(ENVIRO) 8 Israeli Companies Make “Global Cleantech 100″ Guardian List

"It’s no secret that Israeli cleantech companies and their products are hot commodities. Now in: the Cleantech Group just announced their global list, the Global Cleantech 100 for the second year running, and it’s no surprise that Israeli companies earned 8 of the 100 spots (I correct myself for the 7 I had originally posted). Six are based in Israel; two of them, though founded by Israelis are based in the United States. I have interviewed and written feature stories on all of them, except CellEra. The list is: drumroll please…

1. BrightSource – based in the US: solar thermal energy company now building a power plant in California. They’ve been all over the press recently thanks to the Obama plug. Just announced business with Siemens.
2. Tigo Energy – develops a box solution to monitor solar power output. In short, they make solar installations more efficient. (Great management, very friendly and accessible).
3. Aqwise – I was one of the first to write about Aqwise, a company that uses plastic knobs to makes wastewater treatment plants more efficient. The founders then went on to form Emefy. See below.
4. Better Place – This company needs no introduction. Switchable batteries. Electric cars. Shai Agassi. Hot.
5. CellEra – Never returned my interview request. That was last year. Developing a fuel cell technology.
6. Emefcy – The founders of Aqwise went on to build this company. Use electric currents to digest microbes in wastewater.
7. GreenRoad – Develops a solution to help truck drivers reduce fuel consumption. (Great management, very friendly and accessible).
8. TaKaDu – A company with a catchy name has developed “brains” for a smart water grid.

This is the second year that the Cleantech Group put out the Top 100 list. Presumably all of the companies listed above are members of the forum.

According to a press release I’ve seen Emefcy says this: 'We are honoured to be one of the Global Cleantech 100. The growing interest in Emefcy’s breakthrough technology enhances our confidence in Emefcy’s ability to revolutionize the energy economy of wastewater treatment by utilizing the organic contamination in wastewater as a new source of renewable energy.' (Eytan Levy, CEO at Emefcy)

CNET acknowledged Emefcy as one of the 5 companies that will contribute to the reduction of the world dependence on fossil fuel. Sustainable World Capital described Emefcy as a Cleantech startup that one should keep its eyes on and Artemis -BlueTech Summit qualified Emefcy as a top 50 water technology company.

According to the Cleantech Group, the Global Cleantech 100 highlights the most promising private clean technology companies – those companies which are the most likely to make the most significant market impact over the next 5-10 years, in the eyes of the world’s cleantech experts. Winners are chosen by a 60-strong, international expert panel. I’ve always suspected that those companies who are members of the forum make the list, but I’d have to do more research to say that definitively.

'The second Global Cleantech 100 shines a spotlight on which companies and which technology areas the global innovation community is currently most excited about, from a commercial standpoint,' said Richard Youngman, MD, Europe & VP, Global Research at Cleantech Group.

The list is produced as part of the Global Cleantech 100 program, run in collaboration with the Guardian News. You can go over to the Guardian for an interactive map (links to blog), and more about the companies.

Last year Aqwise, Solel (bought by Siemens), EnStorage, IQWind, Better Place, BrightSource and Tigo made the Global Cleantech 100 2009 list, with an Israeli connection." (source)

(ARTS) Fashion Contest Inspired By The Sea Of Galilee

"Fashion and the natural world don’t always go hand in hand (unless you’re lucky enough to come across some whimsical banana-shaped pumps by designers such as Kobi Levi). Usually haute couture is the anti-natural, with silhouettes that combat the shapes that we were born with and materials (such as fur) that require the destruction of something natural. Yet in an attempt to come up with a national garment for Israelis, fashion designers decided to center their inspiration on the natural. Namely, on Israel’s only fresh water lake, the Sea of Galilee.

Displayed in a garment design contest/fashion show in Tiberias (a city that is located on the shores of the Sea of Galilee) during the last few days of Sukkot, the designers demonstrated that the natural is a powerful source of inspiration.



The designers were also calling attention to the fact that the lake is in serious trouble in need of a serious makeover.

The Sea of Galilee is Israel’s largest fresh water reservoir and is a major source for Israeli water consumption. The water levels have steadily declined over recent years, due to years of drought, and now the levels are so low that there is danger that the lake may become salt water.

Liraz Rubin, one of the fashion designers whose work was displayed in the show, said that 'my design is inspired by the lake, where the fish want to live but the water is getting scarce and the lake is sad. You can see in the design itself that the fishermen can hardly find any fish. It’s a cry to save the Sea of Galilee and its fish.'

