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By Karin Kloosterman, Israel 21C
June 28, 2010
Despite the latest tensions, two companies – one Palestinian and one Israeli – are integrating wind turbines together in the West Bank and beyond.
A bridge of peace: The team from Israel Wind Power and Brothers Engineering Group.
A path toward peace may be blowing in the wind, if a new wind energy project between a Palestinian and an Israeli company succeeds. The two companies, Israel Wind Power based in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv and Brothers Engineering Group from Bethlehem in the West Bank, have just announced their intention to cooperate in the building and selling of wind turbines in the West Bank region and beyond.
Most significant, they are undeterred by the latest tensions between Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and world powers in the wake of the recent Turkish-led flotilla incident that occurred near Gaza.
Brothers Engineering Group was founded by Dr. Mohammed Salem, a pharmacist, businessman and social entrepreneur with Engineers without Borders. Salem, the company’s CEO, has been in the wind business since 2006 and employs 15 people in Bethlehem. His company supplies wind turbines and solar solutions to the West Bank region.
"Business collaboration in the area of wind energy is something which will be for the benefit of everyone. It will serve as a bridge of peace for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," Salem declares.
"We will be one company, together," Salem tells ISRAEL21c, adding that: "The plan is from yesterday not tomorrow." The two companies plan on cooperating in marketing, manufacturing and installation of wind turbines to generate electricity on a scale of 50 kW to provide wind power for factories, offices and private homes.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Air & Water, Alternative Energy, Business and Commerce, Climate Change, Middle East Report, News Articles, Recent Posts, Science and Technology on June 28, 2010 - ט"ז תמוז תש"ע at 9:32 am
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| Amiram Barkat, GLOBES, Israel |
3 Jun 10 18:46 |
Israel’s natural gas reserves quadrupled at 6am this morning when Noble Energy (NYSE:NBL) announced the results of its seismic survey of the Leviathan gas field. Alongside the dramatic announcement by Noble Energy about the Leviathan findings, there was also the report that estimates of the gas reserves in the Tamar prospect have risen from 207 to 238 billion cubic meters. So what to do with so much gas? Israel can afford to increase its consumption and export.The increase in Tamar alone is equivalent to the entire Yam Tethys gas field, which has been the main supplier of natural gas to Israel since 2004. On the margins of the announcement, it said that the amount of gas in the Tamar prospect should supply all the needs of the Israeli economy for 35 years.
Israel’s annual natural gas consumption amounts to 5 billion cubic meters. According to the Gas Authority’s predictions, which are considered conservative, annual gas consumption in Israel will increase to 10.2 billion cubic meters by 2019 and 15.5 billion cubic meters by 2029. Analysts like Clal Finance’s Yaron Zer expect demand for natural gas in Israel to rise much faster.
The new gas discoveries enable Israel to reevaluate its energy policy planning. For example, Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) could lift its ceiling of 40-45% of gas use in electricity production. It would be worthwhile for industry to use more natural gas. It will also be possible to use natural gas as an alternative to gasoline and diesel in public transport. In addition, the new discoveries will allow Israel to keep far larger strategic stocks for emergency use – for example by refilling the Mary prospect, which is rapidly emptying out. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Alternative Energy, Business and Commerce, Climate Change, Middle East Report, Recent Posts on June 4, 2010 - כ"ב סיון תש"ע at 11:27 am
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Moneycontrol.com, May 17, 2010
An Israeli consortium unveiled the world’s largest reverse osmosis desalination plant on Sunday in the coastal city of Hadera, hoping to help alleviate the arid country’s water shortage.
Israel’s H2ID, which is jointly owned by IDE Technologies and Shikun & Binui, said its plant will supply 127 million cubic metres of desalinated water a year, or about 20 percent of the yearly household consumption in Israel.
It is the third in a series of five desalination plants being built over the next few years that will eventually supply Israel with about 750 million cubic metres annually as traditional water sources dwindle with a rising population and low winter rainfalls.
The Hadera facility was the first to be funded almost entirely from foreign funds, said IDE CEO Avshalom Felber. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Air & Water, Business and Commerce, Middle East Report, News Articles, Recent Posts on May 18, 2010 - ה' סיון תש"ע at 11:10 am
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By PATRICK MOSER, AFP, May 3, 2010
The once mighty Jordan River, where Christians believe Jesus was baptized, is now little more than a polluted stream that could die next year unless the decay is halted, environmentalists say.
The famed river "has been reduced to a trickle south of the Sea of Galilee, devastated by overexploitation, pollution and lack of regional management," Friends of the Earth, Middle East said in a report.
More than 98 per cent of the river’s flow has been diverted by Israel, Syria and Jordan over the years.
"The remaining flow consists primarily of sewage, fish pond water, agricultural run-off and saline water," the environmentalists from Israel, Jordan and the West Bank said in the report to be presented in Amman today.
"Without concrete action, the LJR (lower Jordan River) is expected to run dry at the end of 2011."
The river – which runs 217 kilometres from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea – and its tributaries are shared by Israel, Jordan, Syria and the West Bank.
