AI may unintentionally become the economic engine that finally modernizes America’s aging grid. California is experiencing a massive AI data center boom, ranking 3rd in the U.S. with 227 operating centers and 54 more in development as of April 2026, according to Stanford.

The post AI data centers are triggering panic, instead of cleantech opportunities appeared first on Green Prophet.

You can go to a site or go online, order the tree and pick it up or if if possible have it delivered. A live tree doesn't shed needles after a few weeks and it's obviously the ecological choice to cutting down millions of 7 to 15 year old trees every year.

The post Rent a living Christmas tree in California appeared first on Green Prophet.

Across Ontario and California, builders are rethinking concrete housing through inflatable-shell design—an approach that replaces wooden formwork with air and innovation. A 1,000-square-foot low-carbon concrete shell, insulated with hempcrete, can be erected in a day and cost far less than conventional construction. Over time, the savings in energy, materials, and mortgage costs make this model a realistic response to rising living expenses and climate stress. With low-carbon cement, hempcrete walls, and renewable energy, inflatable concrete homes show how even the world’s most carbon-heavy material can become part of a sustainable future—if built smartly, and within local building codes.

The post Inflatable concrete homes: a California and Ontario case study appeared first on Green Prophet.

Lagoon Valley developers have set aside a remarkable 85% of its total land for open space, trails, and protected habitats—a rare move in an era of unchecked development. This isn’t just a nod to green space; it’s a full embrace of a conservation community model, where nature isn’t a backdrop but a partner.

The post Rewilding the Suburb: Lagoon Valley’s Profound Plan for Conservation Community in California–– An Interview with Developer Curt Johansen appeared first on Green Prophet.

SpaceX has taken steps to address concerns, including darker satellite coatings and directional signal shielding. But critics argue that without enforceable global standards, voluntary measures may not go far enough. Meanwhile, scientists at SETI and other institutions continue developing tools to protect the last wild frontier: the cosmic spectrum.

The post SpaceX and SETI Partner to Protect Alien-Hunting Telescopes—But What About the Rest of the Sky? appeared first on Green Prophet.

California has always been known for big dreams and bold lifestyles. From sunny beaches to scenic mountains, buzzing cities to peaceful suburbs, every corner of the state offers something a little different and a lot to love.

The post Would You Live In These 10 Regions of California? appeared first on Green Prophet.

A little-known $15 billion deal between PG&E and the Department of Energy is raising concerns for California residents. The agreement, which will expand hydropower, also includes shutting down the Ivanpah solar plant, which has been providing energy to 140,000 homes. Without this reliable source of clean energy, California's already overburdened power grid will struggle, leading to higher energy costs and more frequent blackouts. Critics argue that while PG&E benefits financially, everyday Californians will be left paying the price with increased bills and an even less reliable power system.

Questions are also being raised about possible conflicts of interest with key players in the deal, making it even more controversial. We spoke with one of the main investors of the Ivanpah plant to learn more. 

The post PG&E’s $15 Billion Deal Could Mean Higher Energy Costs and More Blackouts for Californians appeared first on Green Prophet.

California is shutting down its Ivanpah CSP (Concentrated Solar Power) project, raising concerns about the future of CSP investments. Moshe Luz, a key scientist in the field, spoke to Green Prophet to address misconceptions and share insights. He argued that claims of bird deaths from CSP are myths and that Ivanpah's closure could hinder future renewable energy projects by discouraging investors from taking risks. Luz emphasized the need for bold investments to advance renewable technology.

The post Ivanpah’s Sunset: Why the Collapse of a $2.2 Billion Solar Dream Threatens the Future of Renewable Energy appeared first on Green Prophet.

For those with pre-existing conditions, cardiovascular diseases can be exacerbated after inhalation exposure to this smoke. That could mean symptoms such as elevated blood pressure and chest pain.

The post California wildfires will hurt your lungs as toxic burnt building pollution drifts appeared first on Green Prophet.

Researchers tested the fire safety and strength of hemp blocks, a sustainable building material made from hemp, lime, and water.

The study, published in the Journal of Building Engineering, found that Hemp blocks don’t catch fire with open flames but instead smolder slowly, producing very little smoke. In fact, walls made of hemp blocks stayed structurally intact for 2 hours during fire tests.

The post Build a fire-proof home with hemp blocks appeared first on Green Prophet.

The global push for environmentally sustainable materials positions CornNext-17 to capitalize on increasing regulatory support and consumer demand for green products. Its adaptability, cost-effectiveness, and eco-friendly properties provide a competitive edge in addressing the growing plastic pollution crisis.

The post This plastic is made from corn appeared first on Green Prophet.

