In 2014, Israel was ranked first in the world in the field of innovation related to clean technology according to the “Global Cleantech Innovation Index 2014.”

With a strong entrepreneurial culture, a high-level education system and facing significant geographical and natural constraints, Israel meets the specific conditions for the emergence of innovative start-ups in the cleantech sector.

Next month in Nice, France meet some of Israel’s clean tech companies. From June 17 to 18 smart city technologies will be featured at the Israeli innovation pavilion of the Innovative City Conference. The handpicked companies include:

Aquarius Spectrum is a leak detection system for municipal water systems.

ElectRoad is a wireless charging dock for electric buses, which we’ve covered here.

Elencon software to reduce HVAC costs.

GreenQ smart sensors for garbage trucks.

Sowillo produces solar energy for residential buildings.

TruckNet which uses a sharing economy to reduce the number of empty freight trucks on the road.

The companies are sent with the support of the Israeli Embassy in France, Israel NewTech (CleanTech initiative of the Israeli Ministry of Economy), the Chambers of Commerce France-Israel and Israel-France and Team Côte d’Azur, Innovative City Conference through its partnership with Challengy. It will be the first time Israel has a pavilion at “Innovative City”.

According to Aliza Bin-Noun, Israel Ambassador in France: “It would give us a chance to develop and deepen our good relations with the city of Nice and French companies in the sector.”

These companies, among the most promising from the early-stage startups will receive personalized support and a prime location at the Innovative City exhibition.

At the announcement of this Pavilion, Christian Estrosi, President of the Metropolis Nice Côte d’Azur and President of the PACA Region said: “beyond this excellent initiative to host a delegation of Israeli startups CleanTech in Nice for the first time, it is all the PACA region that strengthens its leadership to allow Israeli innovative companies successfully enter the French market in general.”

For its part, Challengy will work with Innovative City 2016 and in synergy with all the partners listed above to facilitate constructive partnerships with municipalities, investors and French companies in the fields of water, energy or mobility so that trade ties are established.

Yossi Dan, co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Challengy says: “It is now several years that our teams, based in Paris and Tel Aviv, are working on innovation projects which bridge between France and Israel. This pavilion marks a first step in the CleanTech sector, where the complementarity of these two ecosystems can both enable business agreements and R&D projects between the two countries, and  also allow them to set the business cooperation to address international markets.”

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Constant and daily power blackouts in Cairo not only make it difficult for people to go on with day-to-day routines, it can be deadly for people undergoing surgery. Egypt, while rich in natural gas and sunlight is a poor energy manager and for this its people experience hours of blackouts each and every day. This photo of surgery in a Cairo hospital above shows how doctors have to cope.

The doctor that was performing the surgery of a hysterectomy in the above photo at a Suez Canel area hospital decided to post the photo to Facebook to show the world the kind of conditions that he has to work within. This was during a day with an estimated 20 hours of blackouts. In summer months when people want to run air conditioners the blackouts can be especially punishing. Many hospitals are not able to afford generators which cost about $1500 so when the power goes out so do respirators for life support and the life sustaining environments needed to keep premature babies alive.

There are regular reports of doctors being investigated for performing surgery under cell phone light.

Some locals are removing loved ones from hospitals feeling that they could probably take better care of their family if they are brought home.

With a surge of new technologies on the market to drive down the cost of renewable energy it is astonishing how little green power is being produced in Egypt. Some people blame the power outs on the Muslim Brotherhood, saying that they are wiping out power pylons as sabotage, but the problem is much bigger – including the fact that they are an estimated 200,000 housing units in the Cairo area built without permits and which may be connecting illegally to the grid.

Some solutions? The Egyptian solar energy company KarmSolar, which has declined interviews with Green Prophet is producing a solar energy water pump solution. There is the Luxor solar energy plant at a mere 160 kW that went online this year; the 150 MW Kuraymat station that Green Prophet visited , and of course a lot of good solar energy intentions worth a billion.

Still, locals must get on with their lives and lack of power. Egyptians still use very polluting mazut oil for cooking and heavy oil for running power plants. Locals have been warned that this instability in power will continue for at least another four years. If young internationals want to help Egypt rise out of its Arab Spring, I suggest helping them get involved in alternative energy projects. Hydroponic rooftop farming, like this project, is a small but important way to lift the city’s air quality and power needs.

