Could a united Kurdistan mean a victory for the peoples’ natural resources: energy, and mighty rivers? Against the backdrop of the civil war raging in Syria, Syrian Kurds are moving towards self-rule. The Syrian government has relinquished many Kurdish communities to local control. Kurdish flags fly over former government buildings in northeastern Syria. Many new […]
 “We’re one of the most environmentally friendly cities in Israel,” says Kfar Saba mayor Yehuda Ben Hamo. In Israel, each municipality raises a Jewish holiday temporary tent called a succah for the benefit of local workers and visitors. This year, the very first succah illuminated by solar energy will go up in the central-region […]
Dozens of protestors gathered in Tel Aviv‘s Rabin Square last Saturday night as Daylight Saving Time (DST) was set to end. They claimed Israel’s policy of ending DST prior to Yom Kippur favors the ultra-Orthodox sector of the population over practical interests of the secular and modern Orthodox majority. Their switch to winter time happens […]
Where’s a charger when you need one? My device-addicted household is always running short on chargers for cell phones and laptops and iPods. I plug in my phone and come back to find it’s migrated to someone’s Kindle. What’s the impact of all this techno-juicing on the environment? A co-worker just nabbed the coolest birthday gift: the […]
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights have condemned fracking by Shell, Apache and Dana Petroleum in Egypt as dangerous and called for an immediate end to the practice Fracking has faced criticism worldwide due to concerns that it contaminates drinking water and triggers earthquakes. Now, Egyptians have launched a campaign against Shell’s hydraulic fracturing operations […]
‘The Middle East must stay stable or else the world will face impending economic and ecological doom’ – debunking the myth My day job requires I read a lot on the Middle East and the environment – from the perspective of economists, environmentalists, political leaders, civil society and also a lot of commentary coming the […]
Does placing Israel in the same camp as the anti-nuclear movement in Jordan have negative implications for the success and popularity of the campaign? Since 2009, when Jordan first announced its nuclear ambitions, the country has been through a parliamentary review of nuclear power, accusations of slander by the head of the Jordanian Atomic Energy Commission and dozens of  protests […]
Despite its vast solar and wind energy potential, Turkey’s renewable resources have only been developed in small pockets of the country, such as the windy Aegean island of Bozcaada (pictured above). With European countries having already tapped most of their low-hanging renewable energy development opportunities, Turkey is perfectly poised to become the new renewable energy […]
According to a 150-page report by Citigroup, Saudi Arabian oil could dry up as early as 2030 which is a lot sooner than previously thought The high consumption of oil in the Gulf nations for air-conditioning and desalination means that oil wells are likely to run dry a lot sooner than expected. That’s the news […]
Defying the Iraqi central government, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has begun selling gas directly to Turkey. Crude oil sales will also begin soon. Five tankers crossed the border from the KRG into Turkey in July, marking the first exchange of oil or gas between the two governments. The trade was just a harbinger of […]
Israel’s research labs such as National Solar Energy Center,  Grand Technion Energy Program (GTEP) and companies such as Zenith Solar and Arava Power Systems are developing advanced solar energy technology which is nearly cost-competitive with fossil fuels. Israel’s solar technology has been used in places as far away as Australia and China.  Combine this […]
The news that the American University of Cairo (AUC) would be the first from North Africa or the Middle East to participate in a US Department of Energy-sponsored Solar Decathlon competition was a source of great pride for all design and environment enthusiasts in our region.
Activists gathered on the streets of Amman today to say ‘No’ to nuclear energy and ‘Yes’ to renewables Following years of anti-nuclear campaigning and (more recent) controversy surrounding Jordan’s nuclear programme, Greenpeace activists in Jordan are stepping up their protests. They gathered today to launch a public dialogue about the dangers of nuclear energy and to […]
Rising international petroleum prices are bad news for Turkey, which imports 90 percent of the oil it consumes. Turkey’s dependence on imported oil has already been key in creating its $86.6 billion current account deficit, and will continue to hold the country back from reaching its full growth potential, according to analysts from three major […]
On August 9th an electrical power outage hit people in parts of Cairo. This happened only ten days after India’s massive blackout grew to cover 22 northern states and impacted 600 million people. Both outages snarled traffic, stopped trains and turned off the lights for millions of people. But they also shared a common cause. When […]