Crystal Lagoons has developed an alternative cooling and energy harvesting system for power plants that doesn’t require the use of seawater. Gulf countries that lack freshwater resources rely deeply on seawater desalination to meet their daily needs and cool down thermal generation plants. According to Gulf News, the United Arab Emirates alone uses four trillion litres […]
News that the French Parliament accused Israel of using water “apartheid” unleashed a fury of water war rhetoric that Friends of the Earth Middle East’s Director Gidon Bromberg is trying to calm. Yesterday the Israeli paper Haaretz reported that the French Parliament accused Israel of using water as “a weapon serving the new apartheid.” Socialist […]
Desalinated water is costly for Israel, and practically no one is talking about the hidden costs. Making drinking water from sea water has been touted as a solution for water shortage in the Middle-East and elsewhere. In southern Israel, near Ashkelon, a small pilot project has been pumping out 24 million cubic meters of fresh […]
The EU plans to help fend off a growing water shortage in Gaza with a 10 million euro desalination plant. The European Union has pledged to build a €10 million desalination plant that will service Khan Yunis and Rafah in Gaza. This is a “medium-term” project designed to alleviate what is Gaza’s evolving water shortages. […]
Meet Karin at the WATEC conference this week in Tel Aviv. It happens every two years, and this week delegations from all corners of the planet are expected to converge in Tel Aviv, Israel for the two-day water conference and expo called WATEC. I interviewed Booky Oren this year, the conference chair, about what to […]
As the dust of revolution settles in Egypt, the country is beginning to face some of its other challenges. Chief among these is a scarcity of water. In fact, by 2017, demand is projected to outpace the country’s supply. At the American University in Cairo (AUC) last week, dozens of water and technology experts convened […]
Desalination’s negative environmental risks can outweigh the benefits, argues our environmental lawyer blogger Josh. Israel will quadruple its output of desalinated water by 2050, according to a report released by the country’s Water Authority Council. The government will also encourage construction of new desalination facilities on manmade islands. These measures will ensure a continuous stream […]
Water conservation policies are being promoted in the naturally water poor nation of United Arab Emirates Considering that the United Arab Emirates is located in harsh and arid desert, the fact that the average resident uses around 364 liters of water a day – way above the global average of 200 litres- is surprising. Natural […]
Power and water are inextricably linked in the rapidly growing Middle East. An exhibit hopes to green up both Desalination and water treatment have seen massive growth in the MENA region, which has now emerged as the largest market in the world. The region will have to build approximately three million cubic meters per day […]
We’ll need huge desalination projects to meet the world’s future fresh water needs – but the energy to do it will be in short supply Reducing the fossil energy needed in desalination is simply critical to a sustainable future, as we cover here, frequently, because the MENA nations are at the forefront of the issue: Saudi […]
Water rich or water poor? Doomed by desalination or dealing with the problem? Get the facts on Israel’s water situation. Following my latest post on water recycling and desalination in Israel, some commentators have raised questions about the seemingly contradictory facts on Israel and water. Whilst the Israeli water authority constantly warns of a water […]
Desalination is an expensive and energy-intensive way of removing salt from water to make it potable – Israel hopes it will provide 75% of its drinkable water by 2013 Despite several problems with the use of desalination (such as high costs and energy usage) and calls from experts to consider other options first, the Middle […]
When is energy-intensive desalination a last resort? One of humankind’s worst tragedies is currently unfolding in the Horn of Africa, and it is caused by the absence of water. Two years of failed rain, and subsequent drought and famine, is responsible for the daily deaths of roughly 2,000 people in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. According to […]
IDE Technologies wins ‘Best Company of 2011’ – but is it truly the best green company? Selected from among 15 Israeli clean technology companies, Israeli-global company IDE Technologies was recently awarded the title of ‘Best Company of 2011’ by the 2011 Cleantech Exhibition. The company was granted the award for its contribution to the field […]
The Abu Dhabi Farmers Services Center is promoting technology that can potentially set Abu Dhabi farmers free from water constraints. Abu Dhabi farmers may be able to grow food with water pulled out of dense air. With just four days back up supply of water, and desalination projects usurping considerable energy, Abu Dhabi is facing […]
Gulf States such as the UAE may now depend on expensive desalination technology for their water, but in the past they relied on more sustainable forms of water conservation In the arid landscapes of Oman and the United Arab Emirates, water has always been a huge issue. Whilst desalination which removes salt from water may […]
Saudi spends billions to win the food war. Without its oil wealth, Saudi Arabia’s 27 million inhabitants would eventually starve. At a recent social event, the country’s Minister of Agriculture Fahd Balghunaim warned that the ratio of food and water in the kingdom is perilously out of balance. But oil wealth currently ensures that its own […]
UAE high school students have a chance to flex their eco-blogging muscles for Green Prophet’s writing competition. Green Prophet is launching a blogging competition for green-minded UAE students. In order to encourage students to think about environmental issues in the Emirates and the role that they play in improving them, we are inviting students from across […]
Unsurprisingly, since water scarcity is at the forefront of the cause of most of the troubles in the Middle East, MENA nations dominated the 2011 Global Water Awards held in Berlin this week. Almost half of the international winners were from the Middle East, but surprisingly, traditional fossil-fueled water projects dominated the awardees. Advanced cleantech […]
Will the EU exploit the MENA region’s solar resource for mutual or singular gain? The Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) was formed in 2003 to find energy and clean water solutions for the Middle East, North Africa (known collectively as MENA), and the European Union (EU). A series of reports demonstrates that it is feasible […]
IBM builds a solar power desalination pilot plant in Saudi Arabia. News that Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest market for desalination plants, is planning future solar-powered reverse and osmosis projects has been met with general enthusiasm by environmentalists and non-environmentalists alike. However, while politicians in the region play up the significant advantages of modern desalination, […]
Saudi Arabia is investing huge sums to diversify its water supply, while at the same time fanning a booming construction industry. Will the latter negate the former? Desertification, depletion of underground water sources, and lack of perennial rivers or permanent water bodies are among Saudia Arabia’s greatest environmental challenges. In part, these are being met […]
IDE’s new desalination plant in China is powered by excess heat from power plant nearby. Israel has been a world leader in desalination technology and projects by through companies like Tahal and IDE Technologies. IDE has already constructed more than 400 desalination plants in 40 countries, including at least 3 in Israel – the world’s […]
How governments respond to water woes will determine the future stability of the Middle East. It’s impossible to point to any one issue and claim it as the final explanation for the protests unnerving leaders in the Middle East. Weeks ago one Tunisian man set himself on fire when he was told he couldn’t sell […]
Qatar will secure 70% food security in the country by exploiting the latest technology to make its barren land arable. Roughly as large as Connecticut, Qatar relies almost exclusively on imports for food with only 10% of the country’s edibles produced within its own borders. Unlike other Gulf countries that are usurping African land to […]