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Every day we flush energy down the toilet. Here are 5 projects that prevent such shameless waste by turning poop into power.

The COP 17 debacle is droning on and it is starting to look like the whole planet is going down the toilet because of America’s shortsighted inaction, but don’t worry, there’s still at least one reason to have hope: poop. Every day human beings flush waste down the toilet that could be used to produce valuable cooking fuel and electricity. In today’s energy-scarce but technologically advanced context, that is an absolute outrage. So we have decided to celebrate 5 brilliant organizations that are thinking outside the commode and putting poop to power.

Sanergy to Power the World with Poop

Some people may balk at the idea of cooking with fuel harvested from the byproducts of our bowels, but in some countries it is becoming common practice. A group comprised of MIT alumni, Sanergy is cleaning up Kenyan slums while producing clean, renewable energy at the same time. The UK-based charitable organization Katerva recently awarded Sanergy their annual grand prize, which will provide them with crowd-sourced funding and support so that their energy-producing sanitation centers can be deployed worldwide.

A Green Toilet for India’s Slum Dwellers

After a trip to India, Israel’s Noa Lerner, a Berlin-based industrial engineer, discovered how badly that country is in need of urban sanitation solutions. So she developed this striking toilet through her company Morph Design. The top looks like any other toilet, except that it covers a removable bowl that is in turn topped with an odor-repellent and anti-bacterial plastic layer.

Ashpoopie: Secret Formula Turns Poop into Ash and Fertilizer

This next project was actually designed to turn dog poop into ash. A super secret magic formula allows pet owners to get rid of their dog’s waste without having to use harmful plastic bags. But Ashpoopie  has the added benefit of behind able to turn human waste into fertilizer and generate electricity! Paulee’s spokespeople Mr. Moshe Hibel and Dr Yaeli Pintchuck also claim that the same patent is being used to develop SCHT – Self Contained Human Toilets.

 I Pee, You Poo, We All Need Peepoo

Peepoo is a special biodegradable toilet bag invented by a Swedish entrepreneur. It costs very little to make and is designed to turn human date into fertilizer, but not until it kills the bacteria found in human feces that is responsible for disease. These bags are especially useful in emergency situations since they can be deployed cheaply, and en masse.

Harvesting Energy From Sewage Plants

Two serial water technology entrepreneurs from Israel, Eytan Levy and Ronen Shechter, who also founded Israel’s AqWise, have developed an electrogenic bioreactor that generates electricity while treating wastewater. Funded by Emfcy, their project also mitigates the energy costs of breaking down sewage!

Pretty soon, technology will advance to the stage where we can all install systems at home that will allow us to harvest energy from our own waste – making us less dependent on the grid.

The post 5 Brilliant Projects That Turn Poop Into Power appeared first on Green Prophet.

Israel will quadruple its output of desalinated water by 2050, according to a report released by the country’s Water Authority Council. The government will also encourage construction of new desalination facilities on manmade islands. These measures will ensure a continuous stream of desalted water without developing coastal lands in the tiny country.

Water experts have sung desalination’s praises far and wide lately. It provides a reliable, secure water supply. It reduces our reliance on natural waterways. And not least importantly it has become cheaper as desalting companies develop more cost-effective technology.

Desalination’s critics have, in equal measure, leveled their own concerns at the industry. The process requires exorbitant amounts of energy, they say, is too expensive, and poses potential health risks.

But these concerns only tell a partial story of desalination’s environmental impacts. It affects the marine environment in an important way: through seawater intakes. Decision makers often ignore or downplay this impact. When desalination facilities suck in huge amounts of water, scores of fish and even marine mammals become stuck to the grates. Scientists call this phenomenon “impingement”.

Additionally, millions of marine larvae and eggs are pulled into the pipes – referred to as “entrainment”. Together, impingement and entrainment may account for spectacular losses of marine life. High volume intake systems are the worst culprits.

Experts often focus their cost-benefit analysis on energy use and brine disposal. Desalination facilities use reverse-osmosis membranes, pushing seawater through tiny pores at high pressures. This removes the salts and other harmful chemicals. It also leaves behind minerals on the membranes, referred to as “scales”, which require chemicals to remove. And operators must dispose of brine either by burial, incineration or discharge to the ocean.

