Web hosting can make or break your online presence. SiteGround has been a popular choice for years, but price increases and feature restrictions have many users looking elsewhere. Here are five hosting providers that offer comparable or better services, with GreenGeeks leading the pack.

GreenGeeks Takes the Top Spot

GreenGeeks has earned its position as the best SiteGround alternative through a combination of fast servers, eco-friendly operations, and competitive pricing. Independent tests from 2025 show GreenGeeks loading WordPress sites in 1 to 2 seconds, even under stress from 50 or more concurrent users.

The company runs on LiteSpeed servers with built-in LSCache technology. This setup consistently delivers lower time-to-first-byte measurements than SiteGround’s Google Cloud infrastructure. While SiteGround can load static pages in 0.3 seconds, its real-world WordPress performance ranges from 1.4 to 2.5 seconds on entry-level plans.

GreenGeeks offers unlimited storage, bandwidth, and websites on all plans. SiteGround limits these based on your chosen tier. The entry-level GreenGeeks plan starts at $2.95 per month and renews at $10.95. SiteGround’s comparable plan costs $2.99 initially but jumps to $16.99 on renewal.

Environmental Leadership Sets GreenGeeks Apart

GreenGeeks purchases renewable energy certificates for 300% of the power it uses. This means for every unit of electricity the company consumes, it funds three units of wind or solar power generation. SiteGround makes no environmental offset claims beyond the efficiency of its Google Cloud platform.

The environmental certifications are verified and audited. Each hosting account directly supports certified renewable energy projects. This commitment has earned GreenGeeks industry recognition for sustainability leadership in 2025.

Feature Comparison Shows Clear Advantages

Both hosts include SSL certificates, content delivery networks, and site migration services. GreenGeeks bundles more premium features in its base plans:

• Free domain registration for the first year
• Nightly automated backups with 30-day retention
• AI website builder included on all plans
• Premium GlobalSign SSL on higher tiers
• Cloudflare CDN with single-click activation

SiteGround moved several features to higher-cost plans in June 2025. Staging environments and advanced backup options now require mid-tier or premium subscriptions. This change frustrated budget-conscious users who previously had access to these tools.

WP Engine Specializes in Managed WordPress

WP Engine targets users who need premium WordPress hosting with minimal maintenance. The service costs more than shared hosting but includes specialized WordPress optimization and security.

All WP Engine plans feature:
– Automated WordPress updates
– Daily backups with one-click restore
– Advanced caching built for WordPress
– Staging environments on all plans
– Expert WordPress support team

Pricing starts at $20 monthly for one website and 25,000 visits. Small businesses and bloggers might find this expensive, but agencies and high-traffic sites benefit from the specialized infrastructure.

WP Engine’s Genesis Framework comes free with all accounts. This professional theme framework helps developers build custom WordPress sites faster. The company also provides free site migration from any host.

DreamHost Keeps Pricing Transparent

DreamHost has operated since 1997 and maintains a reputation for straightforward pricing. Unlike many hosts that dramatically increase renewal rates, DreamHost’s prices stay consistent year after year.

The shared hosting plans include:
– Unlimited bandwidth and storage
– Free domain privacy protection
– 97-day money-back guarantee
– Pre-installed WordPress
– Free automated site migration

DreamHost’s control panel differs from the standard cPanel interface. Some users find it easier to use, while others prefer traditional layouts. The company offers both shared and cloud hosting options.

Monthly pricing starts at $4.95 for one website or $8.95 for unlimited sites. Annual plans reduce these rates. DreamHost operates its own data centers in Virginia and California, giving them direct control over hardware and network performance.

Hostinger Offers Global Reach at Low Prices

Hostinger rounds out the top five with aggressive pricing and worldwide data centers. The company operates servers in seven locations across North America, Europe, Asia, and South America.