For some of the judges, though, the focus was more on fashion and less on conservation. Yuval Kaspin, an Israeli celebrity designer and one of the judges, said that 'in some of the designs the connection between the Sea and the garment was definitely discernible. The designs which caught our attention the most were those that indeed reminded us of the Sea, but did not ‘over-chew’ the concept for us.'" (source)

(SOCIAL) “72 Hour Urban Action” Takes Over Bat Yam, Israel

"Teams have 72 hours to re-design an urban area in a pretty crumby satellite city in Israel. It’s guerilla urban architecture.

We’ve all had the same thought: it’s been built, we’re stuck with it. This ugly urban mess we have created is here to stay and there’s nothing we can do about it; may as well put up our feet, grab a lager, and watch re-runs of 'The Days of Our Lives' to wile away the misery. Others challenge that notion, and show the rest of us couch-potatoes that actually we have an extraordinary capacity for innovation and have the necessary power to reverse our unsustainable trends. And not only can we fix our mistakes during this lifetime (instead of leaving it for our kids to deal with), we can make serious headway over a weekend. They started with the 72 Hour Urban Action Program in Israel’s less-than-glamorous Bat Yam.

'Bat Yam is almost entirely built, and has no other choice but to re-examine its already existing urban fabric,' Kerem Halbrecht, the Israeli architect who dreamed up the Urban Action, told the New York Times Magazine. 'I wanted to challenge the common perception that creating change in public space is long and difficult, and to see if public space can respond to changing needs in real time.'"

(ENVIRO) Israel To Make Public Buildings More Energy Efficient – At No Cost To The Taxpayer

"The Israeli government has awarded a tender for improving energy efficiency in public buildings by over 30% – without spending a shekel of taxpayer’s money. Under the tender’s Energy Saving Sharing plan, EHS Tech will bear all of the costs of acquiring and installing new lighting systems and other equipment, and the company will receive 70% of the anticipated savings in energy costs during the first seven years.

EHS Tech, which was recently acquired by the Acro Group for NIS 15 million, will install energy-saving systems at the Finance Ministry, Supreme Court and several district courts, and at a youth village in the Negev.

According to a report in the Globes business newspaper: 'The existing lighting systems will be replaced by smart lighting that dims automatically according to the amount of natural light in the buildings and turns itself off if the last one out forgets to turn off the switch.' In addition, advanced climate control components will be installed to improve the energy efficiency of central air-conditioning systems.

Under the terms of the tender, the government will retain 100% of the equipment and energy savings after sharing these savings (70/30) during the first seven years." (source)

(ENVIRO) Tinkering With Nature: World’s Largest Lagoon Planned For The Red Sea

"In Egypt there will be more artificial fun for rich men and women while the poor can’t even trust that their tap water is safe, that their waste will be disposed of safely, or that they will be able to cook their dinner if the power cuts out. While everyone should be able to enjoy a nice dip in the sea, there is folly in tinkering with nature. Especially when we’re talking about the Red Sea, which has already suffered devastating losses to its coral reef as a result of development, tourism, oil spills, and other human activity.

Biochemist with a dream

A biochemist, Chilean Fernando Fischmann had a dream. He wanted to build a resort in Chile, but the water was too cold to attract watersport enthusiasts, so he built the world’s largest 'pool.' Called the San Alfonso del Mar’s lagoon, it covers eight hectares, is one-kilometer in length, and contains 250,000 cubic meters of water. It made the Guinness World Records.



Crystal Lagoon’s press materials claim that because these pools/lagoons, which suck out sea water and have a pulse system and low energy filtration system to keep the stagnant water from growing turbid, use 100 times less chemicals than standard pools, they are ecologically friendly.

Perhaps compelled by the success experienced in Chile, Mr. Fischmann’s dream expanded. At Cityscape Global in Dubai, which will take place from October 4 to October 7, he will unveil numerous projects planned for Egypt, including the new largest lagoon in the world planned for Sharm El Sheikh on the Red Sea coast. Crystal Lagoons intends to build a total of 100 hectares of artificial lagoons in Egypt’s desert.

The dream expands to Egypt

Very little is disclosed about how the technology works or what is pumped back into the sea, nor has the company published any kind of environmental assessment reports on its website.

'The project is the result of our association with Golden Pyramids Plaza, owned by the Sharbatly family. We have also sealed strategic alliances for a number of other tourism developments including the Amer Group’s Soma Bay, in Hurghada, a US$1.2 billion investment that will be operational in 2012,' Fischmann told the real estate channel.



