Foto Friday – Inspecting the Pipeline with Chaim Daon
Filed under: Environment, Foto Friday, General, Profiles, coexistence
Chaim Daon is a welding inspector working on one of the country’s most important energy infrastructure projects: the natural gas pipeline. When complete, the gas pipeline – an extension of the El-Arish-Ashkelon gas pipeline from Egypt to Israel, which became operational in 2008 – will be able to transport up to 7 billion cubic meters per year, relieve some of our industries’ dependence on oil, help clean the atmosphere and give additional economic weight to our cold peace with Egypt.
The project, under construction for several years now, comprises hundreds of kilometers of pipeline with joins all along the way, so the work done by welding inspectors like Daon and his colleagues is crucial for keeping pipes intact and leaks at bay.
Daon – or Captain Caveman as he’s known by the Holyland Hash House Harriers, an international drinking and running disorganization (to which I also belong) – allows us a peek at what’s going on just a few meters below the surface…
The tender to build the pipeline was won by a foreign multinational and the teams working on the project come from all over the globe. They work by day…
And by night…
The pipeline is intended to serve Israel’s major industries, chiefly Israel Electric Corporation (IEC), which is in the process of converting its oil-driven power stations to natural gas. IEC noted in its most recent Environmental Report that since the introduction of natural gas in 2004, a carbon dioxide emissions have decreased by 11%. More information about the Gas Market Law and gas reform in Israel is available at the Ministry of National Infrastructures website.
Israel at the center of alternative energy development
No matter what your politics, there was nothing to feel conflicted about in Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech at the recent 2009 President’s Conference where he sketched out an inspiring plan to develop a feasible, cost effective alternative to fossil fuels within 10 years.
Israel is not unique of course in recognizing that the world cannot depend on oil forever. It’s clearly a threat to the environment, to the economies of those countries that import oil (that would be most of the world), and more critically global security.
Israel has an even more urgent agenda. We’re a small country and the supply of oil can – and has – been used against us. When I was growing up in the U.S., I remember the post-Yom Kippur War oil crisis. At the time, I was not really aware of what was happening on the political stage, but the lines around the block at gas stations made me want to blame someone. For many, the punching bag then (as too often now) was Israel.
Fortunately, Israel is perhaps ideally situated to develop an alternative energy solution. We are already at the cusp of innovation in many related areas – from agro-tech, nanotechnology and solar energy to battery technologies and renewable energies (take a look at this page from the main Israel21c website for Israeli companies involved in social energy) .
We also have more Nobel Prize winners and more venture capital money per capita than any other country. We’re already in bed with Shai Agassi’s A Better Place initiative to deploy electric cars and charging stations around the country within the next few years.
Netanyahu says he aims to establish “a national commission comprised of scientists, manufacturers, engineers, businesspeople and government officials.”
Can we do it? That’s another story. Rhetoric doesn’t always translate into action. Budgets get slashed. Bureaucrats squabble.
But the stakes are too high here. As Netanyahu put it succinctly: “We have the brains, but we also have the will.”
A Night in the Desert
It’s been a couple of years since we last visited Succa Bamidbar, but as fall inches slowly towards winter, a visit to the magical “Succa in the Desert” would be warmly welcomed.
Succa Bamidbar is so far off the beaten track, there’s barely a road to get there. Located 5 km from Mitzpe Ramon, the establishment, founded in 1990 and run by the amiable Avi Dror and Chen Hadar, consists of 8 small succot – cabins made of wood and fabric – scattered across a barren rocky hillside. Don’t worry – they’re enclosed on all sides to keep the cold out.
Each succa is set no less than 150 meters from the next. There is no running water and many of the succot have no electricity either. You sleep on mattresses or low beds. Two eco-friendly outhouses are located at the center of the site.
The most striking element of Succa Bamidbar is the solitude. With no lights at night, you walk the narrow paths between the guest succot and the central “Succa of Abraham,” where two meals a day are served, with just a lantern.
Silence is also a major player in the uniqueness of the place. That is until 6:30 PM, when Avi and Chen ring an enormous gong, which sounds over the entire valley – the call for dinner. On our last visit, we had a delicious lentil soup with home-made croutons, macaroni and assorted vegetables. Our second night included freshly baked bread and home made sweet wine with a ginger cinnamon kick. The sweet potato soup and zucchini goat cheese casserole were both to die for.
Breakfast is also served: a panoply of home made jams, yogurts and cheeses, hard boiled eggs and a fabulous chunky humus (with an accompanying schug to warm up even the toughest desert denizen).