Key features include:
– AI website builder with customizable templates
– Free email accounts on all plans
– LiteSpeed caching on Premium and Business tiers
– Weekly or daily backups depending on plan
– 30-day money-back guarantee

Hostinger’s entry plan costs $2.99 monthly but limits resources more than competitors. The mid-tier Premium plan at $3.99 provides better value with 100 websites and improved performance. Business hosting at $4.99 adds daily backups and a free CDN.

Customer reviews mention occasional language barriers with support staff. Response times vary by region and time of day. The low prices and global infrastructure make Hostinger attractive for international projects or testing environments.

Making the Right Choice

Each alternative offers distinct advantages over SiteGround. GreenGeeks combines speed, environmental responsibility, and value. Recent benchmarks confirm its LiteSpeed servers outperform SiteGround’s infrastructure for WordPress sites.

Consider these factors when choosing:

• Performance needs: GreenGeeks excels for speed-critical sites. Both use LiteSpeed technology and offer resource scaling.
• Budget constraints: Hostinger provides the lowest entry price. GreenGeeks offers better long-term value with lower renewal rates.
• WordPress focus: WP Engine specializes in WordPress but costs more. GreenGeeks and A2 Hosting provide strong WordPress performance at lower prices.
• Geographic requirements: SiteGround still leads in data center locations. Hostinger offers the best alternative global coverage.
• Environmental impact: Only GreenGeeks provides verified renewable energy offsets.

Technical Specifications Matter

Server technology affects site performance. LiteSpeed servers used by GreenGeeks, A2 Hosting, and Hostinger’s premium plans typically outperform traditional Apache setups. Built-in caching reduces database queries and speeds up content delivery.

All five alternatives provide SSD or NVMe storage. This hardware loads files faster than traditional hard drives. The difference becomes noticeable with image-heavy sites or large databases.

PHP version support varies by host. GreenGeeks and A2 Hosting offer PHP 8.x on all plans. Newer PHP versions run code more efficiently and support modern WordPress themes and plugins.

Support Quality Varies

SiteGround earned its reputation partly through responsive customer support. Among the alternatives, experiences differ:

• GreenGeeks provides 24/7 support via chat and phone. Users report helpful responses but sometimes longer wait times than SiteGround during peak hours.
• WP Engine limits support to WordPress-specific issues but employs WordPress experts. General server or email questions might not receive assistance.
• DreamHost offers callback support instead of traditional phone lines. This system reduces wait times but feels less immediate to some users.
• Hostinger primarily uses ticket-based support with live chat for urgent issues. Response quality can vary based on the support agent’s location and expertise.

Final Recommendations

GreenGeeks earns the top recommendation through consistent performance, environmental leadership, and fair pricing. The unlimited resources and included features provide excellent value for growing websites.

• Users leaving SiteGround due to price increases will find GreenGeeks’ renewal rates particularly attractive. The $10.95 renewal for basic hosting compares favorably to SiteGround’s $16.99.
• WP Engine works best for businesses needing managed WordPress expertise. DreamHost appeals to users who value pricing transparency and company stability. Hostinger fits tight budgets or global projects requiring multiple server locations.

Monitor your current hosting performance before switching. Run speed tests and check your actual resource usage. This data helps you choose the right plan level with your new host. Most alternatives offer free migration services to simplify the transition from SiteGround.

The post Don’t Regret Your Host: Alternatives to SiteGround That Impress appeared first on Green Prophet.

The post Desert art and solar energy in Oman appeared first on Green Prophet.

A perfect storm of inflation, supply chain disruption, spiralling interest rates and delays in connection to the UK’s national grid means that the swathe of solar farms approved and going through planning permission in the UK are likely to be severely delayed or cancelled undermining any hopes of achieving a government target of a fivefold increase to 70GW by 2035.

A new study by Huw Evans, an Energy Consultant and former Head of Global Economics for BG Group suggests that under the current macro-Economic conditions and impasse at obtaining connection to the National Grid, any chance of these solar farms being viable in the near future is negligible.

The UK government has gambled heavily on promoting solar energy to achieve its stated goal to be carbon neutral by 2035, he says.

