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First Solar Powered Movie in Israel to be Screened in Tel Aviv Next Week

Karen Chernick
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7

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZjsJdokC0s&feature=PlayList&p=B8D76CD6FCA6389B&index=0&playnext=1[/youtube]

Watching a movie about the environment is one thing.  But watching a movie about the environment that is powered with solar power?  That is taking eco cinema to a whole other level.  And hopefully Israel is ready for it, because it’s happening for the first time ever in Tel Aviv next week.

Green Change and Ecocinema (the International Environmental Film Festival) have joined forces to organize Solar Nights – a series of three environmental film screenings powered by solar power to take place at the Hub-TLV in Tel Aviv.

The series begins this Tuesday, September 22 with a screening of The Age of Stupid – a film that will be screened in 45 countries and 700 venues on the same day in order to raise awareness towards Copenhagen 2009 (a summit in which crucial decisions about greenhouse gas emissions will be made).  Check out the clip above to see a trailer of the movie. You can read James’ review on the Age of Stupid film here. 

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Dow Licenses BioPetroClean's Tech To Gobble Up Oil In Wastewater

Green Prophet
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7
Dow Licenses BioPetroClean's Tech To Gobble Up Oil In Wastewater

biopetroclean-DOW-oil-refinery

Even the CEO was initially skeptical about BioPetroClean’s simple and effective solution for cleaning up industrial wastewater, but it works; and now Dow Chemicals is onboard.

The idea that microscopic bacteria could cheaply and efficiently cleanse oceans of industrial wastewater may seem far-fetched. But it is just this premise that launched BioPetroClean, a Texas-based cleantech company with research-and-development facilities in Tel Aviv.

In fact, the technology is so effective that $57.5 billion industry giant Dow Chemical just announced a global commercial agreement whereby it will market and distribute the Dow-BPC Water Treatment System internationally. The agreement includes exclusivity across significant oil drilling and refining markets.

“The selection of the BPC solution by a worldwide leader such as Dow is a great endorsement that can enable massive deployment of our new and exciting technology,” says David Amir, CEO of BioPetroClean.

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BrightSource Solar Energy Teams up with Bectel to Build Large California Solar Energy Facility

Maurice Picow
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4
BrightSource Solar Energy Teams up with Bectel to Build Large California Solar Energy Facility

ivanpah_simulation[1] 

Following a previous agreement made between the BrightSource solar energy  company and California’s PG&E utility company,  a recent article in Israel’s financial newspaper, Globes (9.10.2009)  noted that  the American-Israeli solar energy giant is now partnering with the American Bectel construction contracting company to build a 440 megawatt solar energy power plant in southeastern California.

Involving the Ivanpah Solar Electricity Generating System, the project will consists of three separate solar energy plants that will sell the generated electricity to both Pacific Gas and Electric and California Edison.

The technology incorporated into the BrightSource energy systems has its origins with a company called Luz International,  founded by Arnold Goldman. The Luz company, which later became known as Luz II, became a BrightSource subsidiary, Brightsource Industries Israel Ltd (BSII) in 2006. In its 30 year  history, the Luz solar plants founded by Goldman have generated more than 11,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity.

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NATO Aids Water Bridge Between Jordan, Israel and the US

Karin Kloosterman
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5
NATO Aids Water Bridge Between Jordan, Israel and the US

clinton-rabinIsrael and Jordan share environmental problems, but regional politics and prejudices – despite a peace agreement – keep them from solving them together.

A new North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) grant set up to develop two inland water desalination plants – one in Israel and one in Jordan – not only gets two Middle East universities collaborating, but the end-product could quench the region’s thirst. It could also boost an under-used new technology that promises to save energy and water the world over.

According to the terms of the project, three universities – Ben Gurion University in Beersheba, the Hashemite University of Jordan and the University of Colorado in the United States – are to implement a new Israeli reverse osmosis desalination technology at two pilot sites.

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Tel Aviv Pushes Green Metric

Daniella Cheslow
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2
Tel Aviv Pushes Green Metric

solar-panelsFuture investors in Israeli businesses may be able to judge a company by its green record. According to the Jerusalem Post, last week the Environmental Protection Ministry, financial groups, the European Commission green and the green umbrella organization Life and the Environment,  got together to hash over a green metric system.

Opinion writer Asher Meir noted a few potential pitfalls – how can the environmental parameters ensure accuracy, how much will it cost, and who will keep tabs on smaller companies?

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Meet Inbal Limor Who Is Upcycling Jaffa's Junk Into Art

Karin Kloosterman
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8
Meet Inbal Limor Who Is Upcycling Jaffa's Junk Into Art

inbal-limor-israel-artistGreen Prophet loves to feature Middle East designers and artists who are turning junk into art. Meet Inbal Limor, who we’ve featured before as an “artist in transition”:

A few blocks from where artist Inbal Limor lives in Jaffa, Israel, is a junk collector’s dream. The Florentine neighborhood in South Tel Aviv is crammed with furniture studios, carpentry shops and young fashion designers who all throw their scraps and odds and ends into the big metal dumpsters that line the street.

