Plans to create a local cleantech industry drove part of Masdar’s ecotopian vision. That may be changing.
According to bidding documents obtained by Bloomberg News, the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (ADFEC) is about to decide on the awarding of Masdar’s second 100 MW solar project, for completion in 2013. ADFEC is a private joint stock company wholly-owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, and given a mandate to drive the Masdar project for a zero carbon city in the wealthy UAE.
Abu Dhabi plans to best the US with a bigger, greener line of zero-emission buses.
Abu Dhabi never ceases to amaze us with their growing emissions reduction initiatives. A couple of their most recent developments include the sewage-fed forest and solar-powered recycling bins. While the emirate occasionally produces environmental hazards such as the bejeweled Christmas tree, we feature efforts like these new electric buses on a near-daily basis. Of course, electric vehicles are only as green as the fuel used to produce them (which will be oil for the foreseeable future in Abu Dhabi), but at least they will cut emissions.
Monterey Bay Aquarium takes the guesswork out of the best seafood choices: for the environment and for your health.
If you’re anything like me, you don’t know what’s good to eat anymore. Long after giving up red meat and chicken, I continued to eat fish, but now I don’t dare. Thanks to the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, it isn’t necessary for everyone to take such drastic measures since they keep track of the most sustainable seafood options. Health is another important thing to consider when choosing seafood. Although often an excellent source of immunity-boosting omega-3 fatty acids that also reduce risk of heart disease, stroke, and cancer, some fish carry toxins that can become harmful when eaten frequently. Read on for the September 2010 update on the top six choices.
Renowned photographer Camille Zakharia talked to us from Bahrain about his upcoming exhibit at Art Sawa in Dubai.
Camille Zakharia has photographed “the mundane” for as long as he can remember, but he is anything but. After fleeing Lebanon’s civil war in 1985, he has lived in the United States, Greece, Turkey, and Canada. But Bahrain is the place he now considers home, having lived there the past 12 years.
Typically he addresses issues related to sense of self, belonging and home, unsurprising for someone whose definition of home is necessarily fluid. But his recent exhibit called “Coastal Promenade,” which will be on show at Dubai’s Art Sawa beginning next week and was commissioned by Bahrain’s Ministry of Culture documents how Bahrain’s coastal culture and architecture has changed as a result of growth and land reclamation. While the country mourned its martyrs, Camille spoke gently about his role as documentarian of change.
Solar potential in Oman has gone unused till now. That is about to change
Indian renewable energy company Astonfield Renewable Resources, which has dedicated itself to creating solar in the developing world nations of Africa, India and the Middle East, has just been selected to help develop 200 MW of solar power for the Sultan of Oman.
SDE Energy has been given the go-ahead by Kenya’s Energy Ministry to develop a wave energy plant on its coast.
The Israeli firm SDE Energy has defied the larger wave energy corporations with its sleek wave energy designs. Suited for places that aren’t on the list of top wave-producers such as China, India, and Israel, his technology is increasingly competitive as oil prices soar. Now Kenya, which is striving to become East Africa’s most power industrial nation, and no stranger to alternative energy, has commissioned the firm to conduct tests on its coast with the intention to build a 100MW wave energy plant.
Who knew? Now you can get sushi and organic food delivered to your home, from Masdar City. But there is a caveat.
When we think of Masdar City, we think of solar power and funky space-buildings. We think of desert and withering heat. And perhaps we dream that one day this city will be completed and offer the rest of the world an example of a carbon and waste free city (albeit a rather expensive one.) But sushi? And an organic supermarket? This is definitely news to us. Reporters from The National took a drive to see these places for themselves.
Nabito Architects in Barcelona are negotiating with Abu Dhabi engineers to build these stunning sustainable skyscrapers.
Dubai’s skyline is going to look increasingly dull compared to what is planned for Abu Dhabi. In addition to Masdar City and the Lunar Cubit energy-generating pyramids that won the Land Art Generator Initiative’s 2010 design competition, a new award-winning building designed by Barcelona-based architects Nabito could forever change how we view high rise structures. Sweep aside the boring energy-draining buildings of old and welcome instead the “Stairscraper”
Solaria displays this image on its website, where it states that its vision is to “to enable every household and business in Israel to make use of and profit from advanced solar energy technology.”
