GreenFuel, a US algae-to-biofuel business founded by Israeli Isaac Berzin more than 10 years ago, most likely failed because it was a bit ahead of the zeitgeist. Hoping to reach the market when the product and timing is right, the young Israeli company Univerve plans to turn algae — the green slimy microorganisms you skim […]
Project Interchange attendees Brian Wynn and Stephen Walz tour Ashkelon Desalination plant with Israel Desalination Chairman Abraham Tenne. Advances in green technology are reported here often, including advances in solar energy, electric car technology and green bio-fuel from algae for future military and space programs. Interest in Israeli green technology programs came to the forefront […]
Pilot Andre Borschberg was forced to fly the Solar Impulse back to Rabat when turbulence made it impossible to cross the Atlas Mountains in southern Morocco on June 14, 2012. But yesterday’s second attempt was finally successful, and the team was welcomed in Ouarzazate by a jubilant crowd. The 683 km journey was completed in 17 hours […]
Last Wednesday in Munich, Germany, Israeli solar energy company TIGI Ltd. was among the three winners in the solar-thermal category at the Intersolar Europe Exhibition, an annual forum promoting solar technologies since 1991. Despite the fact that it is located in the Middle East, Israel is often included in Europe’s competitions and showcases, as with […]
After 12 years of finalizing details and garnering institutional support for his deeply ambitious ocean-going research vessel, Jacques Rougerie has announced that construction on the SeaOrbiter is slated to begin in October. Currently the center of attention at France’s Expo 2012 exhibit in Yeosu, South Korea, the $43 million vessel will also be the world’s […]
Measuring sea levels in the face of global warming isn’t easy, but it’s important to understand on a global scale Can wasted water contribute to rising sea levels? The answer is a global climate mystery. Given the known increase in average global temperatures, the thermal expansion coefficient of water and the known loss of polar ice, […]
Paint researchers at University of Notre Dame go green, and not just ‘cause they’re the “Fighting Irish” A team of scientists and engineers led by Professor Prashant Kamat is generating energy from solar paint. Building on recent advances in semiconductor nanocrystal research, they’ve developed a one-coat solar paint for designing quantum dot solar cells. Energy […]
Greenearth energy looks to Israeli solar tech to make use of Oz’s vast brown coal resources. With the climate change tipping point precipitously close, an Israeli-Australian venture will use solar technology to mitigate the greenhouse gases from coal in Australia. Developed at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel the new venture will reduce carbon […]
In 2009, Lebanon pledged to produce 12% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020- is this target optimistic today? Renewables are becoming an important source of discussion in the Middle East, as it should. Vestas estimates renewables accounts for only 0.2 % of power production in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), an […]
Residents of the artificial Jumeirah Island villas in Dubai face cooling bills of up to $1,600 a month – almost double last year’s price, according to The National. So British national and long-time Dubai resident Tony Caden decided to install an array of 38 solar panels and a giant 20 tonne chiller. Now completely independent […]
Jordan has supported a parliamentary committee recommendation to suspend Jordan’s projected nuclear programme It’s certainly been a busy week for Khaled Toukan who is commissioner of the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission. First, a parliamentary committee releases a report which states that he misled the public about the feasibility of uranium mining in Jordan and that […]
The World Wildlife Fund and the Cleantech Group recently published a report saying that Israel is the second best place in the world to develop green technologies, second only to Denmark. Israel has long been a major exporter of such innovations, a leading developer of water-saving technology, such as its agricultural inventions, and solar power. Now Israel is starting to […]
Last week Kibbutz Naan sold 50 percent of its stake in the irrigation technology company NaanDanJain Irrigation Ltd. to its Indian business partner, Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd. Representatives from both groups met in Tel Aviv for the Agritech 2012 Conference and Exhibition in Israel. The joint company currently employs 120 workers at Kibbutz Naan. Jain […]
Jordan’s mobile phone users will soon receive SMS tips on smart water use. It’s part of a public awareness campaign to alert Jordanians to the vital need to protect against pollution and reduce water consumption. (Well, at least alert Jordanians with cell phones, or more accurately, those with cell phones and contracts with the Zain […]
Women in rural Morocco are often responsible for the grueling task of trekking miles to collect fuel for cooking, which requires not only energy but also time that might have been used developing or applying other skills. Lacking access to natural gas, these villagers have had no choice but to burn biomass to produce the […]
Biomimicry is one of the smartest contemporary approaches to design, so it was inevitable that Israeli researchers would apply this science to their military designs. Like the Iranian home that mimics a snail’s form in order to stay cool and a bottle inspired by the Namib desert beetle that can harvest water in one of the […]
Shining a light on energy consumption. What if industrial building managers could see exactly how much energy their building is using, where in the building that energy is going, and how much it is costing them at every moment to use that energy? How much energy could be saved? One Israeli company is bringing a […]
A dynamic young Egyptian firm has won an $11,000 innovation prize for an off-grid, solar-powered water pump. Judges of the first HCT-Wharton Innovation Tournament held last week in Abu Dhabi were impressed by KarmSolar because their design could easily have a high impact on great numbers of people, reduce dependency on diesel, and it would […]
Two Israeli women founded TIPA – the first company in Israel to offer 100% biodegradable and recyclable beverage packaging, which is a particularly difficult feat to achieve. Daphna Nissenbaum and Tal Neuman founded the company in 2010 in order to address the dire need for packaging that is genuinely ecologically-sensitive. And so far, they have […]
Palmaculture is a new name for an old concept – one which helped green the Middle East with traditional palm gardens called bustans For centuries now date palm groves have been present in the hot deserts of MENA stretching from Morocco in the west to Yemen in the south. Indeed these man-made ecosystems have been […]
Israel and China seem to be agreeing on more and more these days. On Tuesday, investors from the two countries announced they would be jointly funding a new solar thermal venture in Israel’s Negev Desert, the HelioBooster, Jerusalem Post reported. Still in its demonstration phase, the technology was created by Israeli solar company, HelioFocus, which–since its […]
The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, has featured several times in Green Prophet for developing cleaner chemical derivatives, research on rising red sea surface water temperatures and predicting flash floods , and for its Eco friendly architecture . But KAUSTs scientific research potentials are also partially leveraged due to its unique […]
Twelve new UAE graduates have been employed to work with the Masdar Institute. In 2010, Emiratis made up only 13% of their own country’s population. The oil industry and Dubai’s construction boom attracted millions of foreigners, including Indian laborers that just two years ago comprised a whopping 50% of the population, resulting in a tragic […]
Researchers in Israel have developed a new green plastic for irrigation pipes Drip irrigation is currently one of the most effective ways for farmers and gardeners to save water. But the method relies on plastic pipes and routinely creates non-recyclable waste. Recently Israeli scientists and professors from the Plastics Engineering department of Shenkar Art School […]
Like Egypt, Israel, and Jordan, Lebanon has been beset with energy shortages recently – a crisis that will escalate as demand grows alongside an ever-expanding population. Sidestepping these constraints and taking advantage of almost year-round sunshine, the Transportation Ministry has installed 766 solar-powered street lights on a 10km stretch of relatively unpolluted highway in Hermel. […]