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World Bank to Fund Massive Grid Expansion To Link Desertec Region and the Arab World

Susan Kraemer
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World Bank to Fund Massive Grid Expansion To Link Desertec Region and the Arab World

desertec mapA gigantic electricity network would link electric grids throughout the Middle East and extend them much further in a massive infrastructure investment in a smart grid.

At a press conference in the Cairo office on Saturday, Mohie Eddin said the World Bank is considering a smart grid plan that would link the eastern Arab states, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE and Saudi Arabia with Egypt, down through the Sudan into Ethiopia, and along the top of the Desertec region linking the western outposts of the Arab World. This would connect up nations as far away as the Maghreb region of Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Mauritania and the Western Sahara.

Is the World Bank indirectly getting involved with Desertec? A glance at this planned grid is almost like an overlay of the Desertec plan, but extended – not up into Europe, as the Desertec plan – but across, to the increasingly hot and energy hungry nations of the rapidly growing Arab world.

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Luxury Architecture in Mecca: Has Hajj Lost Its Egalitarian Spirit?

Arwa Aburawa
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Luxury Architecture in Mecca: Has Hajj Lost Its Egalitarian Spirit?

hajj-mecca-architecture-clocktower

As the most iconic structure of Islam, the cuboid Ka’bah in Mecca is one of striking simplicity. Covered in black material it’s a bold yet uncomplicated structure, with bare walls and a simple interior consisting of lamps and three supporting arches. Over time, however, this simplicity has been undermined by the proliferation of luxury hotels, malls and towering skyscrapers which surround the holy site. You can even start your day with the usual Starbucks coffee if you like or pick up a Macdonalds after prayers.

Now nearing completion, the ‘Royal Mecca Clock Tower’ which is one of the tallest buildings in the world and resembles London’s Big Ben, appears to have delivered the final blow to Mecca’s architectural dignity and the egalitarian spirit of hajj.

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“Lease Mobiles” Take Over Israel’s Crowded Roads

Maurice Picow
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“Lease Mobiles” Take Over Israel’s Crowded Roads

How much recyclable material will this new Mazda have when it goes to the shredder in 2030?

Lat year 2010 was a record year for new car sales Israel, according to an article just published in Globes. The article reports that 216,430 vehicles were bought during the year, a whopping 25.3 % more than in 2009. Of these 181,526 were private cars, which surpassed the amount sold in 2009 by 25%. What this means is that since environmentally friendly cars like electric cars are still in the testing stage, only a few of these nearly 1/4  million units will be converted to burn more environmentally friendly fuels like liquid petroleum gas.

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Sturdy Chamber Pot Doubles As Watering Can

Tafline Laylin
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1
Sturdy Chamber Pot Doubles As Watering Can

chamber-pot-water-canThis nifty device made in Sweden allows avid farmers to create their own fertilizer!

Urine has been getting a lot of attention recently. Though most city dwellers are opposed to a quick public wee,  urine is so powerful it can be used to energize fuel cells and as fertilizer.

Small scale farmers or gardeners who want to eschew expensive fertilizers have a more natural option. And thanks to a Swedish company called Guldkannan (Gold Can), a neat technology that makes their own urine easy to capture.

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Dubai Gets Its First “Green” Gas Station

Tafline Laylin
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Dubai Gets Its First “Green” Gas Station

dubai-green-petrol-stationEnoc collects fuel vapors and incorporates other green elements into Dubai residential filling station.

Last September, Dubai ran short on gas, while other Gulf countries re-evaluated their long term energy plan as a result of looming peak oil. Now The National reports that Dubai has installed a “green” petrol station that not only captures and recycles harmful vapor emissions, but incorporates other “eco” features, including a friendlier car wash.

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Israeli Clean Air Act Goes into Effect

Karen Chernick
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Israeli Clean Air Act Goes into Effect

"air pollution israel"Passed in the summer of 2008, Israel’s Clean Air Act went into effect this month.