These factors give us only a partial idea of desalination’s costs. Its effect on marine life through impingement and entrainment rounds out the picture. And when we look at this cost in its entirety, we might be motivated to consider alternatives.

For example, researchers in Israel recently developed a methodology for effectively desalinating brackish groundwater. Brackish groundwater is found in aquifers and typically contains less salt than ocean water. Scientists from the University of Colorado, Ben Gurion University, and the Hashemite University were able to desalinate groundwater using less energy and producing less brine. Because the source water is in the ground, not in the ocean, impingement and entrainment are not a concern.

But perhaps we need not survey the horizons of new technology for alternatives. Conservation techniques can be extremely effective at reducing water demand. Israel is already a leader in conservation, having pioneered dual flush toilets and drip irrigation systems. But local governments should convince their constituents to use less water for washing and install “greywater” systems for irrigating gardens and fields.

Irvine Ranch Water District, in Southern California, uses a tiered rate structure to encourage conservation. As customers consume more, the rate increases. In its first year, this system reduced consumption by 19%. Demand side solutions work.

Recycled water is also crucial for Israel. Its source, wastewater, will never be in short supply. Some countries have used recycled water as a potable supply. After a particularly intense drought, suppliers in Queensland, Australia began pumping highly treated recycled water to households. But Israelis need not go that far. The country would do well to simply ramp up agricultural and industrial applications of recycled water.

Desalination has a place in Israel’s water portfolio. But it is no panacea. The Water Authority Council’s plan to quadruple its capacity should be a wake-up call. The country is likely to see exponential growth in the desalination industry.

Alternative sources such as brackish groundwater should be considered. And if seawater desalination continues to expand, its growth must be balanced by water conservation and recycling.

Water means security and prosperity. Israel and its neighbors are acutely aware of this. But in their haste, they must not concede precious energy resources and healthy marine environments to the cause of seawater desalting. They must diversify. And in doing so they will succeed.

Image via lancecheungmedia

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Although BrightSource Energy pulled out of the Ashelim tender in the Negev desert, they are relentless elsewhere. Plans to build the world’s largest solar power plant in the Californian section of the Mojave Desert moves one step closer as California Energy Commissioner Jeffrey Bryon recommended in a recent 576-page report that the project be approved, according to mercurynews.com.

His report will move on the state’s five panel energy board for a final decision, and the public will be given 30 days to voice their opinions. If all the bureaucratic procedures run according to the plan, then the permits will be in place to start construction later this fall.

Bright Source vs. the desert tortoise

But not everyone is convinced that the plant’s location is optimal as it will affect areas of the desert that are home to a unique group of native desert tortoises in addition to rare plants such as the Mojave milkweed and desert pincushion.

Other experts, however, claim that the region’s high altitude and flat landscape makes the Mojave Desert an ideal location for a solar plant.

World’s largest solar plant

The plant is the brainchild of BrightSource Energy, a publicly-owned company with operations in the United States, Australia and Israel; the company intends to build three plants with a combined production capability of 392 MW of electricity, and that will cover approximately 3,500 acres of federally-owned land. These plants will provide up to 140,000 homes with power.

BrightSource operates LPT plants where the heat of the sun is reflected by mirrors known as heliostats to a tower at the center. Running along the tower are water pipes that are heated up to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit or 550 degrees Celsius, generating steam which then powers a turbine.

Air, not precious desert water

One major difference between BrightSource and other solar power plant operators is that it uses air, rather than water, to cool its power plants, reducing water usage by more than 90%.

An additional advantage of BrightSource’s system, according to the company, is that their heliostats are flat, as opposed to parabolic, and therefore smaller, easier and cheaper to install.

The position of the mirrors is controlled by a central control system that accounts for a variety of factors such as sun radiation, wind, and air pressure to achieve optimal result.

BrightSource has 200 employees and its investors includes venture capital firms Draper Fisher Jurvetson, VantagePoint Venture Partners and Google.org.

:: Photo via BrightSource and post via Mercurynews.com

More on BrightSource on Green Prophet:

Israel’s Bedouin Want Their Rightful Share of the Sun

Dropouts Threaten Viability of Israel’s Ashelim Solar Tender

Germany’s Solar Millennium AG Pulls out of Israel Bid

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