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New Energy For America Might Be In Israel: Top US Energy Leaders In Israel Now

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obama-green change poster photo
The Obama administration has committed to supporting renewable energy sources and to mitigate domestic and international climate initiatives.

At the dawn of Obama’s new presidency, influential energy leaders from America visit Israel to expand their worldviews to learn about the country’s unique technological opportunities.

Among the American guests in Israel now are top energy officials from the U.S. Government, the business world and the not-for-profit sector.

While in Israel, the guests will meet similar leaders to share information, such as how to take action towards a post-fossil fuel economy.

Hosted by Project Interchange, an Institute of the American Jewish Committee, the hand-picked group of 11 American specialists, include Adam Zellner, the Former Director of Policy of New Jersey; Gregory Fox, the Director of Business Development at Constellation Energy; Geoffrey Brown, the Legislative Director of Pew Charitable Trusts; Seth Portner, the energy representative from the office of the Governor of Colorado, as well as Tamra Spielvogel, the national Energy Director from the National Conference of State Legislators, and several more.

A Look-See At High-Priority Field

“Timed to coincide with the Eilat Energy Conference, this special Project Interchange seminar gives our guests an opportunity to interface with those attending the conference on possibilities for future collaboration,” says Ida Singelenberg, the U.S. program director for Project Interchange. “This group is coming for a look-see at Israel at the dawn of a new U.S. administration that has established energy and sustainability as a high priority. Some are already attracted to the clean technology opportunities in Israel; this seminar might take their involvement to another level.”

Lead-free, green toys

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wind energy, solar energy, cleantech, Iran, oil, gas, sanctions, alternative energy

It seems like every day there is yet another toy recall in the news, the odd one was scary, but at this rate it’s downright terrifying.

Do not let yourself be discouraged: there are plenty of safer options around and a big freebie too –– our imagination. Unfortunately, toy makers are so aggresive in their marketing, not just targeting the parents but the children too, that we often are left feeling that if we do not buy these toys for our children that we are somehow depriving them of the fun of growing up.

Well folks, it just ain’t true! Some of the best loved toys and games are often the homemade variety and whatever you are made to believe your children really wouldn’t miss half the toys they have these days.

Saudi Oil Minister Calls Renewable Energy a "Nightmare"

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oil drums saudi arabia photo

This week, executives of major oil companies met at the Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) annual conference in Houston, Texas and (finally!) expressed a willingness to help combat global climate change.  This is a major step, because these companies denied the existence of global warming and deliberately tried to obstruct political progress on the issue for decades.

Unfortunately, not everyone was equally supportive of transitioning to a renewable energy economy.  In a speech to conference participants, Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali Naimi warned that promoting the rapid growth of renewable energy without continuing to invest in oil would create a “nightmare scenario.”

“We must be mindful that efforts to rapidly promote alternatives could have a ‘chilling effect’ on investment in the oil sector,” he said. “A nightmare scenario would be created if alternative energy supplies fail to meet overly optimistic expectations, while traditional energy suppliers scale back investment.”

Although Mr. Naimi, an influential voice in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), acknowledged that the world is moving away from fossil fuels, he indicated renewable energy technologies may be unable to grow to the same scale as crude oil.

Israeli Company Spotless Creates Sustainable Advertising For Roads

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advertising on city streets photoUsually the advertising industry is not considered to be a very ecological industry. Think about  the amount of useless junk mail you get to your mailbox each day wasting tons of paper which most of it won’t be recycled. Think of all the huge advertising billboard posters on highways. Now think Eco-design. And specifically urban design.

There are new and innovative ways to promote brands and ideas in more sustainable ways that don’t generate waste or pollution. One way is to spread your ads on the dirty pavement by “cleaning it.” That’s right, water and pressure clean the dirt and leave a promotional ad.

10 Twitter Tips for Cleantech Companies

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green-finger-twitterOver the past few months companies are joining Twitter or consulting advisors about joining Twitter in droves. If you haven’t heard of Twitter, it is a micro-blogging tool that lets you share publicly what you are doing. It’s similar to the status updates on Facebook and instant messaging, but unlike either, is generally available to the world to see, whether or not they have a Twitter account or you are following them.