Unlike in New York, the dumpsters in Israel considerately open from the side, making it easier to pull out finds without having to commit and dive inside.

The dumpsters hold a treasure trove of bags bursting with scraps of material, wooden blocks and furniture, old and new magazines, blueprints, stuffing, plastics and Styrofoam.

The 29-year-old collects all these, transforming them into paintings, sculptures, crafts and art. Limor is a little reluctant to divulge her trade secrets but she is willing to reveal that one of her best hunting spots is Jaffa’s nearby shuk (flea market).

She doesn’t go there to shop. After the garbage collectors sell whatever they can for pennies and dollars, they toss the “garbage of the garbage” left over from the day back onto the street.

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Cecilia Cohen's Recycled Artwork Teaches Us That When the Beer Bottle is Empty, the Possibilities Are Full

Karen Chernick
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3
Cecilia Cohen's Recycled Artwork Teaches Us That When the Beer Bottle is Empty, the Possibilities Are Full

cecilia cohen recycled glass beadsIf asked whether the glass is half empty or half full, we’re pretty sure that Israeli artist Cecilia Cohen would say full.  Full of possibilities.

A self-described “mother earth type”, Cecilia has always been conscious of her impact on the environment and is the kind of person “who worries about the survival of coral and bats and picks up garbage at the beach.”  She has brought this awareness to her art production and business practices.

Working mostly with glass and in a wide variety of ways, Cecilia creates beads, jewelry, boxes and other decorative items, all the while constantly finding ways to recycle and upcycle.  She transforms wine and beer bottles into beads (as shown above), old jewelry into stained glass, and integrates found shards of ancient pottery into her designs (as seen below).  She finds uses for even the smallest pieces of material, rather than throwing them away.

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IQwind and 7 Israel-related Cleantech Headlines, Week of September 6, 2009

Lisa Damast
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3
IQwind and 7 Israel-related Cleantech Headlines, Week of September 6, 2009

solar-panels

During the week of September 6, 2009, IQwind was named a top 100 cleantech company. Researchers at Ben Gurion University announced that they developed thin films that have potential for solar applications and Norman Borlaug, Father of the “Green Revolution,” passed away. For these stories and the rest of this week’s 7 headlines, check below.

Water
Environmentalists blast Mideast water projects

Solar
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev develops thin films showing promise for solar applications

Bechtel to Build Solar Plant in California

Phone home with Israeli solar cells

In Israel
GoEco Pioneers Volunteer Eco Tourism in Israel

Wind
IQwind Ltd. Named a Global Cleantech 100 Clean Technology Company

Miscellaneous
Father of “Green Revolution” Leaves Behind Big Questions

Turkey Rivals Iran as Pomegranate Powerhouse

Daniella Cheslow
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2
Turkey Rivals Iran as Pomegranate Powerhouse

pomegranates-turkeyAlthough Iran holds the world title for pomegranates, runner-up Turkey is expecting a bumper crop this year that could propel it into the top spot. The Hurriyet Daily News reports that as world demand for pomegranates rises, Turkey has converted field after field of relatively unprofitable cotton over to the crowned red fruit that features prominently in the upcoming Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashana), which starts Friday.

Turkey’s pomegranate exports more than doubled between 2006 and 2008; last year it sent abroad 29,000 tons.

Experts credit the expansion to the easy payout, government incentives and skyrocketing demand. Ali Ergezer, the chairman of the chamber of agriculture in the pomegranate city of Tarsus, said the future looks good:

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Father of "Green Revolution" Leaves Behind Big Questions

Daniella Cheslow
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7
Father of "Green Revolution" Leaves Behind Big Questions

norman-borlaugPlant pathologist Norman Borlaug, 95, died this Saturday, raising questions about the legacy of industrial food in the Third World. In 1970, Borlaug received a Nobel Peace Prize for averting famine through bringing fertilizers, pesticides and new plant strains to countries like India, Mexico and Pakistan. But environmentalists argue that his plant engineering only delayed catastrophe at great ecological costs.

According to the Washington Post, Borlaug grew up in Iowa and was touched by the lines of people in bread lines during the Great Depression. He wanted to solve the issue of hunger. After getting his Ph.D in plant pathology in 1942, he worked on a team requested by the Mexican government to increase wheat production. First, he grew wheat in two seasons rather than one. Then, Borlaug developed a short-stalked “dwarf” wheat because fertilizer had made the old variety so tall the stalk fell over.

With Mexico on his resume, Borlaug went to develop dwarf rice species for Southeast Asia. By the end of his career, according to his foundation, the World Food Prize, he had programs in Latin America and Southeast Asia, along with a fat portfolio in the Middle East: Beginning in the early 1960’s, his approach to wheat breeding was introduced in Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Iran, Libya, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan, Algeria and Saudi Arabia. By the mid-1980s, he was pushing for a Green Revolution in Africa, too.

