IKEA’s Blue and Yellow Also Has a Green Face

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IKEA Israel’s Blue-Yellow buildings also have a green policy IKEA’s blue and yellow store motifs have become familiar to households all over the world, including the Middle East with stores in Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. IKEA’s Israel stores have been serving the public since 2001, and have introduced environmental policies into both […]

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Has Israel Become a Petrostate?

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Why does Israel so lag Arab neighbors like Morocco and Egypt in its renewable energy production? I do not understand how the nation that invented CSP solar thermal - the solar energy that now powers much of the worlds gigantic utility-scale solar plants - can be just now announcing some tiny 35 MW solar project as its "largest ever!" - and Spain's Solaer group that is supposedly to build it; doesn't even have a website - when Morocco is building its first 500 MW plant with international energy giant Siemens. Can anyone tell me what's going on? I have never lived in the Middle East region, unlike the rest of the local bloggers here at GreenProphet - perhaps I'm missing something that is rather obvious to the rest of you. In the US, only our fossil states are as backward in renewable energy development.

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Syria’s Organic Food Market Ripe for Exports to Europe

With farming traditions that are already “organic”, embattled Syria can easily become an important organic food producer, based on climate, practices and location to Europe. This past January President Bashar Assad issued Legislative Decree No. 12 for 2012 related to organic farming in Syria. The decree aims at laying the foundation for developing organic production […]

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Thirsty Gulf Country Quits Exports of Precious Groundwater

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Abu Dhabi will no longer be sharing their precious groundwater. Dubai’s water scarce neighbor Abu Dhabi recently announced that it has banned all groundwater exports, Gulf News reports. Established yesterday at a Ministerial Service Council meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the ban will keep […]

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Israel and Palestine: The Place of Politics In The Mideast’s Environment

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Do you feel that the politics behind environmental issues in Israel-Palestine are being sidelined?  A couple of weeks ago, Green Prophet reported on the news that Israelis and Palestinians were working together to build a restorative eco-park. It was a relatively feel-good piece showing that despite the political conflict, joint projects could be useful in […]

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Iran’s Energy Minister Looks to Green Energy After Sanctions

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Sanctions have backed fossil-rich Iran into a corner, which could bode well for the country’s renewable sector.  The western-led sanctions against Iran have crippled the country’s ability to provide for its 74 million strong population, Reuters reports. Food prices have skyrocketed and many ships holding supplies are waiting for payment before allowing Iran to collect […]

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World Bank to Fill in till Global Climate Deal?

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The funding for many of the great renewable energy projects within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and other developing regions, will continue to be directed via the World Bank, Reuters reports. The funds support projects which cut climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions in developing nations under the EU’s cap & trade law, and is […]

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Israel’s Bedouin Get Solar from Arava (+ Obama)

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Arava Power Company pioneers first ever solar contract for Israel’s Bedouin minority The first-ever license for a solar project has been awarded this week to Israel’s bedouin community by Israel’s Public Utility Authority. Yosef Abramowitz of Arava Power Company promoted and led the solar project, to make a solar energy dream come true for Bedouin living […]

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EU’s Planned Nabucco Gas Pipeline To Be Displaced By Russian Project

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The Nabucco natural gas pipeline (in orange) was designed to lessen eastern Europe’s dependence on Russia’s sometimes unreliable gas supply. But Russia’s South Stream pipeline project (in blue) now seems more likely to be built.  A 2,400-mile pipeline transporting 30 million cubic meters from central Asia to Austria each year. That was the plan when […]

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