While the Middle East is not a usual haunt for Halloween there are some parents here and there who bring the custom from their native America or Canada. If you are looking for a last-minute costume, now for the fun – a DIY stick figure costume made from LED lights.
The only thing more abundant than sun in the Middle East and North Africa is sand. Used in the production of Markus Kayser’s 3D printer and to make Algerian building bricks, sand is useful for a host of applications – including lighting.
Turning child’s play into power Fun seems to be the one truly unlimited source of free energy. You can find it in the mountain villages of Turkey, the narrow streets of Jerusalem and the dusty villages of Jordan. Somewhere in Tehran or Cairo or Istanbul even as you read this, this energy is being generated […]
Spectrums: CFL (top) has mercury’s characteristic violet and green. Incandescent (middle) spectrum is smooth with strong reds (warm). LED (bottom) has a bright peak in blue. If only there were a light bulb as efficient as a compact fluorescent light (CFL), but without the ghastly green light and brain-eating toxic mercury. Am I asking too […]
As an alternative light fixture, Israeli designer Marina Rudinsky lights up a string of loose tea strainers. Items found in the kitchen are often endowed with unusual shapes and holes, and many a designer have found ways to convert kitchen tools into light fixtures. Pasta strainers are an obvious choice, but small, delicate loose tea […]
Just because incandescent light bulbs are less energy efficient than CFLs doesn’t mean you need to toss them. Upcycle them! IKEA Israel won’t even sell incandescent light bulbs any more, and people are gradually switching to more energy efficient compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs). No need to toss the baby out with the bathwater, though – […]
Nokero solar light bulbs charge by day and provide hours of light each night for about a year and a half before the battery must be replaced. If only every relief effort were this sustainable. More than one thousand ShelterBox relief kits have been sent to southeastern Turkey since a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck the province […]
Israeli designer Adital Ela Asks for help with her WindyLight sustainable lighting project on Kickstarter. Kickstarting a new sustainable lighting project that employs wind in generating energy to create light is sustainable Israeli designer Adital Ela. Her project, WindyLight, is a “family of self-sufficient outdoor lights that perform on free, clean energy and create a […]
Lightexture’s lamps are beautiful and energy efficient. Sustainable designers interested in the field of light fixtures often focus on making the lamp base out of recycled or repurposed materials, and don’t necessarily think about energy efficient light. We’ve seen lamps made out of industrial pipes and chandeliers made out of ice cream spoons, but when […]
This idea is so simple, yet so brilliant. Maybe it could help light up the Middle East? Filipinos living in simple corrugated metal homes have had problems lighting their homes for generations. Even since the invention of electricity, electric lighting has been used sparingly by certain communities due to its cost. It is frustrating that […]
There may be a lot of things that IKEA is doing wrong for the environment, but ceasing to sell incandescent bulbs isn’t one of them. Swedish furniture superstore IKEA has gotten into environmental trouble over lots of things, and at first some of the local Israeli population protested IKEA’s entrance into the market. The company […]
GE is expanding its geographical and technological reach. Israeli firm Lightech is the latest to join the ranks of GE acquisitions. General Electric is becoming more fully ensconced in the Middle East. In addition to committing to developing a major hub in Masdar City – one of this region’s mostly widely publicized sustainability projects – […]