This 1934 streamlined DIY car could go 50-70 miles on a gallon of gas. Not bad, in today’s terms. The idea of building environmentally friendly or “green” cars is not something new, even though Green Prophet has written many articles on new electric and hybrid cars. In addition to factory produced models, other articles have […]
Climate change, peak oil and too many mouths to feed topples the first of the world’s now fragile economies. Egypt is just the first nation to see the instability predicted as a result of climate change, peak oil and the unsustainable numbers of people on this planet. But this is where we are all headed, […]
It started with cotton and oil: the Middle East oppressed now seek freedom and a future. image via AP The autocratic rule now being challenged in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East has its roots in the state system that developed in the region during the twentieth century. This system is based on […]
Sparked be energy shortage, and Egypt in so much turmoil, what will happen to solar energy projects like this one? Many of us are following the recent turn of events in Egypt, in which the people have decided that it’s now time for some “changes” in the Land of the Nile. While the political ramifications […]
The epic Sahara Forest Project in Jordan. More planned for its green future. Jordan, one of the five most water-deprived countries on Earth, has more than just a casual interest in developing technologies such as solar energy, water desalination and nuclear power. Its very survival depends on it. So says Alia Hatoug-Bouran, Jordan’s former environment […]
Arizona solar energy “modules” may work well in the Middle East The American state of Arizona has much in common with many parts of the Middle East; especially with the same number of days of available sunlight for generating solar energy. A more practical way to make solar energy available to the general public has […]
Egalitarian Norway has been the exception to the resource-curse, because of its high taxes on oil wealth. Could Israel take the same approach? A new tax plan proposed in Israel, following the tiny nation’s startlingly large oil and gas find in the Leviathan field off its Mediterranean coast, would roughly double current tax rates to […]
If Mirdif City Center Mall is “green,” the emperor must have been wearing clothes. Given the choice between a LEED certified building and one without, we’d be nuts to take the first. Issued by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), LEED certification and its equivalent in the Middle East – such as the Qatar […]
A Ritzy venue for Bahrain’s sustainability conference planned for January 27th and 28th. Because Bahrain is so small, the island state is almost easy to ignore. Except that it is a financial hub for the Persian Gulf States, and therefore exerts a certain amount of influence. Hence, a sustainability conference sponsored almost exclusively by companies […]
Today’s announcement from Noble Energy of its gigantic Leviathan gas find in disputed territory will exacerbate tensions in region They say that fossil fuel riches become a curse to any country that possess them. Where fossil fuels flow – corruption, reduced democracy and increased inequality follow. It is such a recognized pattern that it has […]
Huge oil subsidies in the Middle Eastern oil-producing nations mean that residents pay very little for oil. One big problem in getting everyone to reduce use of harmful fossil fuels is that gas is too cheap some places. The worst offenders pay the least for gas, and it has long encouraged grotesque over-consumption. Most of […]
Is using human fat as lipo-diesel going too far in the name of environmentalism? In general, most people look for ways to trim the fat. Trim some fat out of your diet, or your budget, or, if you’re “green”, trim some fat out of your carbon emissions. But how do you know if you’re going […]
To heat up its solar development, the Egyptian government is offering free land to potential solar investors. Despite Israel’s innovative green tech sector, and Abu Dhabi’s green building commitment at Masdar, the highest-ranking nation in the Middle East for renewable investment potential turns out to be Egypt, according to new rankings from Ernst & Young. […]
Israel’s Innowattech is engineering piezoelectric technology for trains. This time, in conjunction with the National Railway Company, they are testing the efficacy of their piezo-electric technology for use on railway tracks to gather data automatically. For the test 32 existing railway pads were replaced with Innowattech’s electricity generator pads to measure how well they produce electricity. […]
Solar power is looking cheaper than the traditional fossil energy that is now used in Enhanced Oil Recovery. By the end of next month, California-based Glasspoint expects to have finalized a sale in the Gulf of the use of solar CSP to make steam for injecting into oil fields, to help in extracting oil, using […]