Imagine a controlled system comprising valves, pipes, emitters, and tubing orchestrating water delivery with precision to plant roots. Unlike traditional methods that often waste water, drip irrigation is a gentle and efficient method.

The post Drip irrigation systems: the history, the benefits and the problems appeared first on Green Prophet.

The post Abu Dhabi’s Masdar buys 50% stake in American renewables Terra-Gen appeared first on Green Prophet.

Valley fever is an emerging fungal disease in the western United States that most often causes flu-like symptoms, but can also cause dangerous or even deadly complications.

The post California droughts boosts the Valley Fever fungus appeared first on Green Prophet.

So what are the options for Bay dwellers? A new planned community called Lagoon Valley is being built between the Bay Area and Sacramento, and the project developers believe they are doing their part for planet earth.

The post Lagoon Valley for living intentionally with nature and purpose in the Bay appeared first on Green Prophet.

The full effects of Hurricane Irma have still to be realized; as this monster storm has already left a trail of unprecidented devistation in the Caribbean with small island communities being almost totally damaged. Huge “super typhoons” in the Pacific ocean basin have recently caused similar mayhem in the Philippines, Taiwan, coastal China and Japan. With all […]

The post Are monster hurricanes and typhoons fueled by global warming? appeared first on Green Prophet.

The switch was flipped this week as California’s Ivanpah solar thermal power plant went live. The 392 megawatt concentrating solar plant (CSP) is now delivering renewables to power the equivalent of 140,000 homes in California. After a long journey lasting decades of development, fighting regulations, manoeuvring around turtle conservationists, burning birds may be the latest problem. […]

The post Will burning birds shut down Brightsource, world’s largest solar thermal power plant? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Tesla Motors, the California maker of  prestigious and high priced total electric sports cars is  still to become a true reality in most countries of the Middle East where men prefer big, gas guzzling cars. But it might fill the gap after the failure of Better Place. More than casual interest has been expressed in Israel and […]

The post Can Tesla Take Over Israel’s Better Place Charging Stations? appeared first on Green Prophet.

UCLA and Egyptian scientist accidentally find a new way to bottle stored energy. This missing link for solar energy, hydro and electric cars could be a fast, tiny, biodegradable battery Penicillin, Teflon, microwave ovens and superglue were all discovered by accident. And now graphene super-capacitors might be the most important accidental discovery of our time […]

The post Energy Storage Super Capacitors Bottle Energy in New Breakthrough appeared first on Green Prophet.

In 1914, thirty-five years before Chaim Weizmann would become Israel's first president, he discovered a fermentation process for harnessing bacteria to produce large quantities of useful chemicals. For this discovery, Weizmann was called the father of industrial fermentation.

The post Chaim Weizmann’s Fermentation Invention Used for Biofuel Production in USA appeared first on Green Prophet.

The Better Place electric transportation company was founded in California’s silicon valley, not far from where the Tesla electric car company began. But while Tesla and Chevy’s Volt electric cars have been sold in the United States, Better Place didn’t enter the fickle US electric car market. Instead they teamed with French automaker Renault and […]

The post It’s California or Bust for Better Place’s eTaxis appeared first on Green Prophet.

Concentrated solar power company BrightSource doesn’t wear its Israeli identity on its sleeve. “We’re a U.S. company with Israeli engineering, not an Israeli company. It’s a nuance but important to get right,” Keely Wachs, senior director of corporate communications for BrightSource, wrote in an email message. And with an American President and CEO named John […]

The post Israel’s BrightSource Still Private After IPO Withdrawal appeared first on Green Prophet.

With a 35 meter high sun-ray collection tower and about 50 mirrors positioned to direct the sun, Israel’s AORA is about to flip the switch on its latest solar power plant in Spain. The company created a huge buzz in Israel in 2009 when it was the first solar energy company to connect to the […]

The post AORA’s Solar Sun Tulip Says Ola Sol in Spain appeared first on Green Prophet.

Considered by some as the father of solar thermal electricity generation, Newton Becker, was the founding investor and Chairman of the Board of Luz International – the company that went on to become what BrightSource is today. He died Monday in LA at age 83. Back when, Luz became the largest solar company in the […]

The post Newton Becker, a Bright Source for Solar Thermal Energy, Dies at 83 appeared first on Green Prophet.

BrightSource Energy is making a big bet on CSP while others switch to PV

The third huge US solar project from BrightSource Energy is its largest yet. At a whopping 750 MW it is the size of three or four US coal or gas plants.

Its Rio Mesa Solar Electric Generating Facility in California will use the solar tower technology it inherited from Israel's Luz, its parent company (Luz Rises Again as BrightSource for California) in which a field of mirrors on poles reflects sunlight onto a tower to create steam to drive a turbine to make electricity.

