We speak to Karim Elgendy, founder of the Middle East sustainability initiative ‘Carboun’ about what motivates his work and why green ratings for buildings aren’t a silver bullet Last month, Carboun an advocacy initiative promoting sustainability in the Middle East celebrated its second anniversary. Headed by Karim Elgendy they have certainly come a long way in very […]
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 […]
Egyptians researchers believe that sugar beets like those pictured above can help to clear the country’s stockpile of land mines. 20% of the world’s land mines are planted in Egypt, where they have killed or maimed a total of more than 7,000 people in the last 25 years. They are scattered in the western desert […]
Water from air! AC water conversion and treatment unit illustration. Photo: Watergen Ltd A while ago I wrote about the possibility of creating drinking or agricultural usage water from the cooling coil condensation from air conditioners. This idea has been around for years, and has in the past been met with more than its share of […]
People who live in Mideastern coastal cities might understand the despair expressed in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner: “Water, water every where, and nor any drop to drink.” The poem details the effects of saltwater and thirst on marooned sailors. The ancient mariner hangs an albatross around his neck as an act […]
A town in the Jezreel Valley, Israel prefers its weather sunny, and not only for clear blue skies and golden sunshine. Over 70 percent of the rooftops in Ram-On, a small picturesque town in Israel’s north, are covered in Germany-based Aleo Solar photovoltaic panels for a total capacity of 1,250 kW that both powers the town […]
Israel’s vast and dry southern Negev desert may actually help the country go green and just in time for the country’s 2020 10% renewables goal. At the Eilat-Eilot Forum for Renewable Energy Policy last week, energy experts discussed a recent report, still in draft form, of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, called Cleantech […]
This machine cleans waste water and generates energy at the same time. Researchers from Pennsylvania State University have developed technology that treats waste water and generates energy at the same time – two priorities for Middle Eastern municipalities. Combining Reverse Electrodialysis (RED) technology developed in the Netherlands and Norway, which harvests energy where fresh water […]
Israel tops the global clean tech charts once again! A recent report compiled by Cleantech Group and the World Wildlife Fund shows that Israel is only behind Denmark in terms of its clean tech prowess. The tiny country beat out Sweden, Finland, the United States and other leading national innovators. Called “Coming Clean: The Global Cleantech […]
10,000 years after inventing agriculture, will we 7 billion take this strange next step?
Do you keep a covered bucket in the kitchen for the organic garbage? If you do, you know only too well how awful it can smell. Hamamit, an Israeli supplier of greenhouses and composters, offers an odor-free home composter that turns kitchen scraps into dry compost in 18 hours.
Two fertilizer companies are funding R&D of cutting edge agricultural and energy innovations at a new pilot plant in Qatar. The Sahara Forest Project was borne out of a dire necessity to ensure the long term survival of residents living in the Middle East’s desert regions. 60 People from 12 countries have contributed research to […]
A solar-powered goat farm in Lebanon now enjoys clean energy around the clock while the rest of the country sits in darkness for up to 18 hours a day. Hasan Istaytiyyah was lucky to have six hours of state-run energy a day before he decided to install a solar photovoltaic system and ditch his dirty […]
Smart sockets explained. Lewis Strauss, Chairman of the US Atomic Energy Commission said this to a group of science writers in 1954: “Our children will enjoy in their homes electrical energy too cheap to meter…” While this comment is often given as an example of overly-optimistic technological predictions, electricity is incredibly inexpensive. Just look at […]
Sweat and Sahara sand had forced my eyes closed so that, even as I stood in front of one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, I saw nothing. My eyelids were a back-lit sandy-orange in the sun’s glare. I pried them open and squinted up at the shapes the pharaohs and their slaves had […]
The Stars of Science reality TV show would be so much more exciting if it spurred sustainable ideas. Perhaps we shouldn’t begrudge the Arab World’s first serious reality TV show, particularly since Stars of Science was designed to encourage more youth in the region to pursue science and technology. But it’s hard to turn a […]
Dubai-based couple develop proven green technologies guide for like-minded architects. There are more than 60 proven ways to harvest nature’s power and convert it into clean, renewable energy, but knowing where to find information about these various applications isn’t always so easy. Enter Robert Ferry and Elizabeth Monoian from the Land Art Generator Initiative. The […]
Palestinians living in Masafer Yatta who do not have access to the electrical grid have been developing home grown renewable energy plants. Palestinians living in the Masafer Yatta village have been secretly pursuing wind and solar energy projects in order to mitigate a serious shortfall of energy in the village. But the 150,000 residents that […]
MIT researchers say that soon all we’ll need to harvest our vast solar resource is grass and stabilizing powder. While Masdar and Suntech and other solar energy projects are laboring under expensive, high-tech materials in order to improve their energy-absorbing capability, MIT researchers in the United States are taking a different approach. They realized that […]
Oxygen aerators at Israel’s IDF Nevatim Air Force Base are purifying sewage water for irrigation use. Photo: Trlabarge/Wikipedia Many modern armies are now practicing clean technology by using equipment run on solar energy. This also holds true for the Israeli Defense Forces known as the IDF which aims to be greener. One of the prime issues […]
Making alcohol from sugars is easy; maybe the third oldest profession in the world. Making butanol from zebra droppings is another story. Processors have made ethanol from cornstarch and sugar for decades, but using food products to make biofuel raises demand for staple commodities like corn and seed oils with disastrous impact to the food […]
Crystal Lagoons has developed an alternative cooling and energy harvesting system for power plants that doesn’t require the use of seawater. Gulf countries that lack freshwater resources rely deeply on seawater desalination to meet their daily needs and cool down thermal generation plants. According to Gulf News, the United Arab Emirates alone uses four trillion litres […]
In just six hours, the deserts receive more energy from the sun than humankind produces in a year, and Desertec is harnessing it. Right now hundreds of people are gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland making the same kind of noises about the security of our future as the suits at COP […]
Better Place Renault Fluence electric cars hit the road on way to customers After more than four years in the making, media reports and hype, visits to the Better Place Education and Test Drive Center and final delivery prices, Better Place Renault Fluence ZE electric cars are finally on their way to purchasers in Israel. […]
Ziad Tassabehji is one of the most influential men in the new green Middle East. Until now he’s kept pretty quiet about his involvement in Masdar. He came from the dot-com market with a boom and a bust, but in the Arab world. Ziad Tassabehji (pictured above with his son) has always been an entrepreneur […]