perhaps it’s time for Israel to draw up a set of “acceptable use” guidelines for production, e.g.:

• Prime agricultural land not to be used for bio-fuel production, which should instead be limited to marginal lands
• Crops should not be water intensive, i.e. require irrigation (no field crops)
• Make use of agricultural waste, where this cannot be returned to the land
• Focus on innovative technologies. Think algae rather than fibre or bulk.

At a more philosophical level, we need to get away from the mindset (driven by the oil or energy industry) that energy consumption will continue at existing or higher levels, and that this insatiable demand needs to be met somehow. Instead, we should focus on energy conservation (both active and passive, e.g. green building technologies), truly renewable energy sources and a massive shift away from private to public transport. In a nutshell, shifting to simply living in a more sustainable way; supporting the changes that millions of individuals, companies and (especially) the lower tiers of government worldwide have begun making in their lives and day-to-day operations.

The “desert island” need not and should not become a factory farm for producing bio-fuel.

Photo:www.seambiotic.com

:: Top economist: Bio-fuels may lead to land shortages

Read more on biofuel:

Kaiima Doubles Chromosomes To Make More Plant Power
Biofuels Spark Regional Cooperation Between Israel, Palestinians and Germany
Algae Into Biofuel a Greener Story In $10 Million Joint Israeli and Chinese Project
German Firm to Invest in Green Israeli Jet Fuel From Algae

The post The Limits of Growing Biofuel Crops on a Desert Island appeared first on Green Prophet.

Solar energy has traditionally been a land or “area-intensive” form of alternative energy. Solar energy generation required massive, land-hungry solar power farms in order to compete with conventional equivalents, or large areas of roof space to accommodate photovoltaic panels that were not known for their efficiency at converting sunlight.

This requirement for extensive areas of roof space left the inhabitants of high-rise apartment building out in the cold, so to speak.

A joint venture between Israeli start-up Tigo Energy Ltd and US-based Architectural Glass & Aluminum Company Inc. (AGA) will eventually offer apartment dwellers the opportunity to reduce their green footprint by making solar energy technology more widely available for this difficult environment.Although not spelled out in the press releases and other media coverage, it appears that the apartments’ windows and other external glass surfaces will become the buildings’ solar receptors.

As well as allowing residents to reduce their draw on the power grid, it may also give the most energy-thrifty the ability to feed their excess back into the grid.

According to Globes:

The project is important, because until now there have been no mass market solar energy solutions, but only for industrial, commercial, and public buildings, as well as for owners of large tracts of land or farming communities. People who live in apartment buildings have not been able to participate in the new energy world, which is based in large part on solar infrastructures. If the Tigo-AGA project succeeds, apartment residents will also be able to generate solar energy, with its inherent benefits (the sale of electricity to the national grid at higher than normal prices).

Like all good joint ventures, the one between Tigo and AGA allows the partners to bring their strengths to the relationship, with AGA supplying the glass and silicon coatings for the photovoltaic panels, while Tigo will supply the electronics that turn the glass into solar receptors. The possibilities of the venture have been recognised by others:

The venture obtained a grant from the US Department of Energy and Israel-United States Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD-F). Tigo’s flagship product, the Energy Maximizer System will be integrated into solar panels used by AGA, a leading US glazing contractor for glass and aluminum buildings.

In order to be the liberating technology it was intended to be, solar energy needs to be freed up from the demand for land-hungry solar power farms. Each building or structure should ideally generate sufficient power through renewable energy sources to cover all except peak needs, and feed any excess back into the grid. Joint ventures such as the one between Tigo and AGA may help to make this a real possibility.

Tigo Energy has headlined on the pages of Green Prophet several times:

Tigo Solar Energy Secures A $10 Million Investment
Solar Company Tigo Energy Announces Key Distribution Partner in US
Tigo Energy’s Solar Solution Monitors Power From The Sun

Company websites:

Tigo Energy
AGA Architectural Glass & Aluminum

Coverage of the JV originally appeared in Globes, but the full article is no longer available online.  The piece can instead be viewed on DailyMe.com.

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