From Linz to Tel Aviv: the lifeguard loveshack, a future Pixel Hotel in Tel Avi rendering. Tafline reported last week on the unusual and super neat project of Pixel Hotels. The idea started in Linz, Austria where unconventional and unused urban properties like garages or spaces within galleries – like a trailer in a gallery […]
An anonymous Green Prophet reader took this photo today at a shopping mall in Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Center. Go Green ceramic frying pans and pots are slashed to 50 percent off. This follows the picture that Maurice took last week of the fire sale of ceramic cookware in another shopping market. Clearly Israeli shopping centers […]
With a 35 meter high sun-ray collection tower and about 50 mirrors positioned to direct the sun, Israel’s AORA is about to flip the switch on its latest solar power plant in Spain. The company created a huge buzz in Israel in 2009 when it was the first solar energy company to connect to the […]
New drilling results from the Dead Sea provides clues that the Dead Sea almost dried up because of climate change — 125,000 years ago! The rapidly dropping water level of the Dead Sea, a cause of much concern today, occurred as well in the distant past, resulting in the severe drying up of the lake, […]
Israel Chemicals, which is a cause of major environmental hazards in Israel, is funding a School of Sustainability in Herzliya With shale oil funding green education in Jordan and major polluting Israeli companies paying to set up sustainability schools, green education is looking more like ‘greenwash’ every day. It recently emerged that Israel Chemicals and […]
The fast lane requires a toll fee but this beats an hour’s drive time Based on algorithms – a pay scale depending on home many drivers are using the road – Tel Aviv’s “Fast Lane” which was opened for use in early 2011 and designed to reduce traffic flow from super congested Highway 1 is […]
Maurice goes to the store in Israel and sees a “fire sale” of ceramic cookware in Israel – 70% off. Public awareness of product defects and dangers can work wonders. This appears to be the case with the recent Israel consumer awareness program Kolbotek that pointed out the dangers of cooking with some brands of […]
Low tech water filters loaded with a nitrate-munching bacterium help clean up fertilizers and feces in water waste. Rainstorms wash away what nature can’t clean up, but this often comes at a severe environmental price. Water runoff from agricultural fertilizers, animal waste and human sewage are poisoning wells and aquifers with nitrates. These compounds cause […]
Increased levels of male breast cancer and early onset puberty are consequence of water pollution in Israel. The 52nd Conference of the Israel Geographical Association conducted the last week of December at Tel Aviv University dealt with developments affecting Israel, the Middle East and the planet as a whole. Geography, a discipline that is multi-varied […]
Lead and other pollutants are seeping into Israeli drinking water at alarming levels. Lutra numbers decimated; human health at risk. Water pollution in Israeli lakes, streams and groundwater aquifers is reaching alarming levels. Although the country has regulations in place to prevent discharges, including a comprehensive Water Law, contamination is commonplace. And now scientists are […]
Can Sivan Askayo’s photographs convince us hang dry our laundry? What if art had the power to change our habits for the (environmentally) better? Could a photograph change governmental policy, or at the very least, some of our daily behaviors? Artistic photographers have tried, and acclaimed photographer Spencer Tunick’s naked Dead Sea shoot this year […]
Israel’s Eco Wave’s clappers get energy from the sea. Developers first looked to the ocean for offshore wind power, a conveniently windy and out-of-the way site for giant turbines. But increasingly, energy companies are realizing that sea water itself can be harnessed to generate electricity. Israel’s Eco Wave Power announced on Tuesday that its initial […]
Could the ocean make pumped hydro power? In the Middle East, it could. A brilliant proposal has been made to build a massive 2,400 MW sea water hydro project using the Mediterranean Sea, and the Dead Sea, which is below sea level. The Dead Sea Power Project would use the ocean to make hydro power, […]
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 […]
To the great shock and horror of a local journalist, recycled Israeli pencils are discovered for sale on the shelves of a popular store in Saudi Arabia. A journalist from the Saudi paper Jazan was shocked to discover pencils brandishing an Israeli logo on the shelves of his local Abu Rialin store. Made from recycled […]
Media sham or company scam? The Israeli government is now looking into re-testing Neoflam pots and pans over widespread public panic that these “health” pans are allegedly carcinogenic. With a large share of the market for pots and pans in Israel, the Korean-based company Neoflam is in the media spotlight in the small Middle East […]
Most Israelis complacently think that there are no GMO foods in Israeli food. But there are, especially in soy products. “It’s a huge mistake to think that there’s no genetically-modified food in Israel,” said Naama Rosenberg, spokeswoman at the Volcani Institute of Agricultural Research. In a telephone interview, Ms. Rosenberg went on to explain that […]
Bee colony collapse disorder is a worldwide phenomenon decimating bee colonies worldwide. Bees, you see, are pretty important. Without them much of our food can’t be pollinated. And the true reason why America lost about one third of its bees last year is largely unknown. Some believe it’s because there is lack of pollen as […]
With an estimated 8 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, Turkey wants some of this energy wealth too. The Republic of Cyprus has started surveying for natural gas, and recent estimates are that its undersea reserves are worth billions of dollars. Helped by Israel and America’s Noble Energy, the subterranean Cyprus discoveries could make the […]
Netanya’s efficient new twisting tower will be powered by geothermal energy and transform this once-obscure Israeli city. We have a real soft spot for earth architecture, such as Nader Khalili’s gorgeous domes and arches fit for space, and these amazing Syrian beehive-shaped buildings that have lasted hundreds of years, but we also acknowledge the great […]
So-called eco-friendly, ceramic utensils may contain toxic metals like arsenic, an Israeli journalist investigates. It’s in the colors, so also be wary of color-coated knives! We buy them at health food stores because the ceramic coated pans are supposedly safer than teflon, and good for the planet. A new investigative report by an Israeli consumer […]
Free hot water from the sun. Cyprus now leads the way. Although China leads the world in the number of solar water heaters in use, and Israel was the pioneer and chief country-wide user of solar water heaters for 25 years, today the Republic of Cyprus has the distinction of being the world leader of […]
Orange peels are already the perfect shape for a mug or small bowl, so Israeli designer Ori Sonnenschein helped them transform. Oranges are in season during the winter months, and so they may have graced many people’s tables recently. But oranges don’t have to disappear from your diet or your table once spring arrives. Israeli […]
Israel’s Geothermal Giant Ormat Signs Deal For Solar In California It already has an international presence, but Israel’s Ormat Industries (NYSE: ORA) just made its global presence a little brighter: On December 21, Ormat’s US subsidiary Ormat Technologies announced that it will be developing its very first 10 megawatt solar photovoltaic (PV) farm near one […]
The dire situation of the Dead Sea has recently been dramatized by eco artists like Sigalit Landau The Dead Sea is again in environmental headlines as a project to remove salt accumulations from the lakes southern portions have passed preliminary readings in Israel’s parliament. The salt removal project would be largely paid for by the […]