France is home to around 5 to 7.5 million Muslims according to estimates, and Özlem Şahin, head of the organization behind Modest Fashion Week, has described Paris as "one of the leading modest fashion capitals in Europe".
On one side: aggressive anti-vaping campaigns from the FDA, Truth Initiative, and state programs, backed by over $100 million in annual spending. On the other: a public health crisis.
Screenshot
A new study from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York offers a striking insight into how the environments we are born into can quietly shape our brains years later. By analyzing naturally shed baby teeth, the ones tucked under pillows for the tooth fairy, researchers have reconstructed a detailed timeline of exposure to environmental metals during pregnancy and early infancy.
A new breed of luxury has landed on the Red Sea, mirrored pods floating above coral reefs, reflecting sky and sea like something not entirely of this Earth. Energy powered by solar powers, drinking water pulled from the sea using desalination.
All-women roofing team Summit Sisters installs a sustainable metal roof in Ontario as climate change forces Canadians to rethink asphalt shingles and choose longer-lasting, eco-friendly roofing options.
France is home to around 5 to 7.5 million Muslims according to estimates, and Özlem Şahin, head of the organization behind Modest Fashion Week, has described Paris as "one of the leading modest fashion capitals in Europe".
On one side: aggressive anti-vaping campaigns from the FDA, Truth Initiative, and state programs, backed by over $100 million in annual spending. On the other: a public health crisis.
Screenshot
A new study from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York offers a striking insight into how the environments we are born into can quietly shape our brains years later. By analyzing naturally shed baby teeth, the ones tucked under pillows for the tooth fairy, researchers have reconstructed a detailed timeline of exposure to environmental metals during pregnancy and early infancy.
A new breed of luxury has landed on the Red Sea, mirrored pods floating above coral reefs, reflecting sky and sea like something not entirely of this Earth. Energy powered by solar powers, drinking water pulled from the sea using desalination.
All-women roofing team Summit Sisters installs a sustainable metal roof in Ontario as climate change forces Canadians to rethink asphalt shingles and choose longer-lasting, eco-friendly roofing options.
France is home to around 5 to 7.5 million Muslims according to estimates, and Özlem Şahin, head of the organization behind Modest Fashion Week, has described Paris as "one of the leading modest fashion capitals in Europe".
On one side: aggressive anti-vaping campaigns from the FDA, Truth Initiative, and state programs, backed by over $100 million in annual spending. On the other: a public health crisis.
Screenshot
A new study from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York offers a striking insight into how the environments we are born into can quietly shape our brains years later. By analyzing naturally shed baby teeth, the ones tucked under pillows for the tooth fairy, researchers have reconstructed a detailed timeline of exposure to environmental metals during pregnancy and early infancy.
A new breed of luxury has landed on the Red Sea, mirrored pods floating above coral reefs, reflecting sky and sea like something not entirely of this Earth. Energy powered by solar powers, drinking water pulled from the sea using desalination.
All-women roofing team Summit Sisters installs a sustainable metal roof in Ontario as climate change forces Canadians to rethink asphalt shingles and choose longer-lasting, eco-friendly roofing options.
France is home to around 5 to 7.5 million Muslims according to estimates, and Özlem Şahin, head of the organization behind Modest Fashion Week, has described Paris as "one of the leading modest fashion capitals in Europe".
On one side: aggressive anti-vaping campaigns from the FDA, Truth Initiative, and state programs, backed by over $100 million in annual spending. On the other: a public health crisis.
Screenshot
A new study from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York offers a striking insight into how the environments we are born into can quietly shape our brains years later. By analyzing naturally shed baby teeth, the ones tucked under pillows for the tooth fairy, researchers have reconstructed a detailed timeline of exposure to environmental metals during pregnancy and early infancy.
A new breed of luxury has landed on the Red Sea, mirrored pods floating above coral reefs, reflecting sky and sea like something not entirely of this Earth. Energy powered by solar powers, drinking water pulled from the sea using desalination.
All-women roofing team Summit Sisters installs a sustainable metal roof in Ontario as climate change forces Canadians to rethink asphalt shingles and choose longer-lasting, eco-friendly roofing options.
France is home to around 5 to 7.5 million Muslims according to estimates, and Özlem Şahin, head of the organization behind Modest Fashion Week, has described Paris as "one of the leading modest fashion capitals in Europe".
On one side: aggressive anti-vaping campaigns from the FDA, Truth Initiative, and state programs, backed by over $100 million in annual spending. On the other: a public health crisis.
Screenshot
A new study from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York offers a striking insight into how the environments we are born into can quietly shape our brains years later. By analyzing naturally shed baby teeth, the ones tucked under pillows for the tooth fairy, researchers have reconstructed a detailed timeline of exposure to environmental metals during pregnancy and early infancy.
A new breed of luxury has landed on the Red Sea, mirrored pods floating above coral reefs, reflecting sky and sea like something not entirely of this Earth. Energy powered by solar powers, drinking water pulled from the sea using desalination.
