It is true that 2012 may be the last year for President Obama’s bold support for clean energy – because in the wake of the Citizens United decision by the bought-and-paid-for plutocratic new Supreme Court, it is the Koch brothers who get to decide  – but oh boy, did he ever get his licks in!

Last year, the US government gave out more loans for clean energy – than even China, which came second in the rankings.

US clean energy investment rose 33% last year to a staggering $55.9 billion – while in China it increased 1 percent to $47.4 billion, according to a study of the industry’s top 20 lenders by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

(Previous story: Solar Grew 69% From Obama Policy )

The Federal Financing Bank alone completed 13 deals worth $10.1 billion for projects – including the Ivanpah solar thermal plant from BrightSource that has the potential to supply a staggering 13% of California’s electricity – for 33 million Californians.

The Obama administration – quite simply – quadrupled all the clean energy ever put on US public lands. This year, its Department of the Interior fast tracked the biggest ever wind farm in North America, a 2,500 MW project.

But US government leadership in renewable energy is now at an end.

The 30% US cash grant expired on December 31st. It had paid actual government cash in lieu of the 30% tax credit for renewable project development, in the wake of the great recession of 2008, when so many companies were felled. It was miraculously extended for one year, but has now finally ended, a victim of the new fossil-fueled Tea Party congress that the oil-billionaire Koch brothers purchased in 2010 to prevent any competition for dirty energy.

Likewise, the Department of Energy’s clean energy loan guarantee program, which had been finally dusted off and funded in 2009 – after sitting around unused in some attic in congress for years.

The Obama administration Department of Energy offered a guarantee that if – after it got a private loan – a renewable company failed, Uncle Sam would take care of repaying the loan. It jump started lending in the US renewable energy world, reviving confidence at a time when investors were badly shaken.

Since so many of these loan guarantees were for solar power projects with purchase agreements in place with electric utilities, and practically zero risks of wind spills or solar meltdowns, most of the nearly $40 billion that this administration guaranteed, is now uneventfully being paid back.

The administration also boldly committed to high risk/high reward loan guarantees, like the one for a completely novel kind of solar from Solyndra, which received $0.5 billion of the $40 billion in guarantees.

But the company failed as traditional solar prices hit the skids, so their product, a novel thin film folded inside an airtight glass cylinder to keep moisture out, was not competitive in the new environment.

And so, latching onto that failure, the program was felled at the end of September by the Koch congress.

Ormat got the last of the “Solyndra” loan guarantees before the Tea Party shut down the program.

Next, the Koch brothers get to pick their president to match – but it was great while it lasted.

Related stories:

Despite Solyndra Bankruptcy, Solar Grew 69% From Obama Policy
BrightSource Offers World’s Biggest Solar Storage Deal
Luz Rises Again – as BrightSource – in California

The post US Leads World in Clean Energy Investment Under Obama appeared first on Green Prophet.

Palestine is neither a country nor a state, but Palestinian people living in the West Bank and Gaza are vying for their own sovereignty and recognition by the United Nations. Whether it is too early to do so, I can’t say. But attempts to go in the back door, as it were, are now threatening funding to world heritage sites, supported by the UN-organization UNESCO. Green Prophet’s Tafline put together an impressive list of UNESCO supported sites in the Middle East and budgetary cuts of now about 25 percent could hurt these sites, which include Egypt’s pyramids and Petra’s pink city in Wadi Rum, preserved for environmental and cultural reasons.

According to the Montreal Gazette, following a UNESCO vote that will give Palestinians a seat at the table, Canada’s federal government responded by retracting its voluntary payments which amounts to about $12 million a year.

Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said so yesterday at a press conference: “Under no circumstances will Canada cover the budgeting shortfall as a result of this decision and Canada has decided to freeze all further voluntary contributions to UNESCO,” Baird said, referring to a US law that would cut off funding to any UN organization that allows Palestinians as members.

The American contribution is about $60 million, at 22 percent of the organization’s total budget.

“The bottom line is there’s going to be a large hole in UNESCO’s budget because of the American law which withdraws funding and people at UNESCO should not look to Canada to fill that budget hole,” he said. “They’ll have to go to the countries who supported this resolution, that caused this budget loophole.”

As we reported earlier, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland sent a press notice on Monday that Washington would not transfer its $60 million due in November.

Any country that stops paying UNESCO for two years in a row will lose its voting rights.

::Montreal Gazette

Image of Socotra dragon tree in Yemen via wikipedia

The post Canada Cuts UNESCO Funds Based on US Law appeared first on Green Prophet.

A stroll around the West Bank is likely to bring you face to face with a project supported by America’s aid agency USAID pretty quickly. The posters and signs seems to be everywhere and although the fragile economies of the West Bank and Gaza are finally showing some signs of growth and development, the question remains: how sustainable can growth funded by aid donors really be?