But it comes at a time when many utility-scale solar companies are switching to PV (photovoltaic) solar - those traditional rooftop solar panels that most people associate with solar - from Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) such as this. Why?

The post BrightSource Energy Makes Gigantic Bet on 750 MW Solar Project appeared first on Green Prophet.

Israeli Solar energy company BrightSource is the child, but the real father of solar thermal technology. SEC filings show BrightSource Energy Inc has raised $122.5 million in its fifth round of financing, according to Israel’s Globes.The company says it raised the capital in shares and warrants, as part of a planned $125 million offering. BrightSource […]

The post BrightSource Solar Raises Another $122 Million appeared first on Green Prophet.

Between 11,500 and 51,000 vehicles drive on California freeways and expressways every day. Energy Harvesting Journal posted earlier today that California Assemblyman Mike Gatto has proposed a bill that would require the state to use piezoelectric technology on its highways. The technology generates electricity from the vibrations on the road that are created by passing […]

The post Proposed California Bill Could Be Big for Israel’s Innowattech appeared first on Green Prophet.

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 […]

The post Top 6 “Green” Seafood Choices From Monterey Bay Aquarium appeared first on Green Prophet.

Notice that there are no lush gardens? No towers of glass? This is how to build in the desert. Modern humans have always wanted to make their presence known, from the earliest cave drawings to opulent Ottoman architecture. Although we occupy but one of billions of galaxies, our ego knows no bounds.  In the desert, […]

The post Platform For Architecture & Research: This Is How To Build In The Desert appeared first on Green Prophet.

What happens when Norman Foster and Steve Jobs get together? The City of Apple, of course. Recently my macbook perished on the coast of Kenya. It was a terrible moment. All the images, music and words accumulated over four years flashed before my very eyes. There was no light to be seen, only a dark, […]

The post New Apple Headquarters To Be Modeled After Masdar City appeared first on Green Prophet.

Susan appeals to the Middle East and world to look to the “empty” US states to push clean energy agenda. The whole world and generations into the future will suffer because the US is unable to pass climate policy. The US lumbers like a wounded giant on the world stage, already beginning to clumsily sink […]

The post Dear Global Clean Energy Sector, Please Truth-Bomb the US Voter! appeared first on Green Prophet.

Endorsed by Obama, BrightSource as a leading solar energy innovator. The company broke ground this week. California’s solar energy future is looking to become a lot brighter: an agreement was just made between the BrightSource Energy Company, and the US Fortune 500 company NRG Energy LLC. The joint project, a 392 megawatt solar thermal power plant, […]

The post BrightSource NRG Team Up to Break Ground on World’s Largest Thermal Solar Plant appeared first on Green Prophet.

Will your solar energy be haunted? We pushed and pushed, and finally got what we asked for: non carbon-based energy. After years of weaving through red tape, the Israeli company BrightSource Energy finally received the go ahead to build the world’s largest Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant in the California desert. When it is completed, […]

The post BrightSource & Solar Millennium Accused of Building on Sacred Indian Sites appeared first on Green Prophet.

GreenRoad’s founder and Chief of Safety Hod Fleishman is leaving the company. Is Google his next destination? Fresh off making the “Global Cleantech 100″ Guardian List, Israel’s GreenRoad announced this week that First Transit, the operator of San Diego’s North County Transit District (NCTD), has implemented GreenRoad’s GreenRoad 360™ solution in its fleet of buses. GreenRoad […]

The post First Transit Implements GreenRoad Technology appeared first on Green Prophet.

A slow recovery in the global cleantech sector has left many Israeli companies without VC funding and media coverage, while BrightSource Energy and Ormat Technologies continue to thrive. The decrease in VC investments in cleantech companies over the past year and in particular Q3 is raising questions about the cleantech industry’s recovery. According to NASDAQ, […]

The post Global Investment Plummet Hits Israeli Cleantech Companies… Except BrightSource and Ormat appeared first on Green Prophet.

Set to power 1.4 million US homes, the Israeli solar energy company is headed for a public offering, business papers speculate. The American economy may be in the gutter, but it could be that big crash has set the world up for a new paradigm: investing in and building responsibly managed companies that have the […]

The post BrightSource Prepares for NASDAQ IPO appeared first on Green Prophet.

Designer Energy, a biofuel company, will be one of the 10 lucky Israeli companies to meet dream investors and strategic partners in California later this month. Looking for investment deals and strategic partners, the California Israel Chamber of Commerce has selected and announced the 10 Israeli clean tech companies invited to present at this year’s […]

The post 10 Israeli Clean Tech Companies Head to California appeared first on Green Prophet.

