Sustainable commodities | A new trend in global finance
Cacao is a commodity which can very easily be made sustainable. Making sure farmers get paid fairly and that it is grown under organic standards are two ways and on trend in today's market.
renewable energy
Make biogas in your backyard from food and poop
Energy from food scraps and other biomass? A lot has been written about converting biomass into fuel, including using poultry poop as an energy source. The idea of using food scraps as a biofuel for cars has even been touted as a futuristic idea in such Hollywood movies as Back to the Future, when Marty McFly’s professor […]
Poultry poop could be a renewable energy source
Coincidental with millions of Americans mummifying their leftover Thanksgiving turkey in cling film, a new study by researchers from Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) says treated excrement from turkeys and chickens can provide an alternative source of energy when converted into combustible solid biomass fuel. Poultry poop biomass fuel can also reduce greenhouse […]
Use fossil fuels – not if we can help it says Saudi Arabia
It would seem everyone, except the US President, is firmly behind trying to reduce the world’s carbon footprint. Two of the planet’s largest suppliers of fossil fuel have recently announced big investment plans for the use of solar power in their respective countries. In Dubai: According to the Bloomberg news service, Dubai is planning to […]
China propels energy policies into the 21st Century, while the US retreats
On a recent screening of CNN commentator Fareed Zakaria’s GPS commentary show he asked why China’s progressive renewal energy policies is taking that country into the 21st Century; while the USA’s current energy policies is retreating it back into the 19th. The GPS program pointed out China’s advances in the field of renewable energy, particularly solar and wind energy […]
SmartFlower plug and play mobile solar array for power on the go
Solving solar power has enabled this renewable energy technology Smart Flower to create Middle East solar projects for West Bank farmers and other energy poor locations. It is also providing solar power for curing post-revolution darkness in countries like Yemen. While many solar energy projects involve covering large open areas with solar array panels, smaller personal solar energy equipment […]
Jordanian architect Hanna Salameh to eco-fix Jordan’s faulty towers
For five years a set of unfinished twin towers have stood watch over Amman, Jordan, construction halted – allegedly crippled by lawsuits. The filthy glass facades soar above a street-level footprint ringed by old hoarding, abandoned building material and trash. The empty skyscrapers stand in silent testimony to both the 2008 world financial crisis and […]
Egypt to shine with a new $3.5 BIL solar plant!
A global consortium of engineering and renewables industry giants kicked off a project to build a suite of solar power generating plants in Egypt to produce 2 gigawatts (GW) of electricity and valued at USD $3.5 billion. Terra Solar announced their plan on Friday, adding that they will also build a 200 MW PV module and inverter manufacturing […]
World Bank pledges $16B to climate change projects
The World Bank, the biggest provider of public finance to developing countries is not gambling on our future! It has just earmarked 28% of its 2016 budget for projects that mitigate climate change, according to a statement released on Thursday. All of its future spending will take global warming into account, and all projects considered for […]
Solar Impulse 2 mission control center to launch Abu Dhabi flight in March
Mission Control for the Solar Impulse 2 is open for business, ready to guide the solar plane’s first flight around the world. Located in Monaco, the Mission Control Center (MCC) serves as project nerve-center, where a team of analysts and engineers will collect satellite-transmitted flight information to calculate and adjust the plane’s flight path. The plane will take off from […]
Solar retreat in the Liwa Desert: futuristic functionality or lipstick-on-a-pig?
An unnamed client hired London-based Baharash Architecture to design a luxury home that could fully function off the energy grid. That’s a tall order for any residence in Abu Dhabi, now consider the challenges for one sited in the punishing clime of the hyper-arid Liwa Desert where summer temperatures top 100°F. The star-shaped structure is modestly […]
Jewelry that turns human veins into power source
Talk about being self-sufficient, but totally weird! Israeli student designer Naomi Kizhner has designed a collection of jewelry that harvests energy from veins in the human body. The project highlights in a beautiful and artful way how humanity is addicted to energy consumption. It may be a thought experiment more than anything, but these jewels provoke […]
Blowing Horn harvests wind energy with a multi-rotor turbine
Are you tired of seeing the same old giant wind turbines in a field or offshore? And do you worry about their impact on migrating birds? Hooman Tahvildar Akbary from Iran has a solution that is both super efficient and beautiful.
OAXIS: solar-powered hydroponic food belt proposed for the Arabian Peninsula
Most Gulf countries import up to 90 percent of their food, which neither bodes well for food security no climate change – since the food that is brought in from Europe and elsewhere has a lot of what are called “food miles.” True to their name, Forward Thinking Architecture proposes a solar-powered hydroponic food belt as […]
NOMADD robots clean Saudi solar panels without using a drop of water
Saudi Arabia is a desert country with no freshwater resources. Every day the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) produces more than three million cubic meters a day of potable water, which requires a great deal of precious energy, so every drop must be conserved. Cue NOMADD.
Turkey subsidizes solar donkeys for shepherds
Just when you think you’ve seen it all, a story pops up about donkeys in Turkey that carry solar panels so that shepherds, who are often out in the field alone for days at a time, have enough energy to power their laptops.
Saudi Arabia group makes pact with Masdar for green energy
Despite the turbulence tearing through the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have solidified their commitment to clean energy with the newly formed Framework Agreement on Strategic Cooperation between Masdar and King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (K.A.CARE.) It’s leadership we desperately need.
Elon Musk’s SolarCity inks huge solar deal in NYC
Tesla’s Elon Musk has made serious inroads to implement widespread use of electric vehicles, but he’s also got a hand in one of the most important solar energy deals of the century. Last week SolarCity purchased Silevo in New York in order to significantly scale up production of super efficient, high quality solar panels.
Massive solar panel factory opens in Qatar, long overdue
Qatar Solar Energy has unveiled a massive factory that will produce high quality solar panels that make the most of the desert sun, a boon not just for the emirate, but potentially for the entire Middle East.
Solar Roadways: energy-generating roads that light up at night
What if asphalt roads around the world were replaced with modular panels that generate energy during the day and light up at night? Our air would be cleaner and we would spend much less money on fossil fuels. Turns out, thanks in part to a compelling Indiegogo campaign, Solar Roadways may be coming to a highway near […]
Israel’s green LEED Platinum building – Porter School of Environmental Studies
Geotectura sent us images of their recently completed Porter School of Environmental Studies. The buiding was underwrit through a generous donation by Dame Shirley Porter of the UK. Construction broke ground in December, 2011 on what is being called Israel’s greenest building, and now it’s complete.
Meditative LED bowl lamp recharges with circular motions
Shlomi Mir is one of Israel’s most visionary designers whose recent tumbleweed anti-desertification project earned him a Lexus Design Award alongside giants like Toyo Ito. But its his beautiful rechargeable LED bowl lamp that we are drooling over today – an elegant combination of art, design, tradition, technology and even spirituality.
Kingdom renewables so slow, Saudi oil empire to take over
Saudi Aramco may be taking over the Kingdom’s renewable energy industry in order to hasten the uptake of solar, wind and other alternative sources of energy. The move comes after the government-backed group forecasted a significant slump in export revenue as local oil consumption soars.
Green up or ship out – Saudi clamps down on construction industry
Saudi Arabia has announced that the construction industry has five years to “green” up their business. Amid a massive construction boom, the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) has decreed that all companies must reduce their air, water and noise pollution in keeping with regulations approved in 2008.
Dubai’s MENASOL conference unites solar energy in the Middle East
Over 400 senior executives will descend on Dubai this week to learn how best to develop and construct photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar thermal power (CSP) plants in the region’s top markets including Jordan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Morocco.
