Villagers gather around a kiosk in Afto, Ethiopia to charge their cell phones using solar power and to fill up their jerry cans with UV clean water Out in the middle of nowhere Ethiopia, fresh water and electricity are hard to come by. It is partly for this reason that the country’s Prime Minister Meles […]
It is true that 2012 may be the last year for President Obama’s bold support for clean energy – because in the wake of the Citizens United decision by the bought-and-paid-for plutocratic new Supreme Court, it is the Koch brothers who get to decide – but oh boy, did he ever get his licks in! Last […]
One high-tech polymer start-up has developed a coating to solve the problem. The huge and visionary Desertec Industrial Initiative (Dii)plan to ship vast amounts of solar to Europe has one glaring potential weakness. Dust. Deserts have all the sun that is needed to power vast cities, and recently, the 3rd Desertec deal was signed, but they also have dust. Lots of it. And little water to clean it. Just one month's dust accumulation in desert conditions can reduce a panels output by 35%, and some even warn that water-intensive CSP is impossible for desert solar. So developing dust-resistant solar will be the next Big Thing.
Ever since the classic The Book Of One Thousand and One Nights, which include tales on Aladdin and the Lamp, Sinbad the Sailor and Alai Babba and the Forty Thieves, the Arabian Peninsula, and seacoasts have never been the same. While the characters may be fictional (or maybe not?), the actual location of these magical […]
An anonymous Green Prophet reader took this photo today at a shopping mall in Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Center. Go Green ceramic frying pans and pots are slashed to 50 percent off. This follows the picture that Maurice took last week of the fire sale of ceramic cookware in another shopping market. Clearly Israeli shopping centers […]
With a 35 meter high sun-ray collection tower and about 50 mirrors positioned to direct the sun, Israel’s AORA is about to flip the switch on its latest solar power plant in Spain. The company created a huge buzz in Israel in 2009 when it was the first solar energy company to connect to the […]
A search is underway to find whoever stole a safe containing radioactive material from Egypt’s first nuclear power station. While hundreds of protestors surrounded the El Dabaa nuclear power plant in Egypt last week, someone managed to sneak in and steal some of its radioactive material. One safe containing radioactive material was seized while another […]
Solar panels at the Kuraymat CSP planet in Egypt require precious water resources to stay clean but Masdar & Siemens aim to change that. When coated with layers of dust, solar panels lose their energy-absorbing efficiency and require a regular cleaning schedule. But spending this precious natural resource on energy when many people in the […]
In the wake of a 6-day trip by China’s Premier Win Jiabao to Saudi Arabia, China and Saudi Arabia have forged an alliance on developing nuclear power. Saudi Arabia has signed an agreement with China for assistance in the development of nuclear power, using the last of its oil wealth to invest in the most […]
Nearly 3 billion people lack safe and efficient cooking gear. It’s time to make the problem in the kitchen sexier. Half the world’s households prepare their meals over open fires or with jerry-rigged cookers fueled by scrap wood, coal, combustible waste and dung. Fatal burns are common and foraged fuel dangerously degrades indoor air quality. […]
Rollercoaster speeds can turn you “green”, but the ‘coaster itself is hardly energy friendly. Time for a stroller coaster. United Arab Emirates might hold the Guinness World Record for Holding the Most Guinness World Records, and one of those prizes goes to the world’s fastest ride: the Formula 1 Rollercoaster at Abu Dhabi’s Ferrari World (itself […]
Mars rock rarer than gold and called Tissint falls in Morocco. This might explain mystical Moroccan men: maybe they really are from Mars? Or at least influenced by the Martian planet? Scientists have just confirmed that a meteor shower that brought a 15 pound rock hurtling into Morocco really did come from Mars. This is […]
Because cheetahs don’t belong on leashes, Dubai’s neighbor, Ajman, has passed a law that makes it illegal for anyone to have wild animals or reptiles in their homes. Remember the Porsche driver in Dubai who thought it was cool to walk his pet cheetah on a leash in the middle of a busy urban center? […]
New drilling results from the Dead Sea provides clues that the Dead Sea almost dried up because of climate change — 125,000 years ago! The rapidly dropping water level of the Dead Sea, a cause of much concern today, occurred as well in the distant past, resulting in the severe drying up of the lake, […]
International water management policies in Morocco have disrupted the Berber’s perfectly good and longstanding system. In 2009 I travelled to the High Atlas mountain region of Morocco to reach some friends that ran an eco-lodge in a very lonesome village with a wholesome lifestyle. The mother of Houssa, the owner of the eco-lodge, revealed the […]