Well, according to the latest report by the World Bank, not very. The organisation said that the Palestinian economy’s growth isn’t likely to be sustainable as it is largely driven by donor donations, and that it will not be sustainable unless Israeli restrictions are removed. The World Bank report explained that “Aid is what keeps many Palestinians above the poverty line, particularly in Gaza, where unemployment is still 37.4 percent, and a staggering 71 percent of the population benefited from some form of social assistance in 2009.”

The World Bank reported that there has been some impressive progress in the West Bank and Gaza such as improvements in the health and education sector. It also estimated that the Palestinian economy had expanded 9.3 percent last year.

(I feel I should point out that sustainable growth according to the World Bank doesn’t mean green and clean development which won’t destroy the planet but rather the sustained growth of an economy without much regard for the impact it has on the environment.)

The role that Israel plays in the progress of the Palestinian economy was also highlighted by the World Bank report. They pointed out that the recent easing of restrictions by Israel had played a positive role in the economic growth in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel has recently removed several roadblocks in the West Bank and eased restrictions on imports into Gaza whilst retaining its restrictions on exports from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

“Ultimately, sustainable economic growth in the West Bank and Gaza can only be underpinned by a vibrant private sector,” the World Bank said. “The latter will not rebound while Israeli restrictions on access to natural resources and markets remain in place.”

Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also reported improvements in the Palestinian financial situation and supported the Palestinian Authorities’ bid for global recognition of its statehood. According to reporting by Reuters, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, will present facts and figures to show how the Palestinian Authority has used hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign assistance over the past two years to create justice, education, energy, health, water, security and housing services.

:: Image via dilsbona on flickr.

:: Bloomberg

For more on the West Bank see:

Israel Considers Building An Artificial Island Off Gaza Coast

Palestine’s Green City Tackles Water and Wastewater Management

A Whirlwind Guide to Palestinian Guesthouses

The post West Bank and Gaza’s Economic Growth Isn’t Sustainable appeared first on Green Prophet.

The post Dangerous Gases Other Than C02 appeared first on Green Prophet.

Far from the range of Hamas rocket strikes, the three-day Eilat-Eilot International Renewable Energy Conference will take place in the southernmost city in Israel, from February 17-19, at Eilat’s Herod’s Palace.

This is the second major renewable energy conference for Eilat, and hundreds of clean technology leaders, entrepreneurs, VCs, companies and government representatives from around the world are expected to take part.

A perfect destination for clean energy

An abundance of blinding sun, and few rainy days, makes the Israeli city of Eilat a perfect destination for farming clean energy from the sun. Located at the tip of the Red Sea, where Israel meets Sinai and Jordan, Eilat has been getting serious about clean technologies for some years.

Noam Ilan, project developer for the Renewable Energy Authority of Eilat-Eilot, the body organizing the conference, says that a major goal of the event is to show how Israel plans to implement its own world-class clean technologies. Known around the world for water technologies and solar energy, the conference will shine a bright green light on local projects, and the region’s own Timna Renewable Energy Park.

The conference will “stir up a great momentum,” for clean technology projects, Ilan tells ISRAEL21c. He predicts that within a short time, Eilat will be a renewable energy hub in Israel, and possibly the world.

Some of the projects to be showcased at the conference include two hybrid energy projects: one is a solar energy farm, paired with a biogas generator. “The idea is that this plant will answer requirements when energy is most needed,” he says.

Part of the new project calls for biogas fuel harvested from the city’s waste dump when the sun is not shining. Enabled by an Israeli solar energy company, the project can be ready in a little more than a year, Ilan anticipates.

Visit the Silicon Valley of renewable energy

A second city-sponsored project is a solar thermal plant that will provide both energy and desalinated water to the water-depleted region. “We’re bringing seawater from Eilat and using it to cool off turbines. When we do that the water gets warm and suitable for desalination. We’re creating electricity and fresh water in a cheaper and less energy intensive way,” Ilan tells ISRAEL21c, pointing out that this project will make a great study site for other arid regions like the Sahara.

The Israeli solar energy company Solel and the national water carrier company Mekorot, are among the tech enablers of the project, which could take up to five years for implementation.

Also at the conference, Israel and the United States will launch the US-Israeli Energy Cooperation Act, passed two years ago by the US Congress.

“The Ministry of National Infrastructures views with high import the development of the Eilat-Eilot Region as a center of renewable energy solutions, and we not only fully supporting them in this pursuit, but we ourselves are very involved in advancing their initiatives,” says Hezi Kugler, director general of the Ministry of National Infrastructures in Israel.

“The conference is an important step towards developing the alternative energy capabilities of this region, and will certainly push us forward in becoming an alternative energy world leader,” he says.

