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World’s Largest (Gargantuan) Solar Thermal Plant Opens in Saudi Arabia

Tafline Laylin
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World’s Largest (Gargantuan) Solar Thermal Plant Opens in Saudi Arabia

Saudi, solar, solar thermal, cleantech, Gulf, desert, Princess Noura bint Abdul Rahman University, PNBAR

The world’s largest solar thermal plant – nearly double the size of the original largest in Denmark – is now online in Saudi Arabia, reinforcing the notion that this Gulf country has the potential to maintain its current oil wealth by exporting solar power for the next twenty centuries.

Originally awarded to Jordan’s Millennium Energy Industries in 2010, the $14 million project in Riyadh is the size of 5 football pitches and produces enough energy to heat water for 40,000 students at the Princess Noura bint AbdulRahman University campus in Riyadh.

The largest women-only university in the world (we’re breaking all kinds of records here), the campus has 15 academic faculty buildings, a variety of labs and a 700-bed hospital. All of the water in these facilities will be heated by the gargantuan roof-mounted solar panels. It is the first university in the Kingdom to rely on a district solar water heater.

Millennium Energy, which was responsible for the design and build of the solar thermal plant, subcontracted Greenonetec, an Austrian manufacturer, to supply the GK 3000 series solar collectors, and received solar thermal application expertise from the Austrian company AEE Intec.

These panels have a 95% absorption rate and weigh 170kg. They are 10 by 5 meters large and are especially designed to withstand the desert’s fierce sandstorms.

Other energy saving technology incorporated into the university’s design will result in annual carbon savings of 125 million kilograms, making this by far the most sustainable campus in all of Saudi.

The rooftop system covers a total area of 36,305m² compared to the former largest solar thermal power plant in Denmark, which covers an area of 19,875 m².

After a six month trial period, each one of the six solar fields has been uncovered and six tanks of 150m3 have been built to store excess solar heat at 110°C.

:: Power Technology, Construction Week Online

More Saudi Cleantech:
Saudi Could Export Solar for the Next Twenty Centuries
Saudi to Make Desert Sands into Solar Polysilicon
Could Saudi Become the Saudi Arabia of Solar?

Israel’s BrightSource Still Private After IPO Withdrawal

Shifra Mincer
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0
Israel’s BrightSource Still Private After IPO Withdrawal

brightsource concentrated solar thermal
Concentrated solar power company BrightSource doesn’t wear its Israeli identity on its sleeve.

“We’re a U.S. company with Israeli engineering, not an Israeli company. It’s a nuance but important to get right,” Keely Wachs, senior director of corporate communications for BrightSource, wrote in an email message.

And with an American President and CEO named John Woolard running the company from Oakland, California it may be hard to guess that most BrightSource executives live in Israel. But when BrightSource pulled its IPO last week, just before its scheduled date on April 11, the company’s American identity became even more important for its existence.

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Raistudio’s Bamboo Dome Shelter Pops up in Iran

Tafline Laylin
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16
Raistudio’s Bamboo Dome Shelter Pops up in Iran

green design, sustainable design, eco-design, bamboo, Iran, Raistudio, architecture, renewable materialsIranian architect Pouya Khazaeli Parsa founded Raistudio in 2007 in order to revive what he believes is the lost spirit of architecture, a spirit his latest project seems to exemplify best of all.

Reminiscent of the work of fellow Iranian Nader Khalili, who perfected economical earth bag construction, this minimalist dome shelter is made of bamboo, crowned with rice plants and features comfortable bamboo mats that are ideal for guests who stop in for a cup of tea. Not only is this project attractive and sustainable, but its gentle resistance to wind and earthquakes makes it an excellent shelter during emergencies as well.

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Keeping Up With the Food Blogs

Karin Kloosterman
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Keeping Up With the Food Blogs

Recipes US offers a portal into hundreds of thousands of blogger recipes, many connected to the Middle East.

There is no doubt that home cooking is a good thing for our planet. Forget about the packaging waste you save by cooking up a storm at home, but there is all that petrol going out to buy take-away. There are countless reasons why home cooking is better for your whole family, but the main one is control – control over what kind of food recipes you are selecting, as well as every spoon of oil and sugar you are putting into your food. Cooking at home also helps you observe dietary laws, and lets you control how much organic produce and ingredients you can stuff into your entrees.