In his report, Evans goes on to say that despite greatly increased prices offered by the Government in their Contract for Difference (CfD) allocation round, to encourage Renewable Energy, where prices have been increased by 30% for Solar Energy, solar developers will still struggle to make any return on their investment.

That is before you take into any account delays in connecting to the national grid. “The UK Government has vastly underestimated the increasing costs to develop solar farms, where their assumptions suggest the UK can develop Solar Energy cheaper than anywhere else in the world; based on published data, which is clearly unrealistic!” he says.

The UK not ideal for solar power

Within the report, Evans points to International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) data that shows that given the UK’s climate, solar energy is within the worst 5% areas in the world to develop solar electricity, as only 10%-11% of the capacity of Solar Farms will ever be generated annually compared to double that in places such as Spain, Australia and parts of the US.

For Grid connection, as of November 2023, there are 1,300 projects that are awaiting connection to the grid which amounts to 400 Giga Watts (GW) of Grid access requirements. Companies applying for Grid access have been told they have to wait 15 years before any electricity they produce can be sold.

New rules issued by The National Grid to alleviate the backlog of connections which effectively are “get on, get back or get out of the energy queue” are in danger of creating thousands of acres of White Elephants, as grid connections continue to be delayed with diggers tearing up the landscape and then being suspended as projects are put on hold pending a grid connection date.

Evans points out that this as already happened in Torquay Devon where diggers have already cleared the site only to be told that Grid connection will be at least 5 years and there are indications that that could slip into the mid 2030s.

He further notes that Centrica have said that approximately 80% of the 300 substations across England and Wales need upgrading and “supergrid transformers are huge bits of kit that weigh several hundred tonnes, and it takes years to install them.

“We’re talking five to eight years for each one of these.”

For projects to progress they will probably need an allocation of a Contract for Difference (CfD) in the auction rounds, which come with a deadline of when the project needs to come on stream, a date from The National Grid to be connected which may or may not be in line with the deadline set by the CfD and provide the investor and financiers with a viable return on their investment which in the current climate is very doubtful.

The post Downgrade your expectations for solar energy investments in the UK appeared first on Green Prophet.

Mária Telkes, a solar energy pioneer. The Hungarian-American biophysicist and inventor Mária Telkes pioneered solar energy by inventing a solar oven, a solar desalination kit and, in the late 1940s, she helped design one of the first solar-heated houses.

Mária Telkes, born on December 12, 1900, in Budapest, Hungary, emerged as a solar energy pioneer long before the world would turn to renewable energy. She invented a solar oven, a solar desalination kit and, in the late 1940s, she helped design one of the first solar-heated houses. She is known as the Sun Queen.

Telkes, who came from a Jewish family that converted to Christianity, studied at the University of Budapest and then later in Switzerland at the University of Geneva where she mastered chemistry and physics, and earned a Ph.D. in 1924.

In 1925, while visiting her uncle in Cleveland, USA, she worked along the renowned surgeon George Washington Crile who performed the first successful blood transfusion.

Telkes dedicated the next 12 years of her life to researching the energy changes cells undergo during death or cancer, resulting in the publication of their findings in a collaborative book.

Upon becoming an American in 1937, Telkes joined Westinghouse Electric, where her focus shifted towards solar energy in 1939 upon becoming a member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Solar Energy Conversion project.

As the world grappled with the Second World War, Telkes was enlisted by the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), which worked on the Manhattan Project. Her task was to leverage solar energy to transform salty water into drinkable water, addressing the critical issue of dehydration faced by soldiers at sea.

In response, Telkes invented the first solar water distillation device, capable of producing one liter of drinkable water per day using seawater. This innovation quickly became a standard component in every soldier’s pack, earning her a merit from OSRD for her invaluable contribution.

However, Telkes’ most renowned invention was the creation of the first solar house in 1948, the Dover Sun House, near Boston, designed by Eleanor Raymond and tested by the Némethy family, Telkes’ relatives.