'In all of these projects Crystal Lagoons provides something that until now was neither technically nor economically possible — the construction and low cost maintenance of monumental masses of water in a crystalline state that allows a beach life environment and top level aquatic sports within a city,' explained Fischmann.

According to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), 'physical alteration and destruction of habitats, by such activities as urbanization, coastal development (for example, dredge and fill operations and coastal mining and quarrying,) are considered the major environmental threat in several countries of the [Middle East] region – Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt.'

It has been reported that areas such as Hurghada and Sharm el Sheikh have been developed and exploited beyond their ecological and social carrying capacities and are already showing signs of environmental degradation. Evidence of reef degradation due to tourism and other activities is clear even in areas such as the Ras Mohammad National Park in Egypt.

Specifically mentioned are two areas upon which Mr. Fischmann has pinned his sights, both Hurghada and Sharm el Sheikh. Unfortunately, Egypt has a policy that favors tourism above all else, and has been slow to instill strong environmental laws to protect these places that will eventually collapse under the weight of too much expansion." (source)

(SCI) Israeli Researchers Discover Coral Reefs Deep In The Mediterranean

"The scene of bickering between Israel and Lebanon over gas fields, and potentially harboring a giant garbage patch, the Mediterranean Sea, stunned researchers have found, has a coral reef that spans several kilometers 700 meters below the surface of the sea. Elsewhere in the Mediterranean, energy-hungry countries like Egypt are eager to exploit the sea’s oil reserves. Will scientists be able to use this new discovery as collateral against destructive fossil-fuel exploration?

Nautilus plows the deep sea

Two weeks ago Green Prophet wrote about the Nautilus’ departure from the Port of Haifa; it was the first such deep-sea expedition planned off Tel Aviv’s coast and was headed by the Haifa University’s Director of Leon Charney School of Marine Sciences, Professor Zvi Ben Avraham.



Owned by the famed explorer who discovered the Titanic in 1985, the Nautilus is equipped with state of the art equipment specifically for deep sea exploration and photography.

To their astonishment, roughly 30-40km from Tel Aviv, the researchers discovered the coral colonies.

'It was like finding Ein Gedi in the middle of the desert,' Dr. Yitzhak Makovsky, who headed the project’s control center, told the Jerusalem Post.

'We never expected to find coral reefs of such proportions there. We didn’t expect it or even dream of it,' he added.

There’s more to explore

Just over two weeks long, the survey was just one of what Dr. Makovsky believes should be several more in order to do a more thorough investigation. Also, he told the paper that as is the case with other coral reef ecosystems, this area should immediately be named a Natural Undersea Preserve.

'The Nautilus crew also discovered two shipwrecks, apparently modern fishing boats several dozens of years old, that lie on the seabed. Fish and lobsters found living in and on them were photographed hundreds of meters under the surface of the water in their natural surroundings,' according to JPost.

They also took images of the chimera monstrosa, which until 400 million years ago was a member of the shark family. A 10cm long lobster was also photographed.

More information should become available over the next few weeks as scientists sort through their findings and release images of this exciting, but vulnerable new frontier." (source)

(BIZ) Israels 'BrightSource' Prepares For NASDAQ IPO

"The American economy may be in the gutter, but it could be that big crash has set the world up for a new paradigm: investing in and building responsibly managed companies that have the earth in mind – not their CEO’s and VP’s big bonuses. Maybe it’s time to take your cash out from under the mattress: preparing for a US public offering is the Israeli-founded solar energy company BrightSource. The company is to build the largest ever solar-powered steam turbine generator in the world, in California. It hasn’t been without its struggles: environmentalists showed how the original build site for the solar panels interfered with coyote land; recently the company also made plans to relocate a native tortoise.

Now it looks like it’s full steam ahead for BrightSource. The Israeli business newspaper Globes reports that BrightSource has just raised an additional $30 million, bringing its investment total to $300 million.



According to Globes, BrightSource just raised this month $10 million from the Russian government venture capital fund, an international venture capital fund and two unnamed private strategic investors. While founded only 4 years ago, BrightSource Energy is the parent company of BrightSource Industries (Israel) Ltd. (formerly Luz II – years in the business), and was set up to promote activities in the US.

And now the public will be able to invest in the company: the Wall Street Journal reported that BrightSource had hired the services of investment banks Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Although it’s not clear when the public offering will be made. Maybe 2011, depending if they can raise another $200 million or so before then, the CEO said.

