It has been three decades since Jordan’s national grid has seen substantial infrastructural changes, but the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has recently donated $1.15 million to the kingdom so that it can explore the option of implementing a “smart” upgrade. As new renewable, nuclear and oil-shale power plants are slated to come online in the next decade, a digital electrical system would enhance energy efficiency and safety, writes the Jordan Times. Hit the jump to learn more.
Jordan’s Dinosaur Grid to Get a “Smart” Upgrade?
Ormat Rising Stocks A Boon For Israel Geothermal
For years, the goldmine for Israeli cleantech companies has been the American economy. And as Israel deploys innovative technologies across the Atlantic, it is increasingly breaking ground and gaining profits ahead of American companies.
Just last week, shares of the Reno, Nevada-based unit of Israeli geothermal company, Ormat Technologies (NYSE: ORA), rose more than 2.7 percent to $18.78 in the US stock exchange yesterday, the most since Feb. 24, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. The rise came from a new $61.2 million engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract the company signed on April 25–for two air-cooled Ormat Energy Converters that will be installed at an unspecified North American geothermal plant–that has traders expecting company earnings per share to jump by 30 cents over 2012 and 2013, according to Avondale Partners LLC, interviewed in the article.
The Weird Science of Pedestrian Behavior Might Help Hajj
Math helps us understand how people flow, and just maybe it could help Hajj pilgrims stay safe.
A Californian jogs to the beach. Coming towards him on the sidewalk is a Texan. Unless one steps aside they’ll collide. Quick: which way does the jogger move? If this is in Europe or the USA, heavy odds he moves to his right. In Asia (with Asians), the slide would likely be left. A crazy-making observation, and it’s not connected to driving: Irish drive on the left side of the road, but they’ll step to the right on the pavement.
The folks at Berlin’s Max Planck Institute (MPI) say this behavior is based on an improbable marriage of psychology and mathematical probability. When we correctly guess another’s intentions, we get a positive subconscious boost. We’ll probably choose the same move when the same situation arises; get another subliminal “high-five”.
Sinai’s Ecological Future Hangs in the Balance
As part of the 1979 peace treaty with Israel, the Sinai Peninsula was restored to Egyptian control – an event that the country celebrated with some fanfare on April 25th, 2012. On that same day, the Egyptian Prime Minister Kamal Ganzouri witnessed two separate development plans that were signed between the Social Development Fund (SFD) and governors of both the Northern and Southern Sinai governorates.
The main goal of these agreements is to extend water networks and create jobs – a welcome move for a largely neglected area of the country. But Sinai development has also become a hot pitching point for presidential candidates, and environmentalists are worried.
Play God With NASA’s Flood Maps
What the Middle East will look like with a 9 meter raise. Play God with the online map to see what we’ll lose.
When you click around NASA’s online flood maps you can instantly view impacts on the world’s coastal communities. A single meter increase soaks Alexandria and Basra, and rattles the nerves of eastern Saudi shores. Jump sea levels 20 meters and Bahrain becomes an atoll, southern Iraq is submerged, and all of Cairo becomes beachfront property.
Barriers to Solid Waste Recycling in Saudi Arabia
Excellent at recycling oil, what are the barriers to Saudi Arabia in recycling other valuables?
There are significant barriers that hinder the wide application of reverse logistics in some industries of Saudi Arabia. Let me first present the definition of the concept. Iran’s S. Dowlatshahi defined reverse logistics as the process by which a manufacturing entity systematically retrieves previously shipped products or parts from the point-of-consumption for possible recycling, remanufacturing, or disposal.
Lebanon’s Largest Solar Project Lights up a Green Highway
Like Egypt, Israel, and Jordan, Lebanon has been beset with energy shortages recently – a crisis that will escalate as demand grows alongside an ever-expanding population. Sidestepping these constraints and taking advantage of almost year-round sunshine, the Transportation Ministry has installed 766 solar-powered street lights on a 10km stretch of relatively unpolluted highway in Hermel. Some residents are grateful and excited about the $1,072,000 project, but others are skeptical.
Morocco to Build Cars in Zero Carbon Factory
Morocco’s zero-carbon car factory opening earlier this month, via NY Times.