To tackle the challenge of storing solar energy for use on cloudy days, Telkes ingeniously employed a glauber salt solution (natrium sulfuricium) with a low melting point (32 °C) and high enthalpy of fusion, capable of storing solar energy for up to ten days.

Despite initial challenges – the unusually cold winter of 1948 and subsequent leakage in the solution tanks in 1953 – the solar house laid the groundwork for the acceptance of solar energy as a viable heating source.

“It was a proof of premise, a radical idea for her to be thinking that broadly and to think that far ahead and actually create a liveable house as an experiment,” says Andrew Nemethy, who was a boy who lived in the Dover Sun House growing up. “She needed astronauts, and I guess we were the lucky ones,” he said in a PBS documentary.

This marked a significant shift, considering that sustainable development was not yet a recognized term. People began incorporating solar panels into house designs, often complemented by traditional heating systems in areas with insufficient sunny days.

The Dover Sun House was demolished in 2010. A PBS documentary explores the contribution of Telkers and the Dover Sun House that would be heated only by the sun in a New England winter.

Telkes received the Society of Women Engineers Award in 1952, earning the moniker “The Sun Queen” in the United States.

In 1953, when Telkes was at New York University, she received a Ford Foundation grant to develop a solar stove that could be used in developing countries. Like the designs previous, she took a simple approach.

The stove was constructed as an insulated metal box equipped with doors on both ends, topped with glass over the food placement area. Harnessing the sun’s rays, the glass amplified their intensity, aided by four metal plates strategically angled at 60 degrees.

Triangular mirrors positioned between the plates further enhanced the amplification of solar wavelengths. Remarkably, the stove could reach temperatures of 400 degrees, requiring no specialized materials for its construction and boasting an affordable price tag of merely four dollars.

Its user-friendly design (you can download the instructions here) found a welcoming market in midcentury India, precisely the tropical climate its inventor had envisioned. Telkes enthusiastically praised its merits to a reporter during a cooking demonstration, expressing, “Everything seems to taste so much better when it is cooked by the sun.”

In 1977, the American Solar Energy Society honored her with the Charles Greeley Abbot Award. At the age of 90 in 1990, Telkes submitted her last invention, leaving an indelible mark on the field.

Returning to her hometown, Budapest, after 70 years, Telkes passed away on December 2, 1995, at the age of 94. In recognition of her unparalleled contributions, she was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2012, alongside physicist Dénes Gábor.

Mária Telkes’ legacy endures as an inspiration for future innovators and a testament to the transformative power of solar energy in shaping a sustainable future.

The post Who was Mária Telkes, the solar energy Sun Queen? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Technological advancements in the energy sector have made it easier for consumers to access renewable and green energy like solar. Green energy has proven to be reliable and cleaner compared to other power sources. It is friendly to the environment and can help consumers to save money.

Homeowners are wary of using gas-powered generators because of the risks they pose and their cost. The gas that runs the generators is highly flammable, the cost of maintaining them is high, and they are unfriendly to the environment. Solar-powered generators are a better alternative. They are economical, and safe for the environment and your family.  However, there are suggested compatibilities of generators and solar panels out there.  Solar generators also come in different sizes. It is therefore essential to learn how to identify the solar-powered generator that can meet your needs prior to making a purchase. You should get a unit that can power your appliances, electronics, and home properly when there is no electricity.

How solar generators work

Solar generators work by converting natural sunlight from the solar panels into electric power. These generators then store the power in a high capacity battery. The stored energy is then released through an inverter for use with different appliances and devices at home, including lights, refrigerators, TVs, laptops and smartphones. The benefits of solar using generators include:

1. Low maintenance

The solar generator does not need fuel to run, and there are no moving parts in it. Therefore, it does not require much maintenance. You will not have to worry about gas prices or replacing oil filters.   

2. Durable

Compared to gas generators, solar-powered generators have a longer lifespan. Both the generator and the solar panels have been designed to last long.