Green Prophet has a great weekly recipe offered up by Miriam, and these are recipes suited to and inspired by Middle East culture. But when you want to go for some more global fare, where do you turn? A search online will help if you have something specific in mind, and if you are an avid reader of blogs there are various circles and networks you can tap into to tempt your tastebuds. A newer one that I find helpful not only for home chefs, but for food bloggers too is a Recipes US. Using this site food recipes from Recipes US is a search engine for foodie blogs and jumping through it you can discover recipes that match our global village and the couter-culture you won’t see if you just type in recipe requests through Google, usually optimized for the sterile and corporate food recipe sites.

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The Origin of Earth Day and Greening the Arab Spring

Tafline Laylin
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0
The Origin of Earth Day and Greening the Arab Spring

Arab Spring, earth, social media, Earth Day, environment, activism

It is worth remembering that a few decades ago, there were no environmentalists in the United States. There were no rules that prohibited polluters from spewing toxic fumes into the atmosphere. Nobody was watching the agriculture industry to ensure that their pesticides weren’t contaminating water ways. Americans were asleep.

Then Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring hit the NY Times bestseller list in 1962 and woke them up. Suddenly the relationship between environmental degradation and public health became clear and angered people. But even then it wasn’t until a US senator channeled energy from anti-war protests into the first Earth Day in 1970 that the US green movement was born. Enter the Arab Spring.

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Carpet Made From Pebbles Gives Great Foot Massage

Karin Kloosterman
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Carpet Made From Pebbles Gives Great Foot Massage

Neora Zigler pebbles carpet
An Israeli designer creates a rug that incorporates real pebbles. Walking on them is like a foot massage!

It’s pretty common these days to see pottery and household objects that are designed to resemble nature. And carpets too. While you may see pathways made of pebbles, it’s not likely you’ll find them inside your carpets. Inspired by the east, Israeli designer Neora Zigler chose to sew pebbles inside layers of synthetic fabric and the result is her Pebbles Carpet. Zigler says it forces one to walk slowly, with concentration, but I bet walking on it is good for your health, and heart.

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Get Into Green Music and Art in Iraq Before Earth Day

Karin Kloosterman
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iraq green music and art festival
Who would have thought that Iraqis and Kurds could start a green music and art event?

Two non-profits, Nature Iraq and Development Now are holding the first Green Music and Arts Festival in Iraq tomorrow to honor Earth Day the day after. To be held in Sulaimani’s Azadi Park in Sulaimani, it will be the first event of its kind held in Iraq, and it will celebrate the beauty of nature, the unique landscape of Iraq, and the people and organizations who are devoted to protecting the environment through the arts and education.

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Solar War Flares Up in Israel

Karin Kloosterman
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Solar War Flares Up in Israel

solar energy rooftopssolar energy pv panels

Two solar energy companies are part of a larger conflict and dilemma in Israel: should solar panels be installed on limited open space or on rooftops?

There is a small war going on in Israel and it has nothing to do with a nuclear Iran or local terror cells. This war is over the sun. Two companies Arava Power and Solar By Yourself represent a new kind of conflict in Israel’s complicated renewable energy landscape.

Solar By Yourself, a company that helps homeowners or businesses install small-scale solar panels on rooftops, says there are “corrupt” clerks in the government approvals agencies giving unfair advantages to certain solar energy companies.

They also believe the Israeli government isn’t standing by its own policies when it hands out licenses for new installations. Israel has offered attractive, but very limited quotas on solar energy installations. While the companies looking to land the licenses are usually operating out of genuine concern for the environment, there is also very big business at stake. Companies are racing for the quotas, trying to get the approvals and licenses as fast as they can.

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Eole Uses Wind Power to Make Water From Desert Air

Susan Kraemer
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Eole Uses Wind Power to Make Water From Desert Air

Abu Dhabi hosts successful test of prototype water condensation, using wind power.

A  revolutionary way to condense water from the desert air, powered by – and housed within – a wind turbine has been tested in the UAE  since October of 2011, by French innovation startup Eole Water.

The ground-mounted version has proven that it can condense up to 800 litres a day from air with just the 15-20% humidity typical of the region, and the company believes that a tower top turbine will produce levels well over 1,000 litres (264 gallons) a day.

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Saudi Arabia’s Fast Food Boom is Finger Lickin’ Awful

Faisal O'Keefe
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4
Saudi Arabia’s Fast Food Boom is Finger Lickin’ Awful

saudi boys burgers

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s (KSA) fast food market is expected to reach $4.5 billion in gross sales by 2015, driven by growing demand from its young, western-influenced population, higher disposable incomes, and new financing arrangements, according to a report by Euromonitor, a leading analyst of global markets.Western coffee chains are less about catching a caffeine fix than they are about providing a cozy venue to check your email or write your screenplay.  Similarly, future expansion of junk food joints in the Middle East will be sold as “lifestyle destinations” that just happen to come with a side of sugar, fat and processed carbs.

