Imagine if passing through airport security could be as pleasant as a stroll through a park. Scientist June Medford is working to harness the innate sensing abilities of plants, genetically engineering them into lean, green bomb-and-drug detecting machines. Medford is a “synthetic biologist” (not to imply she’s artificial, but to clarify that she dabbles in the re-design […]
Lego announced a break in its 50-year partnership with Royal Dutch Shell, a split sparked by an anti-Arctic drilling video produced by environmental activists Greenpeace. The clip – which capitalized on our love for Lego building block toys – went viral on YouTube with over 6 million hits. It incited a million email complaints to the toy maker […]
Is it better to plunk dirty dinner plates into the automatic washer, or go retro and wash them by hand? The spouse thinks it wiser (and greener) to clean messes as they occur. I like how the dishwasher lets me defer. He says his way saves water. I know mine saves time. We’ve argued this for […]
Last year, Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg became the first pilots to fly across America in a featherweight plane fueled only by the sun. The Swiss duo now plans to circumnavigate the world in a next-generation solar aircraft named the Solar Impulse 2. The March 2015 flight will start and finish in Abu Dhabi.
Is there a chance of a “flip flop” reversal in the earth’s magnetic poles? Scientists have noticed some changes in the earth’s magnetic field suggesting a pole reversal could happen any day now – well, in the next 2,000 years. But if this happens, how will it affect life on earth? How will the polar magnetic […]
Nobel Prize-winning retired archbishop Desmond Tutu, long-time environmental advocate, just released a powerful video urging world leaders arriving in New York City for this year’s UN Climate Summit to “move beyond the fossil fuel era.”
Free from UV light, mercury and pollutants LED lights can also save you up to 90% of the energy used by regular halogen light bulbs. But to get the most out of LED lights you need to pick the right ones for the right conditions – outside or in – hallways or rooms. Go through […]
The Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy Initiative announced yesterday that a tender will be issued to set up and operate the Timna Solar Park, a new 50 Megawatt PV Tracker solar energy field in southern Israel. This is expected to be the first phase of a 170MW project.
IRENA, the global renewable energy consortia with its headquarters in Abu Dhabi believes that though the clock of climate change is ticking, we still have time to avert global catastrophes. Speeding up the adoption of renewable energy technologies is the most feasible route to reduce carbon emissions and avoid catastrophic climate change, says a new […]
An energy-efficient house in Barwa City, Qatar will be put through its paces to see if it can perform to computer-modeled expectations. We first visited the idea of Passivhaus in 2012, but much has progressed in making a new energy efficient standard green building for hot climates.
If you have been looking for ways to cut down on your energy spending while contributing to salvaging the environment, the government has offered you an opportunity with its Feed-In tariffs (FIT) scheme.
Are you tired of seeing the same old giant wind turbines in a field or offshore? And do you worry about their impact on migrating birds? Hooman Tahvildar Akbary from Iran has a solution that is both super efficient and beautiful.
Here is a cautionary tale of two very different countries which once shared a similar water use philosophy and usage patterns. The right photo is in Jordan’s Wadi-Rum desert. The forest on the left is in Ireland.
Sunni fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) took over Iraq’s largest hydroelectric dam last Sunday, along with three towns and an oilfield according to the commander of the Peshmerga Kurdish fighters who had been defending the facility. Facing minimal opposition, ISIS seized control of Mosul Dam after a 24-hour battle. Workers remain […]
In 2011, scientists warned that giant plumes of methane gas could fast-track planetary warming. And now – a version of this prediction has come to pass in Siberia. Despite being at the “ends of the Earth,” Yamal Peninsula’s three methane craters contain a cautionary tale for us all.
To date the most efficient way of making solar cells is using silicon. Now a team of scientists at the University of Sheffield in the UK is the first to fabricate perovskite solar cells using a spray-painting process – a discovery that could help cut the cost of solar electricity.
Pull free, safe drinking water straight from the sky!
Two years after passing its Renewable Energy and Efficiency Law (REEL) Jordan is moving forward with what will be the largest largest solar photovoltaic (PV) installation in the Middle East. Construction will begin on the 52.5 MW Shams Ma’an facility in early 2015 with completion in 2016. Shams is the Arabic word for “sun”.
While solar power plant installations jump to a new annual record this year, according to the Worldwatch Institute, global trends show that despite all the batabata bing bing (announcements, agreements, tea ceremonies, hand-shaking), the Middle East is doing miserably in taking advantage of the sun –– one country is the exception there and it is Israel.
Two credible scientific datasets are suggesting that Earth, like George Clooney or Elle MacPherson, is getting hotter with age. Buckle your seat-belts and let the Climate Change debate begin!
Allergic to home improvement? Here’s an easy DIY chore you shouldn’t sneeze at. It will clean your air, increase its “coolness”, and save you buckets of money to boot. Change your air conditioner filters!
Luxor home to some of Egypt’s greatest temples has something to solute over: the city has started its first 80kW solar energy plant, worth about $530,000 US to power lights at Luxor University and surrounding streets.
Ample fresh water supplies for agriculture and drinking by the world’s burgeoning population are becoming more and more scarace these days due to over-consumption and the ravages of global warming and climate change. This has resulted in the need to tap into prehistoric underground aquifers, such as North Africa’s Nubian Aquifer under Libya; and the the […]
In a move to diversify its energy package Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) launched its first pilot solar power project this past June in Awali, in the south of Bahrain.
Tesla’s Elon Musk has made serious inroads to implement widespread use of electric vehicles, but he’s also got a hand in one of the most important solar energy deals of the century. Last week SolarCity purchased Silevo in New York in order to significantly scale up production of super efficient, high quality solar panels.