3. Silent

Since the generator does not have any moving parts, it provides a peaceful energy source. Unlike gas-powered generators, there is no clattering of a running engine.

4. Clean energy

Since the generator uses sunlight, it is not necessary for it to have an exhaust. The system produces no waste when running, which is not only good for you but also for the environment.

5. Self-sufficient

Solar generators require minimal maintenance. It is unnecessary to tend to or fuel them.

6. Indoor use

Solar generators are not that different from batteries. You can keep them indoors since they are silent and do not produce any toxic smoke.

7. Safety

The generators depend on solar energy, not flammable liquids to run. You will not have to worry about their family’s safety. However, you need to take some precautions when using the generator. Make sure the generator does not come into direct contact with water because it can damage the unit. You also need to protect the generator from rain and floods.  Hiring professionals to install the solar generator is also essential. If you decide to install it yourself, you may void its warranty or damage the whole system. Professionals can easily install the solar generator without damaging it and the warranty will remain intact. You should also learn the basics of using the generator so you can maintain it properly.

The cons of solar generators include:

1. Upfront cost

Solar generators can be costlier than gas-powered generators. The cost depends on the size and kind of unit that can serve your home. The upfront costs can be high because of solar panels, battery, and installation.

2. Subject to weather

Sunlight fuels, solar generators. Sometimes, the weather can be cloudy or rainy, and the solar panels may not receive enough sunlight. That can significantly affect the power supply in your home.

3. Space

Solar generators consume more space than conventional gas-powered generators because the solar panels need space to function as they should. This can be a drawback for homeowners with limited space. 

Having a generator available to back up your house in the event of a power outage in a smart idea. Solar powered generators make sense since they are environmentally friendly and durable. Even though the upfront cost may be high, it does not take a lot of work to maintain them. Therefore, you do not have to spend much money on your solar generator over the course of its life. It is environmentally friendly, safe for your family, and useful.       

The post Solar Generators – Clean Energy At Home appeared first on Green Prophet.

New portable, and affordable, solar powered devices are now becoming more available to millions of people who live in areas where established electrical grids are not available.

A recent article on Mashable, the technology web news site, reports on 11 ingenious solar devices that are having a positive impact on the developing world. These devices range from simple solar stills to create fresh drinking water from dirty or saline water sources, to portable lighting for homes and power sources to run or recharge electronic devices, including cell phones. These are solutions that developing nations can afford now and many of them have been covered here on Green Prophet.

Many people in the developing world do not have proper lighting in their homes, which causes problems for school children needing to study at night. Inadequate lighting is also a serious issue for medical field workers, including midwives, who need adequate lighting to treat their patients.

Solar powered lighting devices such as one called d.light S20  can provide up to 8 hours of light after being charged by solar cells (see photo below)

Another solar powered device of interest is an irrigation called SunWater which provides crop irrigation to poor farmers by using solar powered pressurization of water flowing from nearby water sources.

This device, using easily erected solar panels and piping, can help millions of farmers whose fields do not have easy access to available water sources.

Although some of these devices, like an artificial, self-healing hydrogen producing leaf are still in the innovation stage, other new solar devices are now ready to be marketed to the masses who really need them in the developing world.

More articles on solar powered devices for the developing world:

WakaWaka’s Solar for Syria gives refugees energy and light (video)

iLAND’sSolar Packs for Peace-keepers, Festivals, Eco-jocks and Alpha Wolves Who Travel with theSun 

Jumpstarting Solar Power in the MENA Region

Barefoot College Bedouin Women Bring Solar Power to Jordan

Photo of Eliodomestico Solar Still by designer Gabrile Diamante

The post Practical Solar Powered Innovations for Developing Countries appeared first on Green Prophet.