In 1847, a U.S. naval officer who led an expedition along the river described navigating down cascading rapids and waterfalls. Today, the Jordan is a brackish stream barely a few metres wide.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Air & Water, Climate Change, Middle East, News Articles, Recent Posts on May 5, 2010 - כ"א אייר תש"ע at 2:29 pm
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By Steven Stern, Special to CNN, April 22, 2010
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
RELATED TOPICS
(CNN) — "Carrying bottled water is on its way to being as cool as smoking while pregnant," claims the video "The Story of Bottled Water," which debuted on YouTube last month and garnered more than 450,000 views.
Is it true? Are liters of Evian now beyond the pale? Is Dasani déclassé? Has bottled water become the new eco-no-no?
Not quite yet. Though water sales have seen a recent downturn, plenty of folks are still paying for their daily hydration.
In fact, Annie Leonard’s video points out, Americans buy more than 500 million bottles of the stuff every week. It’s second only to soda in popularity, and some industry analysts believe that by next year water will become the most-purchased beverage in the country.
She wants to redirect the flow of water. The bottled water companies, the video insists, are "scaring us, seducing us, misleading us" into buying their products. Leonard, the writer and narrator, gives plenty of reasons why more and more people want to "take back the tap."
But the International Bottled Water Association accuses the video of "numerous false and misleading statements."
"’The Story of Bottled Water’ takes a very cynical view of the intelligence of consumers by depicting them as being dupes and victims of industry," said Tom Lauria, IBWA’s vice president of communications. "We think the opposite; that consumers are really quite thoughtful in selecting and enjoying a safe, healthy, convenient, calorie-free beverage that’s delicious, refreshing and a very smart drink choice."
However, Leonard argues that not only does tap water often beat out bottled in blind taste tests, but bottled is often less regulated than tap. Tap water is monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency, whose standards are generally stricter than the Food and Drug Administration, which oversees most bottled-water sales.
Also, she says, tap water is certainly cheaper — thousands of times cheaper. Not to mention that some of the best-selling bottled waters — Pepsi’s Aquafina and Coca-Cola’s Dasani among them — are, actually, nothing but filtered tap water. The companies themselves have spelled this out on labels after pressure from the consumer watchdog group Corporate Accountability International
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Air & Water, Climate Change, Health Sciences, Nutrition & Fitness, Recent Posts on April 23, 2010 - ט' אייר תש"ע at 8:11 am
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Press Release, Tel Aviv University, April 21, 2010
Does your drinking water smell foul, or are you worried that chemicals might be damaging your family’s health? Water treatment facilities currently use chlorine that produces carcinogenic by-products to keep your tapwater clean, but Tel Aviv University scientists have determined that ultra-violet (UV) light might be a better solution.
Dr. Hadas Mamane of Tel Aviv University‘s Porter School of Environmental Science and Faculty of Engineering, Prof. Eliora Ron of TAU’s George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and their doctoral student Anat Lakretz of TAU’s School of Mechanical Engineering have recently determined the optimal UV wavelength for keeping water clean of microorganisms. Their approach could be used by water treatment plants as well as large-scale desalination facilities to destroy health-threatening microorganisms and make these facilities more efficient.
"UV light irradiation is being increasingly applied as a primary process for water disinfection," says Lakretz. "In our recent study, we’ve shown how this treatment can be optimized to kill free-swimming bacteria in the water — the kinds that also stick inside water distribution pipes and clog filters in desalination plants by producing bacterial biofilms."
This undesired "stickiness" of bacteria to surfaces is called "bio-fouling," which costs taxpayers and governments billions of dollars each year. "No one should be drinking microorganisms in their water. In addition, when microorganisms get stuck in the pores of the membranes of filters, they create serious problems," says Lakretz.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Air & Water, Climate Change, Middle East, News Articles, Recent Posts, Science and Technology, Solar Energy on April 22, 2010 - ח' אייר תש"ע at 2:18 pm
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By Abigail Klein Leichman, Israel 21C
April 21, 2010
He may be an impressive innovator in solar energy, and a captain of industry, but Arnold Goldman is also a thinker whose unusual goal is to bring science together with philosophy.
Builder of Jerusalem – solar energy leader Arnold Goldman.
Serious philosophers rarely make good businessmen. But solar energy innovator Arnold J. Goldman is no navel-gazer. Goldman heads Jerusalem-based BrightSource Industries and its California-based parent, BrightSource Energy, which is contracted to deliver more than 2,600 megawatts of solar electricity in California using new technology demonstrated at Goldman’s Solar Energy Development Center in the Negev, the largest solar energy facility in the Middle East.
Goldman, 67, was named a "Builder of Jerusalem" by Jerusalem-based educational institution Aish Hatorah, which also acknowledged his early role in founding solar energy pioneer Luz International; subsidiary Luz Industries Israel; and Electric Fuel Corporation, a vehicle battery developer.
Ever since the Rhode Island native was 16 and living in the San Fernando Valley he has been seeking higher truths in the beauty of mathematics, he tells ISRAEL21c. Later, Goldman’s search broadened to embrace Jewish thought.
