These are the savvy ladies behind Dubai-based Goumbook, an online directory of all-things eco. This morning I was doing my usual rounds on the internet, read a few inspirational poems, caught up on the day’s big news: wikileaks, Cancun, and Goumbook – apparently the first online directory of all things eco in the Middle East. […]
Despite the UAE’s bad “eco-rap,” Summertown Interiors is helping to boost the region’s environmental ethos The UAE has been getting some rather bad press recently about their lack of environmental awareness. First, it emerged that only 1 in 25 Emiratis walked anywhere on a weekly basis and then that they throw away around 500 tonnes […]
Help Sustainability Advisory Group hear the real deal about corporate responsibility and sustainability in the Middle East. [image via: Ben] Environmental organizations are, of course, very important. But often big change comes from the big companies who have big power. Which is why it’s important not only to support green non-profits, but companies that are […]
Qatar’s Green Building Council (QGBC) founder and chairman Eng. Issa M. Al Mohannadi will speak at the “Planet and Profit in Partnership” on April 11, 2010, another in a series of conferences that teach Qatari leaders about sustainable building practices. It remains to be seen whether Qataris will pursue development projects like Urjuan that pay […]
A couple of years after former Sierra Club President Adam Werbach founded ActNow, a sustainable business consultancy, he signed up Walmart as a client. This brought Werbach considerable notoriety in eco-activist circles. Walmart’s record of environmental responsibility had previously been spotty, to put it mildly. Werbach retorted to his critics that Walmart, with almost two […]
Water is fast becoming the new oil. Without it, nations starve and conflicts ensue, like the piracy off the Somali coast we’ve written about. Predictions become direr as we factor in global warming. And new conflicts in the Middle East could erupt at any time over that most innocuous and life-sustaining element. With limited resources […]
Last week we had news that Gaza and Israel are smoking a peace pipe for water. Now this is more news that should bring a smile to the face of every leader in the Middle East: A true regional partnership, brokered by three peace foundations – that is about to reduce biomass pollution for Israelis, […]
The Tesla Roadster is a purely electric sports car. Coming to Abu Dhabi? The oil-rich United Arab Emirates owe most of their wealth to their natural abundance of petroleum. But what they’re starting to do with that wealth is very interesting. Abu Dhabi, for example, is increasingly leveraging its oil wealth in favor of positioning […]
Tigo Energy, a California- and Israel-based solar startup developing technology to increase efficiency in photovoltaic (PV) installations announced yesterday that it found its first US partner AEE Solar to carry Tigo’s Energy Maximizer System as a catalog product. According to the company, the system provides an innovative solution to maximizing power output in today’s PV […]
(Aerial view of the Burj Hotel in Dubai, UAE) Following the news of Etihad, a United Arab Emirates airline that is reducing its carbon footprint, a number of companies based in the UAE are following suit and are making green efforts thanks to help from firms like the Dubai-based EcoVentures. EcoVentures is a company – […]
What’s a 37 year old single mom, who lives in a three room mobile home in Israel’s Galilee doing to support herself? Why she’s selling portable solar energy units to farmers, that’s what! Shiri Broida, originally from Kibbutz Ein Harod Ihud, isn’t the normal example of an Israeli woman in her mid 30’s. Her lifestyle […]
Do you dream of an Israeli-based website that concentrates information about all the great local eco-friendly businesses into one virtual green portal? That provides reviews, offers coupons, and even has a membership club with a monthly raffle of organic vegetables? A website that arranges Israeli eco events on an interactive virtual calendar? Well wake up! […]
Consumption 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 […]
A Bangladesh developer in the alternative energy field won the coveted Zayed Future Energy Prize at a recent competition held in the United Arab Emirates State of Abu Dhabi. Dipal Barua’s non-profit company Grameen Shakti was founded in 1996 to provide alternative energy solutions to one of the world’s poorest nations, where most of the […]
Just weeks into 2009, at least three Middle Eastern governments have made commitments to increase the green-ness of their energy supplies. Last week, Cairo has committed that renewables will supply 20 percent of Egypt‘s electricity needs by 2020, Israel says solar power will provide 10 % and Abu Dhabi says 7% of its total power […]