A tale of two wafers: Both begin as 99.9999999 percent pure silicon, one of the basic ingredients in desert sand. A furnace melts the silicon and controls the cooling and growing of a mono-crystalline cylindrical ingot which is then sliced into standard 100 to 300mm (4 to 7.5 inch) wafers.  Infinitesimal quantities of doping materials are added to change the wafer into a semiconductor with the correct properties to become either a microchip or a photovoltaic solar cell. From this point these two types of wafers go their separate ways and give little indication of their common roots. But now a company named Sol Chip of Haifa Israel intends to combine these two silicon-based technologies to make solar-powered microchips.

In 1981 I connected a photovoltaic solar cell to a pocket calculator. I stood on a chair, held it up to the classroom’s florescent light and it worked!  My friend Fernando laughed at me and I didn’t get a patent. Within two years nearly every pocket calculator was powered by photovoltaics and ambient light. Thirty-one years later microchips are in RFID tags for livestock, medical devices, utility monitoring equipment, cars, satellites, remote sensing buoys, price tags, toys, security alarms… It seems that microchips are everywhere!

Given what happened to pocket calculators, I would have expected that every laptop, phone and flying car would be powered by solar energy by now.  But while microchips advanced beyond my wildest dreams, photovoltaics languished in the disco era.

Perhaps I’m being harsh, photovoltaics are advancing, albeit at a snail’s pace. For example photovoltaic cost has fallen from about $100 per watt in 1970 to about $1 per watt in 2012.  But during the same time, the cost of a microchip transistor dropped from one dollar to less than 1 millionth of a dollar.  Perhaps there hasn’t been enough collaboration between the photovoltaic wafer engineers and those hot-shot microchip wafer engineers.

Fortunately that is about to change.  Sol Chip raised one million dollars to develop their solar chip technology.

Their idea is to create light-powered chips for these small ubiquitous wireless devices.  The chips will have windows on top like some EEPROM memory chips do.  But these windows illuminate the photovoltaic device and power the chip.

This will allow small devices to run indefinitely without replacing and disposing of those silly lithium batteries. That’s good for the environment. Sol Chip’s idea sounds simple but if you’ve owned several hundred RFID-tagged sheep or a beluga whale transponder, you’d appreciate not having to replace their batteries every year.

Images of solar chip from Shutterstock

The post Israel’s Sol Chip adds Solar Power to Microchips appeared first on Green Prophet.

The World Wildlife Fund and the Cleantech Group recently published a report saying that Israel is the second best place in the world to develop green technologies, second only to Denmark. Israel has long been a major exporter of such innovations, a leading developer of water-saving technology, such as its agricultural inventions, and solar power. Now Israel is starting to bolster its own energy infrastructure, utilizing that world renowned expertise at home.

The recently unveiled Heliofocus Dish pictured above is a prime example. A secondary large scale solar project, Project Halutziot (“Pioneering”), will soon construct a 55 Mega Watt power plant as part of a joint venture with the settlement Bnei Nezarim, established by families evacuated from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

Prime Minister Netanyahu declared this project in the western Negev is “a project of national importance” and promoted it within the National Infrastructure Committee. In March 2012 alone Israel’s Public Utility Authority issued licenses for nine large solar fields.

Among those projects is a 150-acre site at Ketura that will eventually meet a third of the peak daytime electricity used in Eilat. According to Yosef Abramowitz, co-founder of Arava Power, a solar power company at the Ketura kibbutz in southern Israel, conditions in the nation’s expansive Negev desert are perfect for harvesting solar energy. Ketura, for example, gets up to 14 hours of sunlight in the summer and on average has only 15 cloudy days a year.

Gershon Baskin, of Israel’s Green Movement Political Party, recently recommended that the Jewish nation turn to its bounty of solar energy to compensate for deteriorating gas supplies from neighboring Egypt. But there’s been no word from Prime Minister Netanyahu so far about wide scale government subsides for renewable energy being on the horizon.

::Haaretz

Image via David Shankbone

The post Israel Invests in Domestic Solar Power appeared first on Green Prophet.