BrightSource is developing more than 4GW of solar power projects in Southwestern states – enough to power 1.4 million homes. BrightSource now has more than 2.6 gigawatts of power under contract, including the two largest solar power agreements ever – 1,300 megawatts with Southern California Edison and 1,310 megawatts with Pacific Gas & Electric Company. The company’s Solar Energy Development Center in Israel’s Negev Desert is demonstrating BrightSource’s Luz Power Tower (LPT) 550 technology and producing the world’s highest temperature and pressure solar thermal steam.

Previous investors of BrightSource include Alstom S.A., Black River, BP Alternative, California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS), VantagePoint Venture Partners, Morgan Stanley, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Chevron VC Fund, Google and StatoilHydro." (source)

(BLOG) Israeli Air Force Fighter Pilots Dodge Migrating Storks

"Droves of migrating birds strike a remarkable sight as they swirl above head in flocks of some 5,000 birds at a time over the Judean Desert. There are about seven hundred million birds flying over Israel twice every year during migration season, 600,000 of them white storks, explains Noam Attias.

Attias, a birdwatcher for the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, is perched atop a rocky hilltop overlooking the Jordan River Valley. She is also a former air force air traffic controller.



A pilot’s nightmare

'When you see a pack of storks, even if it is small, or very, very big you see this mass of birds which are going up. Pelicans will do it in a very nice order. Storks will do it in all kinds of directions as they go up. And when they get to the top of this thermal that’s when they begin to glide. That is when they are in a really nice order and I can count them really easily and I can count them 10, 20, 30, 40 and so on,' says Attias.

On the edge of the Judean Desert, looking down on the sleepy town of Jericho, everything appears quite tranquil. But these are dangerous skies for Israeli fighter jets. The bird watcher’s delight is a pilot’s nightmare. Since the mid-1970’s, migrating buzzards, storks, pelicans and eagles have done more damage to Israeli fighter jets than all the Arab air forces combined.

This is due to Israel’s unique geographical and political predicament. It’s a tiny country with little air space, where one of the world’s biggest air forces flies right through what happens to be the main corridor for storks, pelicans and other birds of prey migrating from Europe and Asia to Africa and back every spring and fall. This 'bottleneck' has fighter jets competing with birds over this very confined area.

Bird spotters, like Attias, monitor the flocks and relay the information to the air force. A special unit collects this information from her and others, adding it to their radar images to map out the areas jets should avoid.

Flock of intelligence

Earlier in the day, Attias said she saw two F-16 fighter jets zooming by in the valley below her and immediately radioed to the air force that flocks were in the area. This was unusual since the air force has altered its training to avoid colliding with the birds.

'It is very hard for the pilot to see a bird coming. It’s a very small thing. The plane is flying really, really fast and as it comes into a bird the impact of the hit with the bird will be a lot of times bigger than it really is because of the velocity and it will crash,' Attias says. 'It is one of the things that frighten our pilots the most. More than any other big enemy, this small thing, even a very small bird can be a disaster for our pilots.'



Incredibly, it wasn’t until the early 1980’s that the Israeli air force recognized that they could do something about reducing jet-bird hits. Lt.-Col. (ret.) Danny Grossman was the safety specialist put in charge of the endeavor in 1982.

'When I took over there were 100 to 120 bird strikes a year, including some incredible accidents and crashes,' Grossman tells The Media Line. 'Until then, a bird strike was viewed as an act of nature which there was nothing to do about it except get to a synagogue and pray.'

Grossman says the air force approached the bird issue as if it were a tactical problem similar to getting around enemy surface-to-air missiles and developed a doctrine to avoid them.

Strikes fell out of the sky

'If an aircraft is going 500 knots, or 800 miles-per-hour, then you are talking about a force of several tons,' Grossman says.

'We started gathering intelligence. We gave the birdwatchers a motorized glider and they helped us map out the migration routes,' Grossman says. 'We were shocked to find out that the birds flew the same air corridors, at specific altitudes and on very specific days every year.'

A plan was devised to alter training schedules to avoid the bird flocks. It took about two years to kick in and the results were dramatic.

'The number of collisions didn’t just drop. It fell out of the sky!' Grossman says.

The air force reported a 76 percent reduction in bird strikes, which is estimated to have saved over half a billion dollars between 1984 and 2001.

Today there are about 20 hits a year, a statistic that has held steady for the past 16 years. There are still cracked wings, destroyed engines and worse. But it’s been over a dozen years since the last aircraft crashed due to a bird hit.

The air force realized that it could neither ignore nor compete with nature and each fall and spring it gives the enormous flocks plenty of room.