Extremely limited social outlets for young Saudis mean there’s a wide market in which fast food outlets can position themselves as central points for uber-passive “recreation” and hip social gathering.

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Ecosex and Why Environmentalists are Avoiding the e-Spot

Tinamarie Bernard
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Ecosex and Why Environmentalists are Avoiding the e-Spot

woman body covered in grass
Ecosex is the ‘trend that could’ except among most green bloggers and editors. Why are they avoiding the one subject that could resurrect environmentalism?

Take a hike to fall in love with Planet Earth and embody green loving? End your romance with plastic because the evidence is irrefutable; BPA is nasty to your naked bits? You bet! From healthy habits in the bedroom to eating for optimum performance, Ecosex is the optimal way to experience intimacy that is good for you and safe for the planet. With rare exception however (Green Prophet is notably cool), the green blogosphere has yet to catch the enthusiasm; even though it is this writer’s opinion that Ecosex has the potential to revitalize enthusiasm for eco-conscious living among a populace grown bored, weary or deaf. Yes, Ecosex can save the world. But greenies have to finally listen.

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Arsenic-Fed Chickens – Watch Out!

Maurice Picow
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1
Arsenic-Fed Chickens – Watch Out!

factory chickens arsenic Arsenic and hormones? Until someone checks your chicken, be suspicious of what’s in it. 

Is this bad news for all those folk in America and probably us in the Middle East who eat factory farm raised chickens: When we wrote previous articles about factory farm raised chickens, such as those used by fast food chains like Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), we spoke of the possibility that a form of arsenic was being fed to the poultry to rid them of various parasites. Now that’s a recognized fact in America.

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Greenwashing the Brotherhood

Does Vandousselaere
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10
Greenwashing the Brotherhood

eye arab world, arab spring, brotherhood egyptSurprisingly they are inspired by Hassan Fathy: we interview Egypt’s Brotherhood’s Think Tank on Environmental Policy – A Green Prophet Exclusive

The Muslim Brotherhood estimates that 70 percent of Egypt’s agriculture might be affected by pollution. And in a while they will probably be in charge. It’s time to ask them how they’ll remediate this.

I ask Jamal Himdan. Around thirty, he never ran for office, but he is still in charge of the Muslim Brotherhood’s think tank, for the environmental part at least. We had an elaborate chat, which I’ll shorten as much as possible. But I won’t reduce it to an enumeration of their program, along with some juicy quotes. Instead I’ll quote you the most interesting passages in their entirety. The Brothers are said to have an ideology of their own so it might be interesting to understand their logic. To help you with this, I’ll let you read how Himdan explains their ideas.

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Creative-Young-Workaholics OGE Grow Magic at Israeli Flower Festival

Tafline Laylin
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0
Creative-Young-Workaholics OGE Grow Magic at Israeli Flower Festival

green design, sustainable design, OGE, art, Haifa, Flower Festival

Perhaps best known for their extraordinary 2009 solar-powered night garden installation in Jerusalem, or their creative street branding cooperation with Castro, Israeli designers OGE were entrusted as the creative directors of the largest flower exhibition to ever take place in Israel.

19 years after the original Haifa International Flower Exhibition, the self-described “Creative-Young-Workaholics” helped to ensure that this year’s program would be completely unforgettable. Included in the 30 acres of Hecht Park exhibition space were nine geodesic domes, each featuring a different world of flowers enhanced by ethereal designs. Check out OGE’s beautiful images after the jump.

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Consumerism, Ecology, and the Sabbath

Miriam Kresh
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2
Consumerism, Ecology, and the Sabbath

image-flea-market-yaffoBen-Gurion researchers claim that Israel’s urge to shop will eventually force Shabbat laws to change.  

This is a typical side street in the Yaffa flea market, Israel. From left to right, notice a charming second-hand shop that sells amusing things like the full-sized statue of a Roman gladiator. Blond tourists with cameras hanging from their necks stroll by.  A woman consults with her husband by cellphone. A rug vendor gazes at something across the street.  And stacked away for city garbage disposal, garbage.

It’s a work day in a shopping district. Inevitably there’s garbage, packaging mostly. I wonder if any of this shopping detritus will get recycled, although I feel doubtful. But at least on one day a week, there is less garbage and energy consumption because shops are closed by law. That’s Shabbat. See Tafline’s post on Shabbat awareness.

Yet Israeli’s urge to shop is so strong, according to Ben-Gurion University researchers Guy Ben-Porat and Omri Shamir, that it may well put an end to Shabbat store closure. So traditional values erode, and so do landfills rise.

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