Once Muzer Al-Kasas was able to collect all of the necessary materials, it only took him three days to build a small electric vehicle. Unlike Better Place EVs (which are now for sale in Israel) or any other fancy equivalents, the taxi driver’s inexpensive innovation is a slightly more viable means of transportation for a […]
It’s mission accomplished. The Solar Impulse, the world’s longest solar powered flight has landed back home in Madrid, Spain. The flight took 17 hours from Rabat, Morocco. The plane’s maiden voyage was from Spain to Morocco, proving that a solar-powered plane could fly both day and night. Next, say its owners Swiss pilots Bertrand Piccard […]
Everyone who constructed pavilions for the recently-completed Rio +20 conference in Brazil was required to source their materials locally and to employ members of the Rio de Janiero community to build each structure. But the New York-based industrial design firm Grimshaw Architects distinguished Qatar’s pavilion from the crowd by modeling its shape after the wingspan […]
Pilot Andre Borschberg was forced to fly the Solar Impulse back to Rabat when turbulence made it impossible to cross the Atlas Mountains in southern Morocco on June 14, 2012. But yesterday’s second attempt was finally successful, and the team was welcomed in Ouarzazate by a jubilant crowd. The 683 km journey was completed in 17 hours […]
Last Wednesday in Munich, Germany, Israeli solar energy company TIGI Ltd. was among the three winners in the solar-thermal category at the Intersolar Europe Exhibition, an annual forum promoting solar technologies since 1991. Despite the fact that it is located in the Middle East, Israel is often included in Europe’s competitions and showcases, as with […]
Renewing Africa’s Energy Future is the theme of an International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) side-event scheduled to take place today at the Rio +20 conference underway in Brazil. Co-hosted by the government of Mozambique, this high-level meeting aims to spark a renewable energy revolution throughout the African continent, which supports 15% of the world’s population […]
ACWA rumored to win the contract to build a 160 MW CSP project in in the south of Morocco.
After 12 years of finalizing details and garnering institutional support for his deeply ambitious ocean-going research vessel, Jacques Rougerie has announced that construction on the SeaOrbiter is slated to begin in October. Currently the center of attention at France’s Expo 2012 exhibit in Yeosu, South Korea, the $43 million vessel will also be the world’s […]
We are at the edge of one of the most important epochs in religious architecture. Architects working on mosque designs are bound by energy and resource constraints in addition to escalating temperatures and the threat of rising seas, but they are also restricted by the expectations of tradition. Which is what makes Suhail Mohammed Suleiman’s […]
Paint researchers at University of Notre Dame go green, and not just ‘cause they’re the “Fighting Irish” A team of scientists and engineers led by Professor Prashant Kamat is generating energy from solar paint. Building on recent advances in semiconductor nanocrystal research, they’ve developed a one-coat solar paint for designing quantum dot solar cells. Energy […]
Israeli diplomats and ministers have taken a quasi-Messianic tone as the Rio+20 United Nations conference approaches.”Our main message is that the world has the problems and challenges and Israel has the solutions,” said Galit Cohen, senior deputy director-general of Israel’s Environment Ministry. “Israeli innovation for the world.” Israel has a reputation as an international hub of green technology. […]
Kuwait is planning to build a city in the desert for 2,500 residents, and the Sabah Al-Ahmad Culture Center will be its nucleus. Albeit materially extravagant, BDP. has proposed a design that takes energy conservation very seriously. And in this relentlessly hot and humid seaside environment along the Gulf, that won’t be easy. Integrated with photovoltaic […]
We would give anything to be in Rabat as the world’s first solar-powered transcontinental flight comes to an end at roughly 11pm local time. Despite the relatively late hour (chosen to avoid dense air traffic), delegates from the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN) and others will be at the airport to congratulate pilot Bertrand […]
Not to be outdone by Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, Dubai will soon begin construction on its own ‘sustainable city,’ where green transportation options include horses. Lest it seem that the new 743,000m2 development project entails a remarkable step backward, solar-powered vehicles are also planned, which is every bit as ambitious (and unlikely) as Masdar’s long-since-abandoned […]
Jordan’s nuclear industry is wildly volatile, especially when you consider it doesn’t actually exist. Arwa reported on last week’s parliamentary vote to shelve Jordan’s first nuclear reactor. Exploratory mining for uranium was also stopped. The program will surely resurrect once new feasibility analyses are complete, but against a backdrop of a pressurized economy, scarce water […]