A great tool for enabling more company transparency, companies are helping boost their bottom lines by using it is as a public forum to interact with customers, share exciting news about the company and create relationships for business development. Anyone from journalists and bloggers to CEOs of major companies are using it for business purposes. The classic examples of major companies using Twitter successfully are Dell, JetBlue and Zappos.

What about cleantech companies?

Here are ten tips that I along with fellow Twestival Jerusalem co-organizers and Social Media consultants, Charlie Kalech (@CharlieKalech) and Debra Askanase (@askdebra) suggest for companies to consider when planning their Twitter strategy and for ensuring maximizing its use.

Masdar "Zero Carbon" Super City Breaks Ground This Month in Abu Dhabi

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masdar city zero carbon city abu dhabi picture

Taking God-Knows-How-Much of the world’s non-renewable energy sources to build, developers of the world’s first zero carbon city, Masdar City, proclaim that the historic groundbreaking in Abu Dhabi will take place this month. (In advance, Daniel’s posted on Abu Dhabi’s Podcar People Mover).

While I think the concept is definitely thought provoking — as the rest of the world, well the western world at least, reels on its heels from the financial crisis — execs representing Masdar City are full steam ahead in building the $22 billion project, which translates to “the source” in Arabic.

There are many people with lots of opinions, but I think it’s downright anti-green to spend so much money, so much capital and resources, on building an “eco” project. I think the world’s first carbon neutral cities have already been built, but we don’t see them anymore because they have gracefully crumbled around the pyramids and into the deserts, and have left behind little footprints and historic monuments. But who am I to stop progress. At the very least, I sigh, Masdar will be a giant model city, a pilot city for the rest of us hacks to learn from.

Click over the fold for the press release. (Thanks MIDEASTENVIRONET):

Give Gifts That Are Local, Handmade, and Most Original

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ceramic hand crafts photoWhen shopping for gifts for people that we care about, we usually want the gifts to convey a variety of things – affection, devotion, a desire to make the other person happy, and also a demonstration that we care about the other person’s wellbeing.  Giving a gift that is more environmentally friendly is one way to demonstrate that you care about your loved one’s wellbeing because it shows devotion to their present and to their future.

Local and handmade gifts are one type of environmentally friendly gift because they require fewer carbon emissions than a gift that is machine-made and imported from far away.  If it’s local, that means it didn’t have to get on a plane to get to you.  And if it’s handmade, no heavy machinery had to be used.

Last week we featured AmuletGifts.com, an online story full of  local, handmade jewelry.  And this week, for those who want to give other types of local, handmade gifts – we’re introducing you to Most Original.com.  (The dot com element of these stores also contributes to their “greenness” since it enables them to be open 24 hours a day without operating a store 24 hours a day.)

BrightSource Cuts World's Largest Solar Energy Deal With SCE in California

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(Thousands of small mirrors called heliostats focus the sun’s ray onto a tower. Thermal energy focused onto the tower heats up water that generates electricity through turbines.)

An Israeli company and a Californian one are making solar power history: Southern California Edison (SCE) and BrightSource Energy from Israel have signed the world’s largest solar energy deal.

Now awaiting approval from the California Public Utilities Commission, when the contracts are fulfilled — this could happen by as early as 2013 — the Israeli-CA sun project will power almost 1 million California homes.

Israel Kroizer, the chief operating officer, and president of BrightSource in Israel tells ISRAEL21c that when completed, it will be the world’s largest solar energy project. Some 1,300 megawatts of energy will be created, with the first plant to be built in Ivanpah, California, expected to generate 286,000 megawatt-hours per year. The project will also create more jobs in the region.

“It’s the biggest solar energy project ever signed,” Kroizer emphasizes, and when complete it will be the largest solar energy plant in the world, he adds.

Follow the Jerusalem Twestival Event Live!

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twestivalI am currently writing from the Jerusalem Twestival You’ll notice in the right sidebar there is a new widget. From there, I’ll be tweeting the people I meet so that those who aren’t here in Jerusalem can enjoy the experience as well.

You can also follow us straight from our twitter page as well. Follow who I follow, check out the sites of the others who congregated for the cause. Help us Twitter for charity: water , meet neat clean technology companies from Israel, and let’s see if our fingers, through Twitter, can help save the world!