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Table to Table "Recycles" Left Over Food to the Needy

Maurice Picow
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1
Table to Table "Recycles" Left Over Food to the Needy
A special "volunteer" serves the needy
A special “volunteer” serves the needy

You’ve read many Green Prophet articles dealing with all kinds of recycling; ranging from paper and plastic materials , to plant and animal refuse for use as compost heaps.

But not a lot has been mentioned concerning a very important and essential type of “recycling” that not only is environmentally friendly, but also helps to provide food for those less fortunate in Israel, and in other parts of the world.

This type of recycling involves an organization known as Table to Table, which provides left over food from restaurants and social events, surplus farm produce, and other sources (hospitals and other institutions, etc) and distributes this food to needy people.

Israel’s Table to Table NGO is based on an American version bearing the same name and headquartered in New Jersey.

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Have a Sweet and Green Rosh Hashanah

Karen Chernick
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19
Have a Sweet and Green Rosh Hashanah

plastic yarn pomegranate limitzWith the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) coming up this week, many of us are reflecting on the past year and making resolutions for the next.  These resolutions may include ways to treat ourselves better, ways to be better to those around us, and ways to make a more positive impact on our surroundings.

Making a green resolution is a way to do all of those things at once.  Need help thinking of one?  Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

Make your own… fill in the blank.  Make your own tomato sauce, grow your own vegetables, craft your own gifts, sew your own clothes and for those adventurous ones out there – make your own energy by building a solar oven.  Making your own saves precious fossil fuels and reduces waste, but you can also look at it as an opportunity to fuel your creativity.

Buy local, handmade and recycled.  If you must buy, buy something that is local, handmade, and that has been given a second (or third, or fourth, or fifth) life.  Local food is a given, and if it can be as local as your window sill or backyard then all the better.  But what about everything else?  Need some notebooks from school?  A new sweater?  A gift for someone?  Be conscious of your choices and of the impact that your consumerism makes.  If you need help finding things that fit these categories, try looking locally on Etsy or shopping Etsy’s ecoetsy category.  (The above pomegranates, handmade out of upcycled plastic yarn, were created by Israeli Etsy seller LIMITZ – stay tuned next week for a feature on her upcycled designs.)

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New ideas for dusty kitchen curios

Karen Chernick
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2
New ideas for dusty kitchen curios

bundt pan jewelry boxThink Again is a series that provides fun ideas for how to reuse items in your home that you would normally throw out or recycle.  Reusing is higher on the “green” food chain than recycling, because getting another use out of an object is always more effective than spending the energy to recycle it.  Plus, trying to reuse can force us to be creative!

The Think Again series has featured mini projects so far, but sometimes reusing an item literally means just thinking again.  Look at an item that you have in a different way, turn it over or on its side, and think of a new use for it.

So why not start with an area of our homes that needs some decluttering anyway – the back of the kitchen cabinet, home of all those unused kitchen appliances?

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GoEco Pioneers Volunteer Eco Tourism in Israel

Karen Chernick
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4
GoEco Pioneers Volunteer Eco Tourism in Israel

volunteer ecotourism nazarethThere are plenty of eco tourism options all over the Middle East.  With the vast range of habitats present in this relatively small region, it’s no wonder that eco tourism is gaining popularity in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Iran and Israel.

But volunteer tourism?  That’s something new.

GoEco, a volunteer organization established in 2005 by Jonathan Gilben and Jonathan Tal (both of whom have degrees in Environmental and Geographical Studies), is a pioneer in introducing the concept of volunteer tourism to Israel.  Volunteer tourism is a relatively new field in which travel benefits not only the tourist but the community that he or she visits.

Gilben said about GoEco‘s mission that “we believe in giving tourists the opportunity to get involved with the communities they visit… GoEco is the first and only volunteer tourism organization in Israel, and we have directed many participants to programs in Israel and abroad that are both inspirational and fun.”

We hope that the concept of volunteer tourism spreads all over the Middle East.

GoEco’s first volunteer project was an Israeli Sea Turtle Rescue Center in Michmoret, on the Mediterranean Sea, in the summer of 2006.  Since then they have successfully organized volunteer projects in Israel and all over the world – in locations such as Nepal, Thailand, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Namibia, and Zimbabwe.

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Global Cleantech 100 Includes 5 Israeli Companies

Green Prophet
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11
Global Cleantech 100 Includes 5 Israeli Companies

wind-turbineIsrael was the only Middle East representation to make the new Global Cleantech 100 list, and according to the survey 5 companies made the cut. 

According to the search engine on the Guardian, only 4 made the cut, they are water purification company AqWise, solar company Solel Solar Systems, energy storage company EnStorage, wind energy gear box company IQWind. 

Additionally, Better Place, the electric car company which is registered as a US company, but founded by Israelis, made the cut; as did BrightSource the solar energy company, also founded by Israelis.

The list is developed by the UK-based newspaper, The Guardian and the Cleantech Group which providers of leading research, events and advisory services for the cleantech world. Supported by the Carbon Trust, the Global Cleantech 100 recognises companies at the forefront of cleantech innovation offering solutions to some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.

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