Plastic. No word assaults our sensibilities more. Plastic in the bellies of baby birds; plastic strangling marine animals; plastic leaching chemicals into our water supply. Plastic everywhere. But with Ooho, an edible water ‘bottle’ that just about anyone can make, we could get a handle on the plastic mess – at least a little one.
The edible Ooho water bottle could save us from plastic
Ecoppia cleans solar panels for more energy
Solar parks in the desert face two major challenges: a lot of dust on the photovoltaic panels and not enough water to clean them. Dust can cause up to a 40% decrease in efficiency of the panels. So there is huge interest to avert this problem. Normally teams of humans come in with squeegees to clean the panels by hand.
Located in Israel’s Negev desert, Ketura Sun solar park scoured the planet for a solution to their dust problem, which they found in an army of Ecoppia’s water-free robots. Ecoppia is an Israeli company that is competing in the market of automated solar panel cleaners for PV panels.
Turns out solar panel cleaning robots are a big deal and they are part of a market on their own.
15 leading solar panel cleaning robots
Karcher
Aegeus Technologies
Karlhans Lehmann
Bitimec Wash-Bots
Cleantecs GmbH
RST Cleantech Solutions
August Mink
Alion Energy
BladeRanger
Boson Robotics
Beijing Sifang Derui Technology
Innovpower
Shandong Haowo Electric
BP Metalmeccanica
Ecoppia is a relatively new Israeli company that has hit the ground running in 2013 with their E4 Ecoppia cleaning robots that remove up to 99 percent of the dust on Ketura’s panels using soft microfiber elements and an airflow cleaning system. The robots work by night, are powered by solar energy, and can last three days of cloud coverage on a single charge.
Before they brought Ecoppia’s robots on board, the solar park, which is a joint Arava Power and Siemens AG venture that delivers 9 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy every year, would only clean their panels about nine times a year. And the process was arduous, costly, and potentially unsafe.
It would take up to five days to clean the panels manually and it was hard work that often put cleaners and panels at risk. But if they didn’t clean the panels, their ability to absorb the sun’s energy was reduced by about 35 percent. Over time, that amounts to a significant loss.
Completely self-sufficient, nearly one hundred E4 robots clean the plant’s panels every day after sunset. Using a sophisticated winch system, they clean 54 square feet in 30 seconds, and Ketura is thrilled with their performance to date.
“Ecoppia has changed the way we run the Ketura Sun field,” says Yanir Aloush, VP Operations at Arava Power.
“Less guesswork about when to clean, less downtime since there’s no need for on-site cleaning crews, less external personnel on the ground – we are very excited by the potential upgrade Ecoppia’s solution offers us.”
:: Ecoppia
Arab action on shark finning, and body parts trade is too little, too late
Shark finning, in which captured sharks have their fins and tails removed for use in sharks fin soup, has been a prominent issue in many parts of the world, including the Arab Gulf region.
Daylight saving time linked to heart attacks
Losing a single hour of sleep when we switching over to daylight saving time raises the risk of heart attack the following Monday by 25% compared to any other Monday during the year, according to a new US study released on Saturday.
Climate change “worst” is yet to come, UN report warns today
The United Nations has issued a five years in the making report on climate change, and our future. It does not look bright. Green Prophet obtained today’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report and the future looks bleak if we do not take action today.
Hit the switch and join millions for Earth Hour 2014
It’s Earth Hour this weekend, which means you have the chance to join millions of people around the globe in a united effort to consume less energy.
Foraged wild greens and fatayer turnovers recipe
In the Galilee’s Arab, Jewish, and Druze communities, life has a rural rhythm, slower than in big towns. You can tell that people like to stop and sniff the roses, as each garden displays roses and other lovingly tended fragrant bushes. And the old foodways are still alive in the Galilee, preserved by middle-aged housewives.
Faithful to traditional tastes, these women leave their houses early in the morning and go out to nearby fields to dig out wild spinach, beet greens, endive, and mallows. Each plant must be handled its particular way. The knowledge has passed down from mother to daughter over generations of cooking together. Last week, I learned to cook Fatayer – turnovers stuffed with wild greens, like sambusak – in the Galilean village of Arrabeh.
Wild greens are staple foods in the kitchens of that town. That is, they used to be. More and more, the young folk are abandoning the foods their grandmothers cooked, in favor of more Western-style foods. But some people are interested in joining workshops in the old ways of cooking and eating.
The Galileat organization offers great culinary adventures with local hostesses expert in traditional cuisine. Not to mention how delicious foods like Fatayer are.
In the Arrabeh dialect, the turnover is called F’tir. Our hostess, Mrs. Nazera Madi, used wild spinach that she picked the same morning in an olive grove where many wild edibles thrive at this time of year.
“My mother and grandmother used to pick many different kinds of greens, ” she explained. “But it’s a lot of work, cooking them. They need to be cleaned and pared down to their edible parts first.” Here she showed how to trim the thorny edges off a milk thistle leaf, turning her kitchen knife this way and that to avoid getting stuck with the needle-sharp points.
“Then there’s the cooking. Some dishes can take two days to prepare. In the old days, women would take their pots to their sister’s or mother’s house, and they’d all cook together. Nowadays, especially since the kids don’t like these foods anymore, it’s hardly worth the trouble.”
