On a recent screening of CNN commentator Fareed Zakaria’s GPS commentary show he asked why China’s progressive renewal energy policies is taking that country into the 21st Century; while the USA’s current energy policies is retreating it back into the 19th. The GPS program pointed out China’s advances in the field of renewable energy, particularly solar and wind energy […]
Israeli Minister of Economy Naftali Bennett (above right) launched the flagship “Water City” project in China this week, announcing that the city of Shouguang in the Shandong province would be the focus of Israel’s water-related activities in the country. Israel is considered a leading industry player in water technologies, delivering solutions from agtech to desalination at a reasonable […]
China’s economy is growing exponentially. So is the needs of its population. To keep ahead of the food curve, China’s Yuanda Group just bought the Israeli company AutoAgronom for $20 million.
There is something so haunting about desert landscapes, and much as we love our own in the Middle East region, we are blown away by China’s desert scenes depicted through Shi Shaoping’s “The Eggs” art installation.
Energy industry experts are predicting a new solar manufacturing boom next year after an extended slump, and they claim that the Middle East is ranked among the top three leading markets in the industry.
It was the first time that a team from Israel participated in a Solar Decathlon intercollegiate architecture competition but the group, which represented several higher education institutes, recently took fourth place overall in China.
Team Israel is all pumped up to show off their design skills at the upcoming 2013 international Solar Decathlon competition in China with All [e] Land – a Mediterranean net-zero prefab dwelling based on a 3,500-year-old archetypal Israeli design.
Pollution of fresh water supplies in large Asian countries is becoming more and more serious due to increasing populations and rapid industrialization. This is especially true in countries like India, where it’s largest river system, the Ganges, is one of the world’s most polluted. China, the world’s most populated in now in serious “water” trouble. […]
A young tourist from Nanjing, China scrawled his name Ding Jinhao onto a 3500 year-old relief in a Luxor, Egypt temple. Big mistake.
Suntech’s financial woes may have an effect on solar energy plant projects like this one Suntech Solar, the Chinese solar panel manufacturing company that became involved in a number of Middle East solar energy projects, including deals to sell home solar panels in Israel and a bid for Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City’s Nour 1 solar energy […]
In 2012, Green Prophet reported from the front lines of the Solar Decathlon in Spain, but this year the event is taking place in China and students from Israel’s Shenkar College of Engineering and Design will be there. A US Department of Energy initiative, the biennial competition gives international architecture and engineering students a chance to […]
Taskurgan is an unforgiving place. Located at 10,140 feet in the Pamir mountain range on the borders of Afghanistan and Tajikistan, close to Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan, this small autonomous Kashgar Prefecture county in Xinjiang, China is cold, the winters are long, and food is hard to come by. But out of such a place emerged a fascinating […]
One of the best kept secrets in the world of architecture seems to have leaked… in China. Long celebrated in the Middle East for its climatic awareness and passive efficiency, traditional Islamic design reflects an astute awareness of nature. Mashrabiya screens create privacy and shading while permitting daylighting and natural ventilation. Traditional building materials such […]
Greenpeace tapped into some serious people power with their recent “Detox” campaign and the world’s largest fast fashion retailer had no choice but to give in. After nine days of intense public pressure led by the environmental activist group, fashion giant Zara has agreed to phase out the use of toxic chemicals in its supply […]
Israel's iconic CEO Shai Agassi has been fired from his position at the electric car company Better Place. He will be replaced by Evan Thornley, the current CEO of Better Place Australia.
If you think renewable energies will become an increasingly cheaper alternative to petrol – think again now that there’s peak minerals. As the world moves toward greater use of zero- carbon energy sources, the supply of certain key metals needed for such clean-energy technologies may dry up, inflating per unit costs and driving the renewable […]
Can there be ways to protect olive oil prices and the sustainable ways of olive farming in the Middle East? The price for olive oil has dropped to its lowest level in a decade and farmers in the Middle East are bearing the brunt as Spain and Italy dump their government-subsidized stocks at below cost. […]
The United States Department of Commerce ruled yesterday that Chinese photovoltaic panel prices were below production costs and therefore their sale constituted dumping. Proposed antidumping tariffs ranged from 31 percent to 250% and would come into force sometime after October 2012. The tariff is expected to significantly increase the cost of solar installations in the […]
Israel and China seem to be agreeing on more and more these days. On Tuesday, investors from the two countries announced they would be jointly funding a new solar thermal venture in Israel’s Negev Desert, the HelioBooster, Jerusalem Post reported. Still in its demonstration phase, the technology was created by Israeli solar company, HelioFocus, which–since its […]
Determined to make a positive environmental contribution, the UK-based clothing manufacturer DGrade perfected a method that converts recycled plastic into yarn. They use 20% less water, 50% less energy, and produce 55% less carbon emissions than the cotton manufacturing process requires, and they have recently opened a branch in the Dubai mall. Their cost-competitive brand Dirtball […]
Turkey’s massive wind resource has long been recognized. Now China’s wind giant Sinovel has signed an agreement to supply turbines to build 600 MW of wind projects in Turkey, in what could be the company’s largest overseas deal to date. In the deal sealed this week in Beijing when Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan visited China’s […]
The Makhtesh Ramon Crater in Israel’s Negev desert is just one site that will be more accessible as a result of two planned rail links. On Sunday black globe winner Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a plan to build two new railways linking the country’s two seas – the plastic-filled Mediterranean and the Red. The […]
In the wake of a 6-day trip by China’s Premier Win Jiabao to Saudi Arabia, China and Saudi Arabia have forged an alliance on developing nuclear power. Saudi Arabia has signed an agreement with China for assistance in the development of nuclear power, using the last of its oil wealth to invest in the most […]
Iran, becoming more isolated appeals to Pakistan to move ahead with natural gas “peace pipeline.” Saboteurs have already had their say in the idea. Image via BSO-NA As Iran becomes more marginalized with US-backed sanctions, Iran seeks to conduct business with more hospitable partners, like Pakistan. Every year floods devastate Pakistan, this year with a […]
Environmentalists have been telling us for years that we need to stop focusing on the economy and consider nature. Will a ‘Green GDP’ help us do just that in the Middle East? GDP is probably one of the very few widely recognised abbreviated economic terms in the world. It stands for Gross Domestic Product and […]