As with its neighboring Middle Eastern countries, things can be slow moving in Israel sometimes.  Maybe its a regional thing.  But better later than never.  While it would have been great if Israel’s Clean Air Act went into effect back in 2008 when it was legislated, we are still happy that it went into effect this month (a short two and a half years later).  (In the meantime, the Israeli government has been tackling other issues such as the water crisis, so we’ll cut them a little slack.)

Maybe the recent UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun (COP16) inspired the government to finally put the Clean Air Act into effect, or maybe it was just next on the “to-do list”.  Either way, it is the first large-scale legislation governing Israeli air pollution.

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Israel Cleantech Intelligence: 2010 and 8 More Headlines

Lisa Damast
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Israel Cleantech Intelligence: 2010 and 8 More Headlines

Oil Drill

2010 year in review, Israel’s new wind tariff, Israel’s driest year, and more headlines related to Israeli cleantech and the environment.

Speculation continues on what Israel’s Leviathan gas find – the world’s largest gas discovery of the decade – will mean for Israel politically and economically and the impact it will have in the Middle East and rest of the world. Israel’s HCL CleanTech and Verint Energy received a grant for the research and development of converting wood into biofuel and Gulf countries looking to implement water treatment solutions are likely to turn to Israel for its expertise. For these stories and the rest of this week’s headlines, see below.

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How Fair Is That Rose, Dear Egypt?

Tafline Laylin
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How Fair Is That Rose, Dear Egypt?

textured-roses-imageBefore you pick up your sweetheart’s flowers this years, check first to find out where they come from.

Only one month before Valentine’s day, when thousands of women are expected to swoon over after a last minute pitch to be romantic, Egypt will host the world’s leading flower producers at a three day long exhibition.

Almasry Alyoum reports that flowers create numerous jobs and that tens of thousands of visitors to the show are expected. But what they failed to mention is the extraordinary cost – environmental and social – decorative flowers often represent.

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One Vulture’s Tagged Migration or Zionist Plot?

Tafline Laylin
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3
One Vulture’s Tagged Migration or Zionist Plot?

vulture saudi arabiaA vulture fitted with Tel Aviv University tags was “arrested” in Saudi Arabia. The charge? Espionage.

Fitting migratory birds with tags and GPS transmitters allows ornithologists and other researchers to track their migration. Important questions are answered: where do the birds fly?  Where do they rest? How far do they travel. Dubai researchers recently tagged a flamingo as part of an ongoing program, and Israel has been tagging for years. The vulture caught flying in a rural area of Saudi Arabia raised suspicions that Israel was planning a Zionist Plot.

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A Nice Way To “Stick It” To The Household Eco-Deniers

Tafline Laylin
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A Nice Way To “Stick It” To The Household Eco-Deniers

hu2-design-stickersHu2 Design stickers help those in the house who don’t really “get” where stuff comes from.

Some people flat out deny global warming and any other environmental problems. Others kind of get it, but aren’t prepared to give up their Hummers. Others still perpetually express their guilt for eating meat and flying to Dubai for a weekend of debauchery, but do it anyway.

Then there are those who have a strong eco-conscience, don’t eat meat, ride bikes, and shop second hand. And finally, there are folks who live entirely without money. But everyone could use a gentle reminder once in a while. Hu2 Design’s stickers show everybody the hidden costs behind household choices.