The UJA Federation of Greater Toronto has given a major backing to Eilat’s renewable energy efforts.

Among the conference highlights, the Eilat event will feature technologies from renewable energy companies and enablers from around the world.

After the hob-knobbing and new clean technology business ventures and cooperation is put in place, Eilat is the perfect destination to stay and relax for another week or so, offering some of the best luxury resorts, eco-adventuring and Scuba diving in the world.

Put any worries and fears aside

“We have not received word from any of the conference lecturers that they are canceling their trip to Israel and we are therefore continuing our preparation for the event as originally planned,” says Amnon Samid, a conference organizer.

“We hope that the conflict will be over well before the conference begins and believe that this event represents a wonderful opportunity for people from around the world to demonstrate their support for Israel at this critical time.”

This article was reprinted with permission from ISRAEL21c.

::ISRAEL21c

More about renewable energy technology in Israel:

Israel and China to Build Israel’s Biggest Solar Power Plant
Brightsource Launches Solar Energy Plant in the Negev
EWA Technologies Powers  Air Conditioning with Solar Energy

The post Eilat to Host Major International Energy Conference appeared first on Green Prophet.

And this week we’d like to introduce you to Elias Messinas, the green architect behind the operation.

Messinas’ firm is the strategic environmental consultant to the Kramim Eco Village project, which will begin construction during the summer of 2009 and include LEED Platinum certification or compatibility, follow the European Directive for Energy Performance of Buildings, Israeli ‘Green’ Standard IS 5281, and the principle of “One Israel Living.” 

The materials used for construction will be local, with an emphasis on low-energy and low-emission materials found in the area such as earth (to make adobe bricks) and straw bale.

In addition to Kramim, though, Messinas works on a variety of architectural projects in Israel, Greece, Cyprus, and the USA.  His other projects in Israel include the Mei Mabuah Ecological Center (in the Negev).

In the words of Messinas’ own full service architectural and consulting firm:

“We care for the environment and we integrate this care into our practice, both in our designs and in the way we run our firm. 

“We also invest time and energy in our community raising environmental issues, and we help other architects become environmentally conscious in their designs and practice. 

“We care for our work, for our clients, and for the environment.”

Messinas’ environmental architecture specialties are ecological building and passive solar architecture.  We hope to see many more of his projects in the future.

Read more about green architecture in Israel::
Open Green Houses: Eco-Architecture Tours in Tel Aviv
Plantware’s Eco-Architecture To “Grow Your Own” Homes
Building Green: Jerusalem’s First Sustainable Housing Development

The post Architect Elias Messinas Brings Green Architecture to Israel appeared first on Green Prophet.

Miya president and CEO Baruch Oren and B. Gaon Holdings Ltd. Chairman Moshe Gaon have presented a new forum: The U.S.-Israel Binational Cleantech Forum, which they announced at the Israel America Chamber of Commerce Conference in Washington. The goal of the forum is to create a cohesive network that connects environmental organizations to businesses and political organizations that can implement cleantech solutions.

The forum will meet twice a year, once in Jerusalem and once in Washington, and will engage in public relations, lobbying of the U.S. government and Congress, and the establishment of joint business ventures. Members of the forum will comprise figures from government, environmental organizations, industry, academia, and financial institutions.

In an exclusive interview with Globes Online, Gaon explains that the impetus behind his new initiative is based on his perceptions of the cleantech industry as a whole:

There’s a lot of activity, but no leadership, and everyone is operating alone, each country for itself, each company for itself. There are huge differences between industrialists and environmental organizations, and everyone is remote from the funds. Financing for academe is almost non-existent.

Gaon also adds that the forum will focus on the development of existing infrastructures rather than seeking to build new ones–an imperative during this time of crisis.

Water is an especially grave concern for the forum, as Gaon reveals that Israel’s water crisis could be dealt with now, if Israel’s government were to deal with the problem efficiently.

Gaon explains, Instead of supporting Gaon Agro’s desalination plant at Palmachim, the government wants to invest in a new plant that will take three years to build, when the [water shortage] problem can be dealt with now. The whole world knows that investment in existing infrastructures, such as leakage prevention, renovation of present installations or expanding pipeline networks, is the cheaper and faster way to deal with immediate water problems.”

Miya is Israeli billionaire Shari Arison‘s new venture in water technology: Arison has invested $100 million in the development of technology to conserve wasted water, a growing industry amid the demand for efficient water systems. B. Gaon Holdings Ltd. invests in water technologies and cleantech through AquAgro Fund, LP.

Gaon concludes the interview by noting that Israel’s cleantech industry at home is largely held back by a lack of government incentives, as well as lack of collaboration between Israeli companies and businesses abroad. Therefore the forum’s creation of an international network may facilitate the exposure of Israel’s clean technologies to a global market.