'Sometimes you find yourself standing for more than an hour and counting storks. They don’t stop coming. I’m jealous. I am jealous of their ability to fly, ability to glide,' Attias says." (source)

(ENVIRO) No More Gas Exploration In Israel?

"Will the sea outside Israel be calm again?

Hopes and dreams of a gas bonanza in Israel came to a sudden halt as shares came tumbling down after the Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructure under Minster Uzi Landau decided to cancel any further sale of oil and gas exploration rights, the Israeli business daily Globes reported.



Broken Deals and Shady Investors

Among the companies affected were Sefen Industries and Investment, whose shares fell sharply after a deal for 10% of a gas field off the coast of Ashdod in southern Israel fell through.

Globes reports that shares in Sefen fell first by 43% and then by 37% in the first two days following the news; the failed deal came only three days after Sefen’s stock had risen 290% on rumors on a pending deal.

Another company in trouble is Ratio Oil Exploration after allegations in Israel’s largest newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth claimed that a member of a known Israeli crime family held a stake in the company.

‘Unintelligible Information’

On the tenth of September the Israeli Securities Authority suspended trading with the oil and gas exploration company Givat Olam after they found a report from the company to be unintelligible. The ISA said that they did not manage to make sense of what had or hadn’t been found by Givat Olam from the final engineering report sent to the ISA ahead of a public announcement.

Tamar, Dalit and the Leviathan

Gas exploration in the seas outside of Israel is today focused on the two fields Dailt and Tamar, of which Tamar is the larger one with an estimated 40 billion cubic meters of gas that could cover Israel’s energy needs for 20 years. However, the area that everyone is watching is the even larger Leviathan, a biblical sea monster. It is expected that in the next six months a discovery there would dwarf Tamar as the whale is estimated to hold not only 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas but also oil." (source)

(ENVIRO) Israel’s New “Green” Synagogue To Raise Environmental Awareness

"Rabbi Ian Pear believes that public institutions should take the lead in generating environmental awareness.

The relationship between ecology and worldwide religions has taken center stage recently. Islamic leaders are speaking out and two traveling Americans found all manner of environmentally aware Muslims in their country.



Also, if it ever lifts off, the famous 'Ground Zero' mosque will be built according to LEED building principals. Ilana explains how Jewish leaders in Israel are also contributing to a growing eco-centric ethos.

Shir Hadash, founded by Rabbi Ian Pear in 2000 and located in Katamon, is planning a new, eco-friendly building as part of a greater campaign to raise awareness about environmental issues in the Jewish community.

The $6 million project, which will be located in Talbiyeh near Rehov Dor Dor V’dorshav, has the support of private funders and the Jerusalem municipality.

Urban green

'Most of the world lives in cities, and we have to somehow create sustainable institutions within our urban areas,' explains Pear. 'It’s one thing for individuals to create gardens or take fewer showers, but public institutions should be taking the lead in that regard. Certainly if it’s a synagogue committed to spreading God’s message, expressing a love of Eretz Yisrael – if we believe the land is holy, we have to learn how to treat it in a more sustainable way.'

This idea is in line with the philosophy of Shir Hadash as expressed by Pear, which is to emphasize the positive aspects of Judaism – the shir (song) – and the excitement of rebuilding Israel. It’s a philosophy that attracts visiting groups to the synagogue, including clergy of other faiths, even in its current humble location in a rented gym.

Pear’s goal is therefore to educate visitors – local and international – by example.

'We don’t want to just build a green building. We want to show that Judaism and environment are really connected to each other as a form of education.'



Spiritual enviornmentalism

This might mean implementing some green techniques that are more showy than practical, such as a dance floor that activates the air conditioning as people dance. Water will not only be drawn from rain collectors and recycled but will also be visibly channeled throughout the building so that people, especially children, can see the process.

In keeping with his spiritual approach to environmentalism, Pear sees an underlying ethical value to recycling. 'That everything can be reused and redeemed is reflective of our value of people,' he explains. 'We’re not looking for one type of person to come to this shul; we’re looking for the contribution that each individual person can make.'

Photovoltaic cells will be installed in the windows to provide solar-powered electricity.

The landscaping of the surrounding garden will be designed with an environmental sensibility by placing trees where they will provide shade for the building in the summer so that less air conditioning is needed. And, of course, the garden itself will be sustained with recycled water.

Orthodox obstacles

Pear is honest about the challenge of promoting environment as a value in the Orthodox Jewish community, though he also maintains that his own community has been supportive. Obstacles in the Orthodox Jewish community include the association of environmental causes with left-wing politics and the symbiotic relationship between meat and Orthodox Jewish celebrations.