All-women roofing team Summit Sisters installs a sustainable metal roof in Ontario as climate change forces Canadians to rethink asphalt shingles and choose longer-lasting, eco-friendly roofing options.
France is home to around 5 to 7.5 million Muslims according to estimates, and Özlem Şahin, head of the organization behind Modest Fashion Week, has described Paris as "one of the leading modest fashion capitals in Europe".
On one side: aggressive anti-vaping campaigns from the FDA, Truth Initiative, and state programs, backed by over $100 million in annual spending. On the other: a public health crisis.
Screenshot
A new study from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York offers a striking insight into how the environments we are born into can quietly shape our brains years later. By analyzing naturally shed baby teeth, the ones tucked under pillows for the tooth fairy, researchers have reconstructed a detailed timeline of exposure to environmental metals during pregnancy and early infancy.
A new breed of luxury has landed on the Red Sea, mirrored pods floating above coral reefs, reflecting sky and sea like something not entirely of this Earth. Energy powered by solar powers, drinking water pulled from the sea using desalination.
All-women roofing team Summit Sisters installs a sustainable metal roof in Ontario as climate change forces Canadians to rethink asphalt shingles and choose longer-lasting, eco-friendly roofing options.
France is home to around 5 to 7.5 million Muslims according to estimates, and Özlem Şahin, head of the organization behind Modest Fashion Week, has described Paris as "one of the leading modest fashion capitals in Europe".
On one side: aggressive anti-vaping campaigns from the FDA, Truth Initiative, and state programs, backed by over $100 million in annual spending. On the other: a public health crisis.
Screenshot
A new study from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York offers a striking insight into how the environments we are born into can quietly shape our brains years later. By analyzing naturally shed baby teeth, the ones tucked under pillows for the tooth fairy, researchers have reconstructed a detailed timeline of exposure to environmental metals during pregnancy and early infancy.
A new breed of luxury has landed on the Red Sea, mirrored pods floating above coral reefs, reflecting sky and sea like something not entirely of this Earth. Energy powered by solar powers, drinking water pulled from the sea using desalination.
All-women roofing team Summit Sisters installs a sustainable metal roof in Ontario as climate change forces Canadians to rethink asphalt shingles and choose longer-lasting, eco-friendly roofing options.
France is home to around 5 to 7.5 million Muslims according to estimates, and Özlem Şahin, head of the organization behind Modest Fashion Week, has described Paris as "one of the leading modest fashion capitals in Europe".
On one side: aggressive anti-vaping campaigns from the FDA, Truth Initiative, and state programs, backed by over $100 million in annual spending. On the other: a public health crisis.
Screenshot
A new study from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York offers a striking insight into how the environments we are born into can quietly shape our brains years later. By analyzing naturally shed baby teeth, the ones tucked under pillows for the tooth fairy, researchers have reconstructed a detailed timeline of exposure to environmental metals during pregnancy and early infancy.
A new breed of luxury has landed on the Red Sea, mirrored pods floating above coral reefs, reflecting sky and sea like something not entirely of this Earth. Energy powered by solar powers, drinking water pulled from the sea using desalination.
All-women roofing team Summit Sisters installs a sustainable metal roof in Ontario as climate change forces Canadians to rethink asphalt shingles and choose longer-lasting, eco-friendly roofing options.
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.
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’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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Following violent protests in February, Cairo police stacked 10-feet-tall masonry walls around the Ministry of the Interior to cut access to that hated symbol of Egypt’s ousted regime. New barriers appeared after subsequent riots, turning nearby communities into a labyrinth of roadblocks and checkpoints.
Recently, artists “removed” them, overpainting concrete with images of the streetscapes they blocked. In a few days, the “No Walls” protest covered every barrier with a mural. Some residents are sanguine about the obstructions, expecting them to come down as the new government emerges. Others, like these nameless artists, don’t want to wait. Their optical illusions convey a powerful political message: Give us back our streets.
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.
Recent images of a dead, bloody wolf and broken flamingos that young Kuwaiti men killed for sport gave the oil-rich state a dark reputation. But a new video narrated so eloquently by Dalal Al-Abdulrazzak, a Kuwaiti Phd candidate studying Gulf marine ecology at the University of British Columbia, provides a glimpse into a less-celebrated segment of society – one that we really need to support.
In fact, this battle between ignorance and education, or entitlement and accountability seems to be at the crux of our many environmental woes. Hit the jump to enjoy, for just a few minutes, the power of one woman who has taken it upon herself to help restore the Gulf’s marine ecosystem to its pre-Gulf War glory.
When we learned about Planetary Resources’ asteroid mining scheme, a well-known Cree Indian proverb came to mind: “Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.” We knew this day would come.