Madi had a potful of freekeh ready – wheat harvested while still green and roasted in a bonfire. With the f’tir, some labneh and a separate dish of cooked wild endive, an ample lunch was served.
You can make the deliciousor f’tir turnovers with fresh or frozen spinach, and they will be delicious. Here is the traditional recipe:
Fatayer (turnovers stuffed with greens) recipe
Recipe courtesy of Paul Nirens, Galileat
Ingredients for dough:
1 cup – 250 gr whole-wheat flour
1 cup – 250 gr white flour
I 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup water
Mix flours together and add yeast. Mix well.
Add salt
Add oil and mix well. Add as much water as needed to make a smooth dough.
Knead dough at least 15 minutes, until dough is smooth and soft.
Cover and allow to rise in a warm place. 15 minutes is enough.
Divide dough into balls a little smaller than fist size.
Filling for fatayer:
1 large onion, diced small
1 large bunch fresh wild spinach. If wild spinach is unavailable, use large leaf Turkish spinach (or frozen, thawed out).
1/4 cup olive oil.
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon baharat spice mix
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons canned harissa – more or less, depending on desired degree of spiciness.
I teaspoon salt
Chop spinach as small as possible. Place chopped spinach is a large bowl and “knead”, in order to break down the cells and release all the liquid. After 5 minutes of kneading, rinse spinach in water and working in batches, squeeze out all the liquid. The spinach should be almost pulpy. Add finely chopped onion and spices. Mix well and correct taste.
Preparation:
Roll out dough balls thinly into a circle. Add filling in center of circle and close over in a triangular formation – one edge over the other. It is important to close the ftir well so nothing will leak out. Puncture the ftir with a fork in order to allow air to escape during cooking.
Lay on a well-oiled oven tray and bake in a pre-heated 180⁰ oven. It is preferable not to use the turbo function.
Do not allow uncooked f’tir to touch each other. They will stick to each other and the dough will rip. Separate with greaseproof paper.
More Mouthwatering Traditional Arab Recipes:
All photos by Miriam Kresh
Nature solar shelters are hybrid acacia “trees” sprouting electricity and shade
No African tree is more recognizable than the Acacia with its prickly canopy that provides shade for wild animals across the savannah. Samuel Wilkinson has borrowed from this arboreal genius to design Nature – an attractive shelter that produces clean energy and an inspired rendevous spot for urban dwellers.
Dubai’s Lamborghini police cars and bikes are ecological opposites
A year after unveiling new Lamborghini patrol vehicles for lucky members of the force, Dubai police are rolling out an eco-friendly electric motorcycle. As far as we can tell – the 15,000-strong police force has purchased just one bike, which they tested at Jumeirah Beach Residence last week.
Colonel Abdul Qader Mohammed Al Banai, Director of Jebel Ali Police Station, conducted the trial and told Gulf Today that the motorbike would be used in patrolling narrow streets and congested districts. The bike will also support security surveillance in traditional markets, shopping malls, historic sites and tourist attractions.
He added that Dubai police were working hard to create a safe, sustainable environment that meets the UAE’s “prominent international standing in regard to conservation of the environment.” So how did their Lamborghini Aventadors factor into that equation?
A staggering 15% of traffic fines issued in Dubai are for driving at speeds exceeding 130 mph, which was part of the logic in buying fancy Italian racecars for their troopers. Energy efficient motorcycles won’t stand a chance in catching speedsters, and they’ll be miserable to operate in scorching UAE summers – but they are the eco-opposite of the force’s last vehicle choice.
Adorable Vespa motorbikes get about 100 miles per gallon of fuel, while a Lamborghini Aventador averages about 13 mpg. Vehicle emissions are comparably skewed. Assuming that more than one eco-bike will be on patrol, this is a tiny step in the right direction.
Radical extremes co-exist in the UAE with apparent success – but in the case of cop cars, perhaps a move to the middle was in order. How many compact electric cars or cheap hybrid cars can you buy for a mildly used Lamborghini?
The hazards of single serving coffee pods
Espresso machine single serving coffee pods – those fairly newfangled units of specialty grinds – let you be your own barrista. Pop one in your countertop brewing unit and in seconds have a perfect cup of coffee.
Jewish artist’s “anti-Barbie” is a crowdfund-sation!
What if fashion dolls were made using standard human body proportions? It’s a question that occurred to artist Nickolay Lamm while looking at a Barbie doll and thinking “it looked a little weird.”
Roasted Romanesco broccoli pasta – the ultimate Recipe
It looks like aliens took over the broccoli patch, doesn’t it? Romanesco broccoli is a unique vegetable that looks like a cauliflower gone crazy but has an intense broccoli flavor. It was first grown in Italy and is now available in more European countries, the US, and in Israel.
This “Green Machine” mobile city fertilizes the Sahara Desert as it moves
Posterity may end up migrating from place to place to find food like our nomadic ancestors did if we don’t get a hold of desertification and climate change. To make that easier for desert dwellers, Stephane Malka and Yachar Bouhaya propose the Green Machine – a massive city on tank treads that fertilizes the Sahara as it moves.