Solar Powered Vending Machines Along Cyprus’ Bus Routes
People waiting for the bus on a hot day in Cyprus will soon be able to purchase cold water from a solar powered vending machine.
Solar Energy
Jordan’s First Nuclear Reactor: No-Go without Parliamentary Pre-approval
Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) Chairman Khaled Toukan champions a peaceful nuclear power program, despite opposition from environmentalists and Parliamentary MPs.The Chairman spoke earlier this month in a Lower House session, in reply to MP Mahmoud Kharabsheh’s claim that kick-off of a national nuclear program excluded proper assessment of feasibility and environmental impacts. MP Kharabsheh, a nuclear skeptic, […]
4 Desertec Deals That Make Our Energy Future More Secure
In just six hours, the deserts receive more energy from the sun than humankind produces in a year, and Desertec is harnessing it. Right now hundreds of people are gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland making the same kind of noises about the security of our future as the suits at COP […]
Has The Middle East Turned A New (Green) Leaf?
Investment in renewables grew 104 percent in 2010 in the Middle East and North Africa region- is this a step towards a renewables revolution? According to data from the United Nations Environment Programme, new investment in renewables in the Middle East and Africa region grew 104 percent in 2010 to $5billion. From inspiring solar projects […]
6 Hot Solar Projects from the Middle East and North Africa
We have listed 6 big and small solar-powered projects in the MENA region that have inspired us in the hopes that it will do the same for you. Big or small, solar-powered projects in the Middle East and North Africa are transforming our region. Not only do they hold promise of slowly improving air quality […]
Masdar and Siemens Team Up to Develop Sand-Resistant Solar Panels
Solar panels at the Kuraymat CSP planet in Egypt require precious water resources to stay clean but Masdar & Siemens aim to change that. When coated with layers of dust, solar panels lose their energy-absorbing efficiency and require a regular cleaning schedule. But spending this precious natural resource on energy when many people in the […]
Woman Builds Off-Grid Earth Bag Home in Turkey for $3,761
Kerry Bingham’s off-grid earth bag home in Turkey only cost $3,761 to build. Everybody’s talking about earth bag construction lately, including The National, which reported this weekend that a British woman has built an earthbag home a la Iranian architecture Nader Khalili. Using dirt from her own 6,500 square foot plot of land, the artist and […]
Nanosolar’s Ultra Thin Solar Panels Could Go East
By being longer, Nanosolar’s solar panels are less costly to install Advances in solar energy panel technology is reaching a stage where it is now possible to purchase DIY home kits to create solar powered electricity on the roofs of your home. And solar array panels are even being installed on the roofs of chicken […]
Newton Becker, a Bright Source for Solar Thermal Energy, Dies at 83
Considered by some as the father of solar thermal electricity generation, Newton Becker, was the founding investor and Chairman of the Board of Luz International – the company that went on to become what BrightSource is today. He died Monday in LA at age 83. Back when, Luz became the largest solar company in the […]
Masdar Aims to Become the Guru of Sustainable Building Materials
Masdar will break ground on a new Facade Test Center in a few months. It will research the most energy efficient building materials on the market. Masdar is constantly reinventing itself in order to ensure that the Gulf’s first genuine low-energy and low-carbon building project succeeds, and its latest reincarnation may well become one of […]
Solar Water Heating – what you need to know
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 […]
Jordan Jumps Forward on Energy Development
Jordan hits a fork in the energy development road: each route inciting ardent support and dissidence. Environmental activists united in protest for a second time in six months urging public debate over Jordan’s emerging atomic energy program. Over two dozen anti-nuclear activists protested near Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh’s Amman offices last Saturday, in vocal reaction […]
Gaza’s Green Schools Fuse Islamic Architecture and Sustainable Design
A fusion of traditional Islamic architecture and modern sustainable design, Gaza’s new green schools will cost the same to build as their less-sustainable counterparts. We recently reported that Gaza is slated to receive not one but 20 zero-energy eco-schools, and now we have a better sense of what they will look like thanks to a […]
Croatian Firm to Design Istanbul’s First Disaster Prevention & Education Center
Radionika Arhitekture from Croatia won an international design competition to design Instanbul’s Disaster Prevention and Education Center, which is hoped to create more public awareness about earthquakes in particular. In the last two months, two large earthquakes in Turkey claimed a total of 670 lives – deaths that might have been prevented with better disaster […]
Gaza’s Getting 20! Zero-Emissions Eco-Schools
In time, students living in Gaza Strip will no longer be vulnerable to the politics du jour. In an unprecedented move, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has unveiled plans to build as many as 20 zero-emissions schools throughout the Gaza Strip, which will rely entirely on renewables for their energy supply. The agency […]