Jack

Analyzing the Middle East Water Crisis: In Israel, Jordan and Beyond

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Middle East water crisis Israel Jordan

“Water, water everywhere/Nor any drop to drink…”

Those immortal words in the poem “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” by 18th century English romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge only help the emphasize the reality of the water crises that countries in the Middle East and other arid regions are now facing. As annual rainfall amounts become scarcer and scarcer, due to severe climate changes attributed to global warming, the availability of fresh drinking water in the entire region is likely to decrease even more in the next few years.

Recently governmental authorities in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan expressed grave concern that the country’s known water reserves would not be adequate enough to supply the populations’ needs. In neighboring Israel, which agreed to supply the Kingdom with part of the Jordan River’s annual flow in the peace agreement between countries, the level of Lake Kinneret and its coastal and mountain aquifers have now reached what is being called the “black level” in which irreparable damage, including pollution and salt water contamination will result if they are not replenished by more adequate rainfall.

Without tapping into ground aquifers, Jordan’s main sources for fresh water have been annual rainfall and water from the Jodan and Yarmuk rivers, both of which have been reduced significantly in recent years.

Both Jordan and Israel, as well as many other countries in the region, are considering desalination of seawater as a viable solution to a water problem that as gone from chronic to acute. Jordan’s water problem is much more serious that Israel’s, and even as far back as the late 1990’s the daily water allotment per family was only 22 gallons per day, as compared to 65 gallons per household in Saudi Arabia and 78 gallons per household in Israel.

And that was when the regional water problem was less acute than it is now!

Tal Ater Gives "GAS" To Help the World GreenAnySite

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tal ater GAS site imageConsumption is, in general, not very green.  It often involves the wasteful use of resources, fossil fuels for transportation, and non environmentally friendly materials.  While a general reduction in consumption would be ideal, though, there will always be certain purchases that are necessary and there will always be people who are not willing to cut back.  Which is where Tal Ater’s initiative – Green Any Sitecomes in.

As Tal will soon explain in his own words, Green Any Site can help people making online purchases make a free donation to the environment with every gadget or doo-dah that they buy online.

Tal explains a little more about Green Any Site:

“When I first had the idea and started working on GAS, I had every intention to do this in my spare time, with no intention of making any profit from it… You can imagine my Dad’s face when I told him about it… “oh no! not another thing you’re doing for the environment and not seeing a penny off of.”

Israel's Elections: Platforms on Water

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In preparation for Israeli election day, we present a series of posts with a summary of the environmental positions of the parties running for the Knesset on the following topics: Open Areas and BeachesGreen EnergyRadiation and Global WarmingSustainable DevelopmentRecycling, Water, and  Air & Industrial Pollution and Enforcement.

WATER

 

Israel's Elections: Platforms on Recycling

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In preparation for Israeli election day, we present a series of posts with a summary of the environmental positions of the parties running for the Knesset on the following topics: Open Areas and BeachesGreen EnergyRadiation and Global WarmingSustainable DevelopmentRecyclingWater, and  Air & Industrial Pollution and Enforcement.

RECYCLING

 

Eco Rabbi: Tu Bishvat and the Receiving of the Torah

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Each week Orthodox Jews read one segment of the Five Books of Moses so that they can complete the entire Five Books within the course of a year. In last week’s Eco-Rabbi post we discussed water and life. In this week I will discuss man, trees and the receiving of the Bible (Torah) on Mount Sinai.

Today week we celebrate Tu Bishvat, the new year for trees. According to tradition the trees are judged on this day. God decides which trees will continue to grow healthily and how much they each will produce. The day coincides with the beginning of the new season, when the first trees begin to bloom.

Interestingly, this week, in the parsha, segment of Bible read, we talk about the receiving of the Torah. Standing at the foot of Mount Sinai must have been an incredible experience! Moses was talking directly with God, just out of slavery. Miracles happening right before the Jewish people’s eyes!

Israel's Elections: Platforms on Air Pollution, Industrial Pollution & Enforcement

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In preparation for Israeli election day, we present a series of posts with a summary of the environmental positions of the parties running for the Knesset on the following topics: Open Areas and BeachesGreen EnergyRadiation and Global WarmingSustainable DevelopmentRecyclingWater, and  Air & Industrial Pollution and Enforcement.

AIR POLLUTION, INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION & ENFORCEMENT