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In Video: Israeli Solar Tech in 2010 and 2011

Lisa Damast
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc1-RLDU2GU[/youtube]

The year 2010 was a big year for Israel’s solar industry. A groundbreaking renewable energy agreement was made to help the country meet its goal of producing 10% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020 while partnerships in solar energy distribution deals and more were signed by Israeli solar companies abroad. Here’s two videos recapping some of Israel’s most-promising companies in 2010 and 2011. The first video (above) focuses on solar in Israel and the second one focuses on it abroad. (click on the image to view)

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Israel Offers a Too-Low Rate For Wind Feed-in Tariff

Susan Kraemer
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3
Israel Offers a Too-Low Rate For Wind Feed-in Tariff

wind energy israelIsrael fails the “Goldilocks test” for feed-in tariffs with a rate that is too low to hit the sweet spot for wind farm proliferation

Israel’s Public Utility Authority posted on Monday for public comment its revised proposal for feed-in tariff rates that the government will pay for the output of small wind turbines up to 50 KW. It will pay between NIS 0.44 (US $0.10) and NIS 0.54 (US $0.12) per kilowatt hour, a mere quarter of what was floated in 2009 as a possible payment rate.

A feed-in tariff policy was originally decided upon in June, 2008, with the PUA agreeing to purchase the electricity from small domestic and commercial wind turbines.

Then in 2009 it proposed rates that would have been much higher than today’s, according to PUA documents (PDF) posted by feed-in tariff expert Paul Gipe at wind-works (PDF).

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3 Ways to Cook With Fennel

Miriam Kresh
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3 Ways to Cook With Fennel

image-roasted-fennelMiriam offers three recipes for the liquorice-flavored fennel.

From spring to the onset of fall, wild fennel Ferula communis waves feathery leaves and bright yellow flowers in open fields all over Israel. The aromatic seed-like fruit are sometimes used as seasonings (read about uses for fennel seeds in Part II of our spice medicines series). Bees, as we noted in our post about the Black Bear apiary, appreciate wild fennel flowers, and honey with a wild fennel note is delicious indeed. But wild fennel doesn’t produce fat, juicy bulbs like Florence fennel.

Cultivation of Florence fennel began in the 1970s  on Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu, pioneers of organic agriculture in Israel. Mario Levy, Director of Organic Agriculture (who Green Prophet’s founder Karin has worked beside in the fields), brought seeds back to the kibbutz from a trip to Italy. Now the faintly sweet, anise-flavored vegetable appears in Israeli markets all through winter and into spring. There are many ways to eat it, and here are three: sliced into salads, roasted to sweetness, or baked in a cheese sauce.

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Why One Should Linger in Sebastia, Near Nablus

Sarah Irving
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2

Wander off the beaten trail in the West Bank, and find a treasure of a guesthouse in Sebastia, near Nablus

The little town of Sebastia, near Nablus in the northern West Bank, was one a major city. Home to successive civilisations from its Canaanite founders to its modern-day Palestinian inhabitants (via Israelites, Crusaders and Alexander the Great, the name but a few) both the major archaeological site above the village and the historic centre of the town itself should be major cultural tourism resources.

But few visitors stay long in Sebastia. For many tourists, it’s a morning’s halt on a whistle-stop tour. Coaches pull into the parking lot at the archaeological site and disgorge their cargo of visitors, who pile back on again a few hours later after a quick tramp round the main ruins – the amphitheatre, Hellenic watchtowers, chapel of St John the Baptist and Israelite palaces.

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Iran and Qatar Make Bio-lateral Ties for the Birds?

Maurice Picow
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Iran and Qatar Make Bio-lateral Ties for the Birds?

One wonders if “raising game birds” is as environmental as Iran and Qatar claim it is

Iran and Qatar are still interested in working together on environment projects. This time dealing with protecting endangered local animal species.  A new agreement was signed  by VP and Head of Iran’s Environment Protection Organization Mohammad-Javad Mohammadi-Zadeh , and Qatar’s Environment Protection Minister Abdullah bin-Mubarak bin-A’abud al-Mea’azadi.  In this agreement, which follows  a Memorandum of Understanding  signed last February by the two men, also included working jointly on issues dealing with elements behind regional insecurity.”

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Australian camels fly on a plane to Saudi Arabia

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Elon Musk to create Mars base station on the Moon

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For those unaware, SpaceX has already shifted focus to building a self-growing city on the Moon, as we can potentially achieve that in less than 10 years, whereas Mars would take 20+ years.

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