Sweat and Sahara sand had forced my eyes closed so that, even as I stood in front of one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, I saw nothing. My eyelids were a back-lit sandy-orange in the sun’s glare. I pried them open and squinted up at the shapes the pharaohs and their slaves had conjured out of the desert 4500 years ago. The Great Pyramid of Cheops towered over the camels and tour buses on the outskirts of Cairo.  It was a sight I will never forget and yet in the beginning I saw nothing.

Visitors often see the desert in this way, as an endless stretch of sun and sand and nothing.  But when German-born 3D Designer Markus Kayser first set his eyes upon the Egyptian desert, he saw possibilities. He imagined harnessing the resources which existed in great abundance here, sunlight and sand. And here he talks with Green Prophet about his 3D printer that runs on sun and sand.

First object printed from a 3D file with the Solar Sinter, Photo by Amos Field

Markus Kayser didn’t need tens of thousands of slaves to conjure something out of the desert. He used his own ingenuity to design and build a machine called a Solar Sinter. This machine uses photovoltaic panels to power a computer and the electromechanical workings of a 3D printer.

The print head holds a lens which concentrates sunlight from a larger Fresnel lens onto a tray of sand. This focused beam reaches temperatures of over 1400°C which sinters (melts) the sand to form a glass or ceramic object. The idea isn’t entirely new.  In the June, 1933 issue of Modern Mechanix, W.W. Beach envisioned giant lenses bur

Solar Sinter in the Saharan desert near Siwa, Egypt, Photo by Amos Fieldning roads and canals into the desert.  Markus Kayser took the first steps towards making this dream possible.

Markus earned a BA in 3D Design from London Metropolitan University and a MA in Design Products at the Royal College of Art in London. He is busy with the next phase of his project but he was kind enough to allow me to interview him for Green Prophet:

GP: What changes would you like to see in the way products are manufactured and consumed?
Markus Kayser: The Solar Sinter project is all about a potential which questions current manufacturing in a positive way.  I would like to see changes in the way energy is used which in this case means to use the immense power of the sun in a more direct way than just the conversion to electricity.  I think there is a basic logic, which is that sunlight is ‘powering’ this earth as a whole and that this energy can also be used to produce the products or even buildings.

GP: Given your imagination, sunlight, sand and enough financial resources– how would you improve the environment in the Mideast?
Markus Kayser: I would try to develop the material to be able to replace concrete as a building material.  I would concentrate on architecture and water distribution as well as sanitary products.

GP: Note that the production of concrete releases large amounts of CO2, consumes fossil fuels and requires large amounts of water. Solar sintered sand does not.

A bowl made by Markus Kayser’s solar sinter out of Saharan sand.Do you ever see a mass-produced product and say to yourself, “I could make that out of sand and sunlight?“

Markus Kayser: I think there are plenty of glass and ceramic objects which could be produced with the Solar Sinter. Of course, the Solar Sinter as it is now is not developed into a manufacturing process but is a prototype for industry to get inspired to look in that direction. I also see a great potential in architecture and infrastructure (sanitary, water canals) for the process.

GP: Your project shows potential for desert manufacturing and architecture.  Can it scale or should it always remain a small scale project for producing unique art?
Markus Kayser: Yes I think it can be scaled given enough funds to experiment on a large scale. I think it has already moved out of the ‘unique art’ context even though that’s what it is producing today.  I hope that it influence on industry will show in the future.  At the moment I’m sponsored by a big ceramic manufacturer (KOHLER) who are interested and supportive of the process as they see its potential for the future manufacturing.  I think that’s a small start in involving industry to really start thinking in this direction.