"From the age of 14 I had worked at an assortment of odd jobs when I had time, including stretching springs across couches," Goldman remembers. "The summer I was 16, I was selling mops. I woke up one night feeling miserable and came to the conclusion that if I had to work most of my life, at least I wanted it to be valuable."
Meshing knowledge with real-world achievements
His future wife, Karen Fried, urged him to channel his intellectual curiosity away from academics into what he now defines as "Jewish thinking" – meshing pure knowledge with measurable real-world achievements. After earning a bachelor’s degree at the University of California-Los Angeles in engineering with a minor in philosophy and economics, and a master’s in computer science at the University of Southern California, Goldman went into business.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Alternative Energy, Business and Commerce, Judaism, Middle East Report, News Articles, Recent Posts, Solar Energy on April 22, 2010 - ח' אייר תש"ע at 6:51 am
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By Karin Kloosterman, Israel21C
March 28, 2010
With Israel’s GreenRoad solution on board, fuel consumption is reduced by seven to 10 percent and the accident rate’s cut in half. Al Gore liked the idea so much, he invested in it.
Both average folk and environmentalists wait in earnest for all-electric vehicles like the Nissan LEAF, the Chevy Volt or Israel’s Better Place-Renault car to roll out of the plants, but greener transportation solutions are needed now. Bridging the gap is Israel’s GreenRoad, which has found such an efficient way to save fuel and reduce accidents that even the insurance companies are impressed.
The company hasn’t built a hybrid-electric powered turbo engine that runs for hundreds of miles. It hasn’t figured out how to power road vehicles with hydrogen or water. And you won’t find it selling a solution that will only be ready sometime down the line.
Instead, GreenRoad has an attractive tool that saves gas for trucking fleets and cuts down on accidents – simple as that.
The GreenRoad solution is a software- and technology-based tool that gives drivers and fleet managers real-time feedback and analysis of drivers’ abilities and driving patterns. The system tells drivers how to improve fuel consumption, so that managers can begin to see improvements almost immediately. Measuring such things as G-force, as drivers round the bend, GreenRoad can accurately point out where driving patterns cross the line between safe and risky.
Generation Investment Management, the investment firm chaired by former US vice president and long-term environmental activist Al Gore, liked the idea so much, that it has just pumped $10 million into the company.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Alternative Energy, Business and Commerce, Climate Change, Middle East Report on March 28, 2010 - י"ג ניסן תש"ע at 3:37 pm
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Israel Ministry of Environmental Protection, Updated: 03/14/2010
On March 14, 2010, Israel’s Cabinet approved a joint initiative of the Ministries of Environmental Protection and Finance to establish an interministerial committee on formulating a national plan for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
The decision comes within the framework of Israel’s preparations for combating climate change and in order to implement the emission reduction targets which were set by Israel in the Copenhagen Climate Change Convention in December 2009 (20% reduction relative to the "business as usual" scenario in 2020).
The committee will deal, inter alia, with energy efficiency, green building and the economic aspects of the subject and their impacts on Israel’s industry and export. The committee’s recommendations for an action plan will be submitted for approval to the Ministerial Committee on Environmental Protection and Climate Change in October 2010.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Alternative Energy, Climate Change, Recent Posts on March 15, 2010 - כ"ט אדר תש"ע at 10:58 am
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ScienceDaily (Feb. 17, 2010) — Using arrays of long, thin silicon wires embedded in a polymer substrate, a team of scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has created a new type of flexible solar cell that enhances the absorption of sunlight and efficiently converts its photons into electrons. The solar cell does all this using only a fraction of the expensive semiconductor materials required by conventional solar cells.
“These solar cells have, for the first time, surpassed the conventional light-trapping limit for absorbing materials,” says Harry Atwater, Howard Hughes Professor, professor of applied physics and materials science, and director of Caltech’s Resnick Institute, which focuses on sustainability research.
The light-trapping limit of a material refers to how much sunlight it is able to absorb. The silicon-wire arrays absorb up to 96 percent of incident sunlight at a single wavelength and 85 percent of total collectible sunlight. “We’ve surpassed previous optical microstructures developed to trap light,” he says.
Atwater and his colleagues — including Nathan Lewis, the George L. Argyros Professor and professor of chemistry at Caltech, and graduate student Michael Kelzenberg — assessed the performance of these arrays in a paper appearing in the February 14 advance online edition of the journal Nature Materials.
Atwater notes that the solar cells’ enhanced absorption is “useful absorption.”
“Many materials can absorb light quite well but not generate electricity — like, for instance, black paint,” he explains. “What’s most important in a solar cell is whether that absorption leads to the creation of charge carriers.”
The silicon wire arrays created by Atwater and his colleagues are able to convert between 90 and 100 percent of the photons they absorb into electrons — in technical terms, the wires have a near-perfect internal quantum efficiency. “High absorption plus good conversion makes for a high-quality solar cell,” says Atwater. “It’s an important advance.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Alternative Energy, Climate Change, Recent Posts, Science, Solar Energy on February 17, 2010 - ג' אדר תש"ע at 7:33 am
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