Israel-based Shikun & Binui Solaria, a subsidiary of the Arison Group’s Shikun & Binui Renewable Energies, will build a 6.7 MW solar PV (photovoltaic) field in southern Israel in collaboration with the Spanish multinational Soltec Renewable Energies. According to the agreement announced this week, the solar power facility will be built at the site of the Timna copper mines, not far from Kibbutz Ketura, where Arava Power is building Israel’s first land-based PV array following a landmark power purchase agreement (PPA) signed in November.
A gold Bentley, and white gold Mercedes. What’s next – a gold Rolls Royce?
In a glitz race to see who owns the most outrageous symbol of unrestrained wealth, a white gold plated Bentley sports coupe was recently featured at a United Arab Emirates auto show. The car, which takes on a yellow gold hue when displayed under special lighting, is still “under wraps” as far as pertinent details go. These details include how much gold went into making this car, which represents the limits of ostentatious wealth representation of a region of the world – where the creation of the wealth is due to how much fossil fuels can be pumped or siphoned out of the ground – or seabed, as the case may be.
Palestinian youth learn about water issues at Al-Auja Eco-Centre
Green Prophet has featured news about the Friends of the Earth Middle East (FOEME) Eco-Centre at Al-Auja, a Palestinian village in the Jordan Valley, on a number of occasions. Green Prophet writer Rachel Bergstein has reported on the challenges the inhabitants of Al-Auja face because the water from their famous spring is appropriated by neighbouring settlements. And more recently, Maurice Picow wrote about the shocking pollution of the Jordan river – including the Christian ‘Baptism Site’, not far from Al-Auja.
Bergstein also wrote several years ago about the potential for eco-tourism in Al-Auja, after walks in the village were included in the FOEME’s ‘Neighbours’ Paths’ programme, raising awareness of water issues and community solutions. Now, the Eco-Centre has launched its latest project, a guesthouse with space for around 40 visitors to stay in dormitories, using a shared kitchen or being served traditional meals cooked by staff from Al-Auja.
A banal for-profit product for the Third World may revolutionize the treatment of human waste
In the Middle East and other regions with increasing water stress, using clean water to whisk excreta out of sight is increasingly wasteful. For the more than 40% of the world’s population that don’t have private toilets with running water, it is not even a choice. For the rest of us, who are the heirs of European water-based treatment of human waste, developed back when there was plenty of water, and only a few million of us, we may soon need to consider a dry treatment alternative, courtesy of a Swedish architect: the Peepoo bag.
A new natural gas pipeline promises to cut air pollution in the Haifa Bay area by at least 75% by 2013.
As noted in a previous post, there was some disappointing environmental news in Israel this week: The Finance Ministry slapped a freeze on development of large solar power plants, pending a review of the feed-in tariff scheme. But there were also some good news: A new pipeline was dedicated this week that will bring natural gas to northern Israel, allowing petrochemical plants and other industries in the Haifa area to switch from diesel and crude oil, thus significantly reducing air pollution.
If you’re in Dubai, don’t miss out on the opportunity to see Camille Zakharia’s beautiful photographic exhibition called Coastal Promenade.
Even tiny Bahrain has been swept up by the furor that has uprooted despotic regimes throughout the Middle East. And it’s not hard to see why. This once quaint coastal country has been overrun by a surge of capitalist change, forever altering its architecture and culture as a result. In part to help restore sections of its coast, Bahrain’s first female Minister of Culture, Sheikha Mai, commissioned the Reclaim Project shown last year at La Biennale International Architecture Exhibition in Venice. Camille Zakharia’s photography featured prominently at the event and will soon be on show at the beautiful Art Sawa Gallery in Dubai’s Al Quoz District.
With input from over 100 Middle Eastern leaders, the Swiss government has produced a positive tool that could transform regional water policies.
There are no foregone conclusions. How the next few decades proceed depends on us, on actions that we take today. We know that the Jordan River barely exists six months every year, such is its decline. We know that the Dead Sea is shrinking. And we know that sixty percent of Syria is likely to become an uninhabitable desert. But this is not the end of the line. A new report called “Blue Peace: Rethinking Middle East Water” compiled by the Strategic Foresight Group provides leaders of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories with long-term policy options that could transform regional political disturbance and ecological destruction into a peaceful, cooperative and rejuvenated Middle East.
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