'Meat taxes the environment more than most things, and the value within Orthodoxy is that simha means meat,' explains Pear. 'That is going to become a tension.'

But Pear is optimistic, seeing an inherent harmony between environment and Judaism that simply needs to be brought to the fore through educational initiatives.

He concludes, 'We believe in Israel’s role of being a light unto the nations. We just want to make sure that it’s a sustainable light unto the nations.'" (source)

(ENVIRO) Israel’s Polluters Face New OECD Rules

"Israel’s entry into the OECD will mean more stringent pollution standards for industries, but it comes with a cost – especially for smaller businesses.

Frequently people argue that it’s pointless to curb one’s personal habits when the big industries are most at fault for driving up greenhouse gas emissions. What difference does it make if one family recycles their cans, for example, or their meat consumption, when the agricultural, energy, manufacturing, and transportation industries pollute at rates that are exponentially higher? In Israel, that argument will be increasingly difficult to maintain, as the cabinet recently ratified the country’s membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).



The standard

OECD’s aim is to impose legal industry standards for developed economies. Of the 220 such standards, 70 apply to the environment.

The ratification should lead to better disclosure of each plant’s pollution output and a permitting system to control and prevent pollution; tracking the presence of dangerous chemicals will also be a priority.

However, implementing these new, rigorous pollution standards will require an adjustment period that will be easier for large companies to incorporate than it will for small to medium sized companies.

A little help from the government

For this reason, the Israel Manufacturer’s Association is asking the government for NIS 200 million to ease the smaller organizations’ transition, though according to Haaretz writer Ora Coren, the treasury has received no such request.

However, the Environmental Protection Ministry’s Director General Yossi Inbar told Haaretz that it is prepared to spend billions of shekels to improve industry environmental standards.

'It hasn’t come voluntarily, but rather because they have no choice,' he told Haaretz.



Slow to implement

Amit Bracha, the Director of the Israel Union for Environmental Defense, claims that implementation of the OECD rules, which is expected to last until 2017, could occur more quickly, and that despite their claims otherwise, even large companies have not fully grasped environmental concerns.

Israel Chemicals, which has received criticism for its role in compromising the ecological health of the Dead Sea, has since become the poster child for environmental awareness among industries, according to Coren.

Judging footprints

The company’s executive Vice President Asher Grinbaum claims to understand the interconnectedness of environmental and economic health, and acknowledges that in the same way that consumers judge their food by its calorie and fat content, so too will they judge industry’s carbon footprint.

The OECD rules will ensure that polluters absorb the costs of pollution, so that consumers will be encouraged to purchase products that are cheaper and cleaner. Also, companies that have poor environmental standards will no longer receive incentives or subsidies.

'The OECD led the Environmental Protection Ministry to discontinue its policy of letting factories receive separate permits for air and ground pollution and to develop an integrated pollution registry. New air pollution legislation will come into effect in Israel next year as a result,' writes Coren.

While a certain step in the right direction, the hard days of implementation still lie ahead." (source)

(ENVIRO) One State. One Environment

"Every few years, the idea of establishing one state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea rises and falls like a phoenix; a dream of a state where both Palestinians and Israelis live in peace with no borders, no barriers, cultural autonomy and equal citizenship for all.

In the 1940′s this idea was endorsed by leftist Jewish circles; in the 1980′s the PLO called for the establishment of a secular democratic state on the entire land, in the 1990′s it was championed by Palestinian intellectuals who had given up on the two-state solution and most recently this same idea has been articulated with some nuances by people on the right of the Israeli political map like former Defence Minister Moshe Arens.Creative solutions



The stagnated “peace process” and despair over the prolonged conflict challenge us all to think of other creative solutions. It is easy to dismiss off-hand the likelihood that after a hundred years of brutal and bloody conflict the two peoples could live together and collaborate within the same political structure. Palestinians longing for independence and sovereignty is understandable as is the desire by Jews to preserve self-determination as a nation in the framework of the state of Israel.

But – even if they reach an agreement on partition and the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank – this would not be the end of the conflict. Severe problems like the settlements, Gaza, equal rights for the Palestinian citizens in the Jewish state would still remain to be solved. So despite its low feasibility at present, one should explore in depth the idea of the one state in all its aspects. Even if the one state solution is not realised soon, important elements of this idea could be incorporated into any future agreement on two states, particularly those which address the abovementioned problems.

Environment and water

One such element that can best be addressed within a joint framework is the critical issue of environment and water. Environment and sustainability are becoming central in the global discourse on the fate of humanity. It’s time we looked more seriously at our land in this regard. The fact that water sources in the country are drying up poses a big threat to all its residents, regardless of nationality, religion, age or gender.