::Globes Online

More about cleantech at Green Prophet:

Clean Tech Incubators from Israel and California Sign Water Deal
2008 a Big Year for Israel Cleantech Investments, Says Ernst & Young
Israel’s Innowattech Harvests Wasted Energy from Trains, Planes and Automobiles

The post U.S.-Israel Binational Cleantech Forum: Creating a Strategy for the Future of Cleantech appeared first on Green Prophet.

Before the economic crisis made the question of investments something of a joke, venture capital investments in green technology worldwide saw a huge increase in 2008. Compared to the same investment period in 2007, venture capital investments increased by 82%, totaling $4.6 billion.

While America still leads the pack in investments in green technology, there has also been significant growth in Europe, China, and Israel. In Israel, venture capital investors have heavily favored solar companies and water treatment technologies. This has been true of investments in Israeli cleantech as a whole: the vast majority of investments ($4 million out of a $5 million total) have poured into only two companies: established solar companies Solel and Luz II, which already have facilities in various parts of the world. And of course, another huge recipient of investments was Shai Agassi’s Project Better Place, which raised $200 million in its first round of funding.

But Ernst & Young also reports that we will witness a sharp downturn in investments in light of the economic crisis. It remains to be seen whether government incentives and the profits derived from renewable energy ventures can salvage the next year in cleantech investing.

::Greentech Media

See more Green Prophet articles about cleantech in Israel:

REVA Electric Cars May Soon Be for Sale in Israel
Hillpoint Energy’s Israeli Design Team is Soon to Announce Wind Turbine Design
Quick Guide to Israeli Solar Energy Companies

The post 2008 a Big Year for Israel Cleantech Investments, Says Ernst & Young appeared first on Green Prophet.

Following the ongoing saga of Project Better Place‘s steady process of world domination, we can now add a new country to the list: Japan.

The news just in is that the Japanese Environment Ministry is inviting Better Place to take part in their feasibility project for building a network of charging stations in Japan. Better Place is the only foreign company that was invited to participate in the project, which will begin in January in the port city of Yokohama and last for three to six months.

Better Place has already signed on to implement its project in places as diverse as Hawaii, Israel, California, Denmark and Australia.

Founder and chief executive of Better Place Shai Agassi commented, “Better Place is honored to participate in this groundbreaking program in a country with so much auto-manufacturing expertise and history.”

::International Herald Tribune

Read more at Green Prophet about the growing phenomenon of Project Better Place:

REVA Electric Cars May Soon Be For Sale in Israel
Project Better Place Unveils Prototype of Electric Car Recharging Station
Israel’s Electric Car Guru Shai Agassi Gets Wired

Image credit: jorgeml

The post Shai Agassi's Project Better Place to Seal a Deal with Japan? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Hello! My name is Zohar Tobi — I’m an organizer for the US Youth Clean Energy Movement, and I’m writing to invite you to an event I’m facilitating in Jerusalem called the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium. Here are the basic details:

WHAT: The Awakening the Dreamer Symposium
WHEN: Wednesday, December 24th, 7-10:30pm – optional potluck at 6pm!
WHERE: Merkaz Hamagshimim, 7a Dor Dor VeDorshav St. in Jerusalem
RSVP (not required, but helpful).

The Awakening the Dreamer Symposium is “an experience made of dynamic group interactions, leading edge information, and inspiring multimedia, in which participants become inspired to reconnect with their deep concern for our world, and are empowered to make a difference.” The Pachamama Alliance created it in 2005, and has been training facilitators left and right to present it – there are now over 1100 facilitators in 20 countries.

You can view the trailer here.

I’m inviting you to attend the Symposium because it’s the most profound motivational tool I have ever found to bring people — activists and non-activists alike — into a state of “blessed unrest,” in which they become informed, hopeful, inspired and empowered to commit themselves to action towards a more just, sustainable, fulfilling world. I offer it to you, therefore, not only as an experience for yourself, but also as a tool you may use to invite and inspire others to join your own important work.

The Symposium is an exploration of four questions:

* Where Are We? – an examination of the state of environmental, social and personal well-being
* How did We Get Here? – tracing the root causes that lead to our current imbalance
* What’s Possible for the Future? – discovering new ways of relating with each other, with the Earth and looking at the emerging Movement for change
* Where Do We Go from Here? – considering the stand we want to be in the world and our personal and collective impact.

I hope you can make it! Give me a call if you’d like to chat – my cell in Israel is 052-752-6209.

Peace and blessings,
Zohar

—
Zo Tobi, Northeast Organizer
Sierra Student Coalition | www.ssc.org
zo@ssc.org | (603) 305-3825 (cell)

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