GP: What were the practical problems you encountered? Was it difficult to find the right kind of sand? Was it difficult to keep the sand from clogging the machine?
Markus Kayser:  The problem with the first Solar Sinter was that there was very little time to experiment in the desert – only about two weeks.  So to get it working in that timescale was a challenge, which thankfully just worked out. Heat is of course one of the biggest problems with electronics involved.  Finding the right sand was not an issue as desert sand in Egypt and Morocco worked without previous tests.  I have build the machine fairly robust but lightweight for traveling and the mechanics are designed slightly oversized so that the sand cannot do any damage.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptUj8JRAYu8[/youtube]

GP: How will 3D printing change the relationship between consumers, manufacturers and the environment?
Markus Kayser: 3D printing is moving in two directions – desktop DIY printers and prints on demand for so called ‘mass-customization’ of products.  I think both will have a great impact in how products are consumed as well as on manufacturing. If for instance I can modify the product to my personal needs before I buy it, it might have an impact on the way I feel about the product, its usability and I might think twice before throwing it away as I was part of its ‘creation’.  This again could lead to less consumption.  Also the way in which DIY 3D printers are looking at recycling the printed products, reusing the once printed but now unwanted products to make new ones at home.

GP: How will 3D printing change architecture?
Markus Kayser: In a way architecture has changed already through 3D printing as models of buildings are churned out by the hour in large architectural practices.

This means a building can be analyzed very quickly.  3D printed full scale architecture is just emerging with works by Fosters+Partners and Enrico Dini (among others) and it could bring about more ‘intelligent’ materials, which include walls with cavities for all wiring etc. as well as materials with insulating thermal properties with possibly ever changing qualities copied from natural processes. (see Neri Oxman, MIT)

GP: What will you do next?
Markus Kayser: At the moment I’m working on a new improved prototype as the first Solar Sinter is on exhibition tour.  I will be traveling to the desert again in March to produce new work with the Solar Sinter.

Many thanks to Markus Kayser for helping us see the resources of the desert with new eyes. Photos by Amos Field.

::Solar Sinter

The post Markus Kayser’s 3D Solar Sinter Prints on Sand – Could Replace Concrete appeared first on Green Prophet.

Mneizel is a Palestinian village located in Hebron in the West Bank. In 2009, the 400 residents living there were lucky enough to be the recipients of a project funded by the Spanish government to install a solar energy plant. The solar energy project cost 300,000 Euros and is now their sole source of electricity- without it the village; its school and clinic would be plunged into darkness. On the 11^th of October, the Israeli authorities issued a demolition order for the solar plant stating that it doesn’t have a permit.

Hebron has been experimenting with the use of solar power for a while now. They launched their own solar car in the summer of 2010 and have been working in Israeli partnerships with Comet-ME to link up to solar power. Indeed, the use of solar power makes huge sense for the sunny city and is a great alternative source of electricity for  villages in remote locations. With this in mind, you can see why Al Najah University working with the Spanish government decided to set up a solar plant for the villagers of Mneizel.

“Solar Provides Essential Support”

“The plant provides essential support to the entire village. Families are starting businesses, children can study at night, and for the first time in the village’s history, there is a clinic which can conduct ultrasound examinations twice a week,” Ignacio, a Spanish aid worker operating the solar planet told The Palestine Monitor.

However, Mneizel is located in Area C of the West Bank which is under the control of Israel. As such, every building requires a permit from the Israeli Civil Authority, which it almost never grants and so lots of buildings (like this solar plant) end up in a legal limbo.

Demolition Should Be Last Resort Not ‘Option A’

Demolition orders were due to be carried out on the 18th of October and were only avoided as lawyers from Rabbis for Human Rights presented a complaint to the Israeli courts. Last Thursday was the final deadline for Rabbis for Human Rights to collect all relevant claims and so now the villagers must await a decision from the Israeli Civil Administration.

Personally, I can’t see why the Israeli authorities resort to demolition- if the lack of permit is the real and only issue then surely, the two sides could sit together to sort it out and a fine paid if necessary. Going straight to demolition is such a wasteful, unfair and unproductive solution. Especially when the solar plant is a public building providing energy to the village and not some private enterprise.

: Image via Kyle Taylor/flickr.

For more on Hebron and Sustainability see:

Palestinian Engineers Get Sustainable Energy Course In Hebron

Comet-ME Continue To Bring Power To Villagers In South Hebron

Solar Power Electric Car Takes To The Streets Of Hebron

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