Not content to change our consumer culture, which has been vastly destructive not just to the planet, but also to our very social fabric, Google billionaires are supporting a hugely expensive scheme to pull asteroids into the moon’s orbit and mine them for gold, platinum, and other rare earth metals. These will then be used to produce more unessential stuff on earth.
New York-based Lebanese designer Leen Sadder has even tried to make miswak twigs available commercially (read about it here). Yet it’s unlikely that Western society will let go of its colorful toothbrushes with convenient handles in favor of Miswak.
We trash our worn-out plastic toothbrushes in a minute, but they stay in landfills just about forever. To keep your teeth in shape and serve the planet, World Centric, a US-based company selling Fair Trade and eco-friendly products for daily food service, now offers a biodegradable toothbrush.
Made from a plant-based resin called Ingeo, the used toothbrush handle and carrier case break down in commercial composting facilities within 6 months.The toothbrushes don’t biodegrade in landfills. If you don’t have access to a composting facility, World Centric even offers a pre-paid envelope for mailing their used toothbrushes and cases back for them to deal with.
The 6th electro, automation & energy event in Algiers is happening May 5 to 8.
Interested in knowing more about renewable energy opportunities in North Africa and the Arab world? Then head to Algeria this May to meet a high profile group of decision makers and companies targeting the growing Algerian energy sector. In step with the Algerian Government’s “Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Program” penned in March 2011, meet the Algerian Ministry of Energy and Mines along with market leaders and suppliers from 10 countries already confirmed.
Some notable new investments made in the MENA region include a new solar thermal power plant in Saudi Arabia.
The revolutions that have been taking place in the Arab world since December 2010 have had a significant impact on the economy, not only in the countries involved, but also the rest of the World. How is the Arab Spring, which has caused massive financial losses on one side, also able to influence growth and development of renewable and green sources of energy?
There is no doubt that the Arab Spring has had a significant influence on oil prices. Mohammed Al Hamli, the United Arab Emirates’ oil minister, recently said that a reasonable price for oil would be around $80 to $100 a barrel. This is a significant increase from $50 a barrel, which is what OPEC oil ministers defined as a reasonable price just five years ago.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated in their latest bi-annual “Regional Economic Outlook: Middle East and Central Asia”-report that breakeven oil price for the UAE has risen from $60 in 2008 to $80 a barrel.
Geopolicity published “The Cost of the Arab Spring” back in October 2011, the same month as the war in Libya ended, and concluded that “Oil exporters were winners and oil importers were losers.” – with the exception of Libya, where revenues had dropped by 84 percent.
“More than 740,000 people have fled the country since the start of the conflict, and the severe disruption in the hydrocarbon sector has devastated the economy.”
According to the same report, Egypt, Syria and Libya paid the highest financial price as a result of the Arab Spring.
On the other hand, big oil-exporting countries such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates Kuwait that have avoided the worst uprisings, and some of which have only have had minor protests, have seen great increases in revenue since the Arab Spring started. In fact, public revenues are up as much as 31% in UAE.
Renewable energy has become more attractive
Net importers of energy face great economical challenges caused by the high and unstable oil prices. In countries such as Egypt, where fuel subsidies are rooted in the financial structure of the country’s budget, the high oil prices encourages the development of renewable energy power.
Rising fuel costs and increasing demand in solar power reduces the need of governmental incentives to support the growth of renewable energy. According to Emirates Solar Industry Association (ESIA), photovoltaics have reached a level of cost-competitiveness on par with conventional electricity generation based on fossil fuels.
Has the Arab Spring lead to renewable growth so far?
Investments are happening that possibly wouldn’t have taken place if it weren’t for the Arab Spring and high oil prices. Major projects have been announced during the last six months.
Same month, Abu Dhabi’s Enviromena Power Systems and American owned Petra Solar announced an alliance, stating that they would work together to develop integrated solar power and smart grid projects in the Middle East North Africa region.
And lastly, just a few days ago, Germany’s Centrotherm Photovoltaics announced that they are building a a new polysilicon plant in Saudi Arabia.
Stability is still a problem in the post Arab Spring world, especially in the countries that have had the greatest losses. Investor confidence has to be rebuilt. With new governments in place in Tripoli, Tunis and Cairo, all located in countries where sun and space is abundant, new investors from abroad are likely starting to get involved. High oil prices combined with the European power demand to meet green quotas, makes further development of the renewable resources inevitable.
Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General, stated the following earlier this year at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi:
“Investing in the green economy is not simply a luxury of the developed countries. It represents opportunity for job creation and economic growth in developing countries.”
Renewable energy will bring many new jobs to the table, spur economic growth and make industries and countries less vulnerable against volatile energy prices. The transition to democracy seems to be an intrinsic part of fighting global warming.
Mathias Aarre Mæhlum is doing a masters degree in energy and environmental engineering at NTNU in Norway. In his spare time he runs EnergyInformative where he writes about green energy and increasing energy efficiency.
Excellent at recycling oil, what are the barriers to Saudi Arabia in recycling other valuables? 
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 
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.