If you were an aspiring actor, it would be like getting an invitation to a wine and cheese Hollywood party with the industry’s top directors. Or an aspiring chef, getting some in-person training with Le Cordon Bleu masters in Paris. If you are an Israeli clean technology entrepreneur in focus areas of renewable energy, water, […]

The post Last Call for Israeli Clean Tech Companies: Meet Dream Teams In California appeared first on Green Prophet.

Controversy loomed over coyote land, but now BrightSource with a US Gov guarantee will create largest solar energy project in the world, in Ivanpah CA. BrightSource Energy, a privately held company with operations in the United States, Israel, and Australia, announced today that the US Department of Energy has conditionally committed to provide $1.37 billion […]

The post US Gov. Guarantees $1.4 Billion in Loans For BrightSource and World's Largest Solar Thermal Plant appeared first on Green Prophet.

Israeli clean tech companies to head to California for future cooperation, hopefully. Based on the successes of matching clean tech companies from Israel last year to California partners, with strategic partners and investors in California, the California Israel Chamber of Commerce (CICC) announces its 2nd Israel Cleantech Tour & Summit in Palo Alto, California. According […]

The post The Israel Cleantech Tour Returns to California appeared first on Green Prophet.

Captsone’s microturbine could be fired up by solar power in new project with Heliofocus. California based Capstone Turbine Corporation (NASDAQ:CPST) and Israel based HelioFocus Ltd,  have entered into an agreement to develop a micro-turbine to produce power from concentrated solar energy.  The project is being funded in part with a $800,000 grant from the B.I.R.D Foundation, […]

The post Capstone and Israel's HelioFocus Get Grants To Fire Up Solar Powered Micro-Turbines appeared first on Green Prophet.

PG&E says it will more than a billion in alternative energy projects. California’s mega utility company, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) is keen on using solar and wind energy to provide electric power for America’s most populous state. Despite a number of objections by both environmentalists (who say wind farms are dangerous to birds and […]

The post California's PG&E Looks to Invest up to $1.5 Billion in BrightSource and Alt Energy Plants appeared first on Green Prophet.

Five years ago this past May, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger introduced five Israeli companies as part of his plan to create more than 800 new jobs in California. He urged dozens of other Israeli corporate executives to invest and expand their businesses in the state. “I promised I would travel the world to sell California […]

The post California's Governator In Israel To Sign Clean Tech Co-op Deal appeared first on Green Prophet.

American search engine giant Google is now becoming involved in renewable energy projects, including electrical power generated by solar energy. One such project in which Google is a known investor is the Israeli solar energy company, BrightSource Energy,  whose specially-designed collection mirrors and energy generating tower are one of the most  advanced and successful in the […]

The post Google "Sees the Light" by Investing in More Israeli Renewable Energy Projects appeared first on Green Prophet.

Following recent news that environmentalists lobbied to have a solar energy project cancelled in California due to fears it would ruin protected land in the Mojave Desert, BrightSource, the company in question, made its announcement today that it has other plans up its sleeve –– to expand its output in another state: From a press […]

The post BrightSource Solar Expands On Coyote Land In Nevada appeared first on Green Prophet.

We’d been reporting over the last year or so about the California-Jerusalem company BrightSource and its plan to create a number of solar energy power plants in California’s Mojave Desert region. Early in the year it signed an historic contract with PG&E, as the power giant works to conform to California law and produce 20% […]

The post BrightSource Solar Energy Project In Mojave Desert Shelved appeared first on Green Prophet.

During the week of May 31, 2009, The Israel Conference took place in California in which over $20 billion was represented that could be used to fund Israeli startups, including cleantech companies. MetroLight raised $3 million and Sunday Energy and Ormat signed a deal to build the largest solar roof in the Middle East. For […]

The post Metrolight and 11 Israel-Related Cleantech Headlines, Week of May 31, 2009 appeared first on Green Prophet.

On June 4 in Los Angeles, the Israel Conference will spotlight Israeli clean tech, medical tech, high tech and more. Investors coming to the event represent about $20 billion in funds. “Many Los Angeles and California business leaders and entrepreneurs will have their first opportunity to see first what Israeli companies, technologists and investors can […]

The post The Israel Conference in LA to Spark Deal Flow Between Israel Clean Tech and California appeared first on Green Prophet.

The Pope was in Israel earlier this month, bringing with him thousands of Catholic pilgrims (and a request from environmentalists to help clean the Jordan River). A week later 40 investors from the California region came on a different kind of pilgrimage to Israel – to see the world-famous clean technology opportunities Israeli entrepreneurs have […]

The post Top California Investors Visit Israel's Clean Tech Sector appeared first on Green Prophet.

(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 […]

The post BrightSource Cuts World's Largest Solar Energy Deal With SCE in California appeared first on Green Prophet.