The CEO of Renault–Nissan alliance Carlos Ghosn and Moroccan King Mohammed VI inaugerated French automaker’s one-billion-euro plant in Tangier which is set to boost Morocco’s automobile industry.The plant will build several new ‘low cost’ vehicles with an annual capacity that could reach ups 400,000 units.
Morocco has only one car plant in Casablanca and seeks to develop its car industry further with Renault Group which will be exempt from both corporate and export taxes for five years.
The 300-hectare plant, which is located 30 kilometres from the new Tanger Med port and only few kilometres away from the Spanish coast, will reach a production capacity of up to 170,000 vehicles per year at first. This capacity is then set to rise to 340,000 units in 2013 or 400,000 units if the plant operates in weekends.
Is Better Place Building An EV Monopoly?
Despite concern that Better Place is losing millions as it slowly brings electric vehicles to market in Israel and Denmark, some in the cleantech industry are also worried that the Israel electric vehicle (EV) company is the only one out there trying to make the business work.
A recent article titled, ‘Does Better Place Have A Monopoly On Electric Cars In Israel?,’ Business Insider analyzed Better Place’s role in the Israeli market, noting that once the company starts to sell its cars in Israel, it will have the only electric vehicle available in Israel and will control the country’s only legal EV charging network. Is this a good or bad thing?
Bassam El-Okeily Converted a Tiny Garage into this Gorgeous Narrow House
Egyptians are among the most romantic thinkers I’ve met. Their hearts are so often tangled up in their work, resulting not only in a lot of drama, but incomparable and resplendent art. And Bassam El Okeily’s striking Narrow House in Belgium is no exception. Previously a dingy garage, the new Bilzen home now features a transparent glass facade, an expansive but minimalist interior and an exciting reverie of light and shadow play. Although he is less known in the Arab world, the Brussels and Paris based designer easily competes with any of the world’s most renowned “starchitects.” Step in to see beautiful images of this unusual home.
Earth-Friendly Vernacular Date Palm Leaf Architecture Revisited in London
One of the most exciting exhibits we’ve heard about is currently on display at London’s Royal Geographic Society. What makes it so exciting? Amidst stately buildings made of brick, vernacular desert architecture is enjoying its month of fame, and dozens of websites are talking about the event.
Polish designer Sandra Piesik is curating the exhibit Arish: Palm Leaf Architecture, which is being hosted by His Excellency Abdul Rahman Ghanem Al Mutaiwee – UAE Ambassador to the United Kingdom, following three years of exploring the role that date palm leaf architecture plays in Emirati history. She has published a book by the same name.
14,000 Turkish Homes To Be Powered By World’s Most Efficient 1.5-MW Wind Turbines
With a rotor diameter of 100 meters and hub heights of 80 meters, GE’s 1.6-100 MW turbines have the highest power production capacity of any turbines in their category.
A 50 MW wind farm in a town near Istanbul will be the first site in Europe to use GE’s revolutionary 1.6-100 MW wind turbines, GE announced at the European Wind Energy Association’s annual meeting last week. A project of Fina Enerji, a Turkish renewable energy firm, the Tayakadin wind farm will use 31 of GE’s super-efficient turbines. It will come online by 2013.
Robot Sex the CleanTech Future of Tourism?
Are android sex workers the future of tourism or an absurd use of clean technology?
People will soon be having sex with robots as the latest in sex tourism, suggests a recent news report. This novel twist on ‘clean technology’ (the inventors point out that the androids will be made of bacteria-resistant fibers) is enough to turn us green, and not with envy. More of the puke, I’m going to be sick, let me run to the market and get some organic veggies and eat them raw kind of green. We are already living in a wired world. Do machines have to commandeer our genitals too?
That’s the con. A pro? Maybe robot hookers will offer a meaningful solution to the problem of sex slavery (a concern in the Middle East and globally). Let’s examine the wild wired world of robots for pleasure from two sides: the revolting and the revolutionary.
Tire Fire In Kuwait Seen From Space
A fire which broke out in a Kuwaiti tire dump last week could be seen from space
Kuwait hardly has a green reputation (in fact, it’s been pretty obstructive in global efforts to set emission targets) but recent events have definitely undermined what left of its eco credentials. As well as shocking stories of animal cruelty, there are rising concerns of childhood obesity and a growing carbon footprint. A fire also broke out last week in a tire dump which was so big that it could be seen from space.