Environmental dangers threaten both peoples equally. The mutual effect of contamination and other cross-border hazards demands close coordination and joint management between all responsible bodies.

Effective utilisation of natural resources, their fair and equal allocation and the development of alternative sources of energy, food, and drink, are all vital and urgent needs that can be addressed professionally and efficiently only within a joint framework, which would be either one state or in its absence at the very least, a shared framework set up between the two sides engaged in excellently coordinated and mutually beneficial relations.

One of the major advantages of dealing with the environment first is that it forces the parties to ignore political boundaries and put aside historical disagreements. An additional advantage is the necessity for long-term planning as opposed to the kind of ad-hoc achievements demanded by politicians. As a result, environmental issues create bridges and links between opposing sides, serve as a way to build trust, while depoliticising the conflict and decreasing its intensity.

The environmental platform

I would like to argue here that those who believe in the one state solution should explore the possibility of using the environment as a platform to promote such a plan. The urgent need for preserving the environment across the country and developing water sources could yield an unpredictable by-product – the realisation and recognition that the framework of one state, is a necessity for sustaining this land, saving its limited resources and securing the future of its inhabitants in the long term.

But in the short term, and even before any political agreement is reached, it is urgently necessary to set up a joint body that will oversee the environmental situation and work on immediate solutions to cope with the dilemmas and challenges it poses." (source)

(ENVIRO) Jewish Charity UJIA Goes Green In London

"One of the biggest Jewish charities in the UK has adopted a green policy to reduce its environmental footprint. The United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA) decided that moving to new offices in north London last year was the perfect opportunity to examine how the organisation could reduce its environmental impact. This initiative could have a knock-on effect around the world – even the Middle East.

“Being environmentally responsible runs through everything we do at UJIA. Since moving into our new Camden offices, we have been putting our green principles into practise,” explains David Janner-Klausner, UJIA’s programme and planning director (pictured above, left, alongside UJIA chief executive, Douglas Krikler)."

(MED) Israeli Discovers That Bee Stings Claim Relief To Arthritis, Gout & Many Other Ailments

"Bee Stings Are Sweet in Israel: An Interview with a Beekeeper.

Painful bee stings are said to relieve serious ailments. Green Prophet talked to beekeeper Yanay Zacks about Bee Venom Therapy in Israel.

We thought we knew plenty about the medicinal value of honey and bee products. Bee pollen, propolis, and royal jelly have all been used as medicine for centuries. But who knew that bee venom has helped people for just as long?

Talking to beekeeper Yanay Zacks in Moshav Tsufit, Israel, we learned that patients suffering from arthritis, gout, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, and other ailments claim relief from their symptoms through apitherapy – being stung by bees."

(ENVIRO) Israel's Koala Recycling Solutions Offers A Way To Recycle Aluminum Cans & Other Metals

"Koala Recycling Solutions, the only Israeli company offering collection and recycling of metal packaging from consumers, tells us what we can and should be recycling.

If you’ve ever made yourself a tuna fish sandwich in Israel, you may have had some green guilt when the time came to toss out the can. Until now, the only items that are widely recycled in Israel have been paper and plastic bottles (with recycling of electronics and batteries available in very few locations). The public collection and recycling of a variety of other disposable packaging, such as metal and aluminum packaging, has not been available. Thankfully, Koala Recycling Solutions is trying to change that.

Koala Recycling Solutions is a company devoted to offering metal packaging recycling solutions to the greater public, and reusing a larger portion of our metal resources. The company accompanies all steps of the process of metal recycling, from installing collection points for used metal packages, to educational programming in collaboration with the local authorities, and bringing the collected metals to a recycling factory."

(ENVIRO) Sustainable Architecture In Israel Blooms In A Straw-Bale House

"Green Prophet interviews Sarah Kopp about why she built her straw-bale house in Israel.

A house made of straw and mud: sounds like the Biblical Jews enslaved in Egypt building cities with bricks that wouldn’t hold together. Yet Sarah Kopp built a house from bales of straw held together by chicken-wire, plastered with a mixture of mud, sand and chopped straw, resembling the renovations done at the Khan of the White Donkey, right there in Safed. How long can she expect this primitive-sounding structure to stand?

'One hundred years,' says Sarah, calmly. 'If you’re talking about sustainable architecture, straw bale is the number one choice.'

In Nebraska, where in pioneer times straw-bale homes and dugouts were the only options, century-old straw bale houses are still standing. Her own has has withstood a recent earthquake without damage."

