The rocky brown soil of the Negev desert suggests an empty environment, but recent excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority have brought to light an ancient mosque from the 7th-8th centuries CE there. It’s one of the earliest known mosques in the world, a surprising find in the area. Dr. Jon Seligman and Shahar Zur, […]
Solar parks in the desert face two major challenges: a lot of dust on the photovoltaic panels and not enough water to clean them. Dust can cause up to a 40% decrease in efficiency of the panels. So there is huge interest to avert this problem. Normally teams of humans come in with squeegees to […]
Flash floods are very dangerous; they come quickly, often catch people by surprise, and their force is formidable. This is especially true of Israel’s Wadi Zin, a deceptively dry riverbed most of the time. Visitors to the Dead Sea captured rare footage of a recent flash flood – a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Spain’s super solar giant Abengoa has teamed up with Israel’s Shikun & Binui Renewable Energy (SKBN) to build a concentrating solar power plant in the Negev desert. When the company announced their win of the BOT tender of the Ashalim plant, they also claimed it will be the largest of its kind in the country.
When I lived on a roof in Tel Aviv with my boyfriend Elad more than a decade ago, I would spend some evenings watching the Cypress trees sway and pray in the wind, and above them flocks of starlings painting the sky with their moves like tea leaves in a cup. Without a television it […]
A few short decades ago, the ladies of Lakiya had a very different life. Their traditional Bedouin clans lived in encampments throughout the Israeli Negev Desert, herding animals. When their families were relocated to government-built towns, the women became aware of how their illiteracy, and their society’s rule against mingling with men who are not […]
Israel’s Negev Desert, Jordan’s Mount Nebo, Medaba and Wadi Rum are a few dark sky destinations for stargazing. Paris is known as the city of lights. So is Medina Saudi Arabia, Be’er Sheva Israel and Las Vegas, Nevada. We shouldn’t overlook Baltimore Maryland, Varanasi India, Quanzhou China and Milford Pennsylvania. Each of these cities is also […]
Remember the good old days when it took decades to build major monuments? Historians estimate that 30 years passed before the back-breaking pyramids of Giza came to glory, for example, and more than a century after construction began in 1882, La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona is still not finished. Although laborers might disagree, there’s something […]
I’d love to tell you more about the architects responsible for the 5 star Isrotel overlooking Ramon crater, but it’s impossible to get them to return calls and there’s no information online. As for the communications person, either she wasn’t given the skinny on the design or her English is as good as my Hebrew […]
Forest in central Israel, as seen from Ein Karem Some architects and economists are proposing Israel solve its affordable housing crisis by turning central Israel into a “megacity,” similar to Hong Kong, and moving the nation’s lush nature reserves and agricultural lands to the Negev and the Galilee. Supporters of this solution insist it would […]
Two solar energy companies are part of a larger conflict and dilemma in Israel: should solar panels be installed on limited open space or on rooftops? There is a small war going on in Israel and it has nothing to do with a nuclear Iran or local terror cells. This war is over the sun. Two companies […]
This man singlehandedly produces up to 5,500 bottles of delicious red wine each year, despite living in a frequently drought-stricken region Dave Levitan from Onearth, one of our favorite environmental blogs, traveled to Israel to meet with a hardy winemaker in the Negev desert and came away gushing. No, not from all the red wine […]
“Active Matters” symposium will discuss how desert living can become more eco-friendly. Environmentalists agree that dense urban living is more eco-friendly (just ask Tel Aviv city architect Yoav David), but desert life is a little if-ier. Living in a sprawling desert, far from water and other resources, could be taxing on the environment since it […]
After years of planning, a Bedouin eco-farm in the Negev will finally get under way next week. For years the Sustainability Laboratories (a New York-based organization) and the mayor of Hura in the Negev, Dr. Muhammad El-Nabari, have been planning an eco-farm for the Bedouin community. The farm, Project Wadi Attir, would aim to create […]
Could large solar array farms put these desert animals at risk? Builders of large solar array farms in Israel’s Negev region and in places like California’s Mojave Desert have had ongoing problems with nature lovers , environmentalists, and Native American Tribes . It now appears that the environmentalists in Israel may be winning out on […]
Within the next four months, Dimona Silica plans to build a factory in Nahal Zin Wadi in order to supply China with high-quality asphalt. Since its inception, Dimona Silica Industries Ltd. has been plagued with a dodgy reputation. After its involvement with the 2004 Investment Promotions Center scandal, where it was found that then Minister […]
Bedouin women from Israel are getting a name for themselves at the furniture fair in Milan, where their home-spun woolen rugs are on proud display as a prized example of high-end sustainable design. The Eindhoven designers BCXSY teamed up with SIDREH, the non-profit organization behind Lakiya Negev weaving to create these one-of-a-kind products.
It would create jobs and better dividends for the marginalized Bedouin in Israel’s Negev Desert. So will the Israeli Government allot a lease-land quota for solar energy on Bedouin-settled land? Arava Power, based on an Israeli kibbutz, recently signed a solar energy land lease deal with Israeli Bedouin (previously nomadic people). The deal, it seems […]
The world solar energy industry looks even brighter following the purchase of Sunray Renewable Energy by the American solar energy giant Sun Power Corporation and solar array manufacturer in a $277 million deal reported in The Marker. SunRay, headed by Israeli CEO Yoram Amiga, was the first foreign solar energy company allowed to do business […]
Arava Power Team: “We Are The Power!” Israel’s Arava Power Company (APC) one of the country’s top solar energy producers, is now working towards supplying solar powered electricity to 15 Negev Desert kibbutzes and agricultural villages following the signing of an agreement with these communities, as reported in the JPost. Arava was in the news a […]
The first green, affordable home designed by an Israeli company has just come off the production line in the Negev town of Yeruham. Following years of planning and design by REAL Housing, the 190 m2 house was inaugurated by Mayor of Yeruham and former Labour Party leader, Amram Mitzna. The three-room, NIS 785,000 house (about […]
If you’ve been reading from the United States about the organic olive oils, vegetables and honey coming out of the Middle East, you’ll be excited to hear about a chance to buy into sustainable Israeli farming through Negev Nectars. Run by Marvin Israelow and Green Prophet writer Jeff Yoskowitz, Negev Nectars launches this month. For […]
(A bird’s eye view of Chan HaShayarot) We’ve already learned about immersion Arabic in a solar Bedouin village in Israel. Here’s another eco-tourism stop: located in the Negev, just south of Sde Boker, the Chan HaShayarot provides guests with a true Bedouin experience including camel rides, Bedouin food, and the option of sleeping in a […]
Green Prophet has already reported on Kibbutz Tzuba switching to wine production because of the decreased water needs of grapes. Now Israeli wine is going even greener, with solar power. This past Monday, Sunday Energy Ltd. (Isra’el’s leading solar energy service provider) announced that it had completed installing a 50 kW Peak solar system on […]
It gives us a little perspective in environmental issues: Hebrew University researchers have determined that a patch of land in Israel’s Negev Desert is the oldest piece of exposed land on earth. Because of weather events, volcanic activity and long term effects of tectonic activity, the face of the earth is constantly changing. But not […]