(ENVIRO) Leviathan’s Small Wind Turbine First To Connect To Israeli Grid

"These mini-turbines are so quiet and so beautiful, you’ll want to put one on your roof

Being small is no barrier for making big news. The Leviathan Energy Wind Lotus, the most aerodynamically efficient and cost-effective small vertical axis wind turbine in its class proved that when it was wowed media at Sde Boker in southern Israel.

The Wind Lotus is the brain child of Dr. Daniel Farb, an American who settled in Israel and established Leviathan Energy in 2006. LE is a diversified clean energy group focused on providing 'state-of-the-art technologies that will change the fundamentals of the renewable energy market on a global scale.'"

(ENVIRO) Greening Your Flat Screens With Israeli Lab-Grown Organic LEDs

"Electronic products pollute our environment with a number of heavy metals before, during and after they’re used. In the U.S. alone, an estimated 70% of heavy metals in landfill come from discarded electronics.

With flat screen TVs getting bigger and cheaper every year, environmental costs continue to mount. To counter this, a new solution applies a discovery in nano-technology, based on self-assembled peptide nanotubes, to 'green' the optics and electronics industry.

Researchers Nadav Amdursky and Prof. Gil Rosenman of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Electrical Engineering say their technology could make flat screen TV production green and can even make medical equipment — like subcutaneous ultrasound devices — more sensitive. And now, like the UAE’s Ginger Dosier who can grow bricks in the lab, scientists say they can grow their own organic LEDs."

(TECH) Dye Solar Cell “3G Solar” Moves On-Grid

"3G Solar moves on-grid, where the market is more lucrative than off-grid, developing countries

The Israeli solar power firm 3G Solar will move on grid as part of a new ownership strategy, according to PlasticEletronics.com. What sets 3G Solar apart from most other photovoltaic solar companies is its unique technology based on the Dye Solar cell, invented in 1988 by Professor Michael Graetzel of Lausanne Polytechnique in Switzerland. Today Professor Graetzel is active in 3G solar, whose so called 'Graetzel' cells are based on a layer of nano-sized titanium dioxide particles impregnated with dye."

(ENVIRO) Israel’s First Tidal Power Plant Completed In Jaffa

"It’s where the ancient biblical story Jonah and the Whale took place. Now SDE Energy builds tidal energy plant in Jaffa, which should expand to 50 MW.

The ancient port city of Jaffa, today a part of Tel Aviv, has added one more attraction to its historical harbor as a new sea wave power plant is completed.

The Israeli tidal wave energy firm S.D.E. have completed the construction of its first large scale sea wave power plant capable of producing 60 KWh.

The new plant only has one buoy and is fully automated with only 10 percent of it in the water so to minimize the risk of damage to the system by storms and other natural disasters. The company already has business in China, India, and in Africa.

The plant which is the ninth completed by the firm is the initial part of a plan the will lead to a 50 MW plant in the breakwaters of Jaffa, when finished to new plant will not only provide cost efficient renewable centricity to the port but also prevent the erosion of the breakwater usually caused by high wave. The firm has come to an agreement with Israel’s Electric Company to sell the electricity from the news plant at of 12 cents per KW.

SDE, which has received support from the office of the Chief Scientist of Israel, Ministry of Industry and Trade, hope that the new plant will be the springboard for a larger expansion outside Israel.

“There was an intensive interest in S.D.E’s unique technology even before SDE had an operational model; however, now, when SDE has an operational model, I believe that the development and growth of the company will be unstoppable,” Inna Braverman International Marketing and business development Manager of the group of SDE companies said in a press release.

Among the factors the SDE says speaks in their advantage includes a competitive price: The erection cost of a 1MW S.D.E’s power station starts from $650,000 while a comparable station costs $1,500,000 from coal, $900,000 from natural gas, $3,000,000 from solar sources, and $1,500,000 from wind.”

The system that S.D.E has developed is able to supply 500 times more than the electricity requirements of the whole world population according the company.

While the possibility to create renewable energy from wave is huge, after all most of the planet is cover by water, the technology is only is still considered to be experimental.

The energy is produced by electricity generators placed on the surface of the sea and the output is determined by a combination of factors such as wave height, wavelength, wave speed and the density of the water.

The technology of producing electricity from sea waves is innovative and a leading method worldwide. Pollution and global warming as a result of fuel usage have taught the world that the largest world resource to create electricity is sea waves. The system has the highest efficiency in the world by the new method and is offered for a very attractive price. SDE had international patent and also patents pending." (source)