Succa Bamidbar is a 45-minute drive from hiking in the Machtesh Ramon; there is also a pleasant 25-minute hike from the Succa Bamidbar campsite to the edge of the crater with its breathtaking view.
Prices are not cheap but it’s worth it. You can find details on their website. But don’t look for an email – they don’t have a computer – or for that matter a cell phone. Now that’s roughing it!
How Israel’s Military Secrets Translate To Clean Technology
Since its founding in 1917, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (the JTA), has been a leading international journalistic source for communicating news and projects dealing with the world-wide Jewish community. Many JTA news articles have dealt with various developments in Israel and the Middle East, including those which are beneficial to the cause of peace.
A recent JTA article on clean technology, published on October 1 by Dina Kraft (also a New York Times reporter), takes a good look at a number of projects by Israeli clean tech industries and Israel’s military branches in the realm of renewable and alternative energy.
“Beating swords into green plowshares in Israel,” the article talks about solar energy energy companies such as Bright Source Energy Inc, which is involved in building solar energy plants in California’s Mojave Desert and other locations; and Rotem, which utilizes technologies developed in Israel’s aeronautical defense industry.
Rotem (read more about their work with the solar power company Aora here) is working on a number of commercial renewable energy projects involving solar and wind power, hydrogen fuel power, and biofuels.
Some of Rotem’s many projects involving the environment and renewable energy are a hydrogen storage research center, a center for geology and hydrology applied research, a center for environmental sciences, and a thermal solar energy applications technology center.
The Bright Source solar energy plants in California, and a wind turbine “farm” located near Kibbutz Ein Zivan on the Golan Heights (pictured above and below), are utilizing technology that formerly was used in developing and manufacturing rotor blades for military helicopters.
Israel’s Aircraft Industries (IAI) is now involved in developing technology to produce “cleaner and greener” commercial aircraft that will be able taxi on the runways of commercial airports without using their jet engines, according to Kraft’s article.
This will not only be more environmentally friendly, but will result in a big fuel savings as well.
In the automotive sector, an Israeli company, Better Place, is working on more efficient batteries for electric cars, and has now entered into joint ventures with automobile companies Renault and Nissan. The technology used in developing these batteries is derived from the aerospace industry.
Mr. Meni Maor, vice president for development at Rotem commented that these kinds of projects have resulted from a need to both preserve the environment as well as due to the increasing cost of oil.
“We definitely leverage a lot of know-how in a variety of disciplines — including materials, chemistry, thermal dynamics — accumulated from our experience with military and homeland security technology for developing renewable energy technologies,” said Meni Maor to the JTA.
Former IDF military officers, including retired General Yom-Tov Samina, are involved in many of these projects, putting knowledge learned during their military careers into raising funds for these development projects as well as being involved directly in the projects themselves. An example of their direct involvement is former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Moshe Kaplansky, who is now holding the position of CEO of Better Place’s Israel operations.
The former military generals are very enthusiastic about their new careers and are happy to be making their contribution to preserving the environment. “Our training involving the importance of learning how to follow through on a mission has contributed to being successful in these new projects,” a former intelligence unit head was quoted as saying.
This article was written by Maurice Picow, who blogs at Green Prophet www.greenprophet.com. Follow Green Prophet on Twitter: @greenprophet. These pictures of Israeli wind turbines were taken by Karin on a recent trip to the Golan Heights.
::JTA clean technology article
Jerusalem to become accessible to the disabled
Jerusalem’s Old City is one of the top tourist attractions in the world, but with its ancient alleyways and endless stairs, much of the area has been inaccessible for visitors with handicaps. That’s set to change.
An article in Ynet today reported that the Jerusalem Development Authority recently allotted NIS 10 million (about $ 2.7 million) to make the Old City of Jerusalem fully accessible to the physically disabled. The money comes from a special fund in the National Insurance Institute (Israel’s version of Social Security).
Among the improvements: making Jaffa Gate and its surroundings wheelchair-friendly; preparing accessible walking paths in the Jewish, Christian and Muslim Quarters; and possibly buying a car to drive handicapped people around the Old City.
Other tourist attractions to be upgraded include the Tower of David Museum, the Jerusalem Archaeological Park and Davidson Center, the City of David and the Herodian Quarter and Wohl Archaeological Museum in the Jewish Quarter.
Most intriguing: the project includes technologically innovative services for deaf and blind people, such as three-dimensional models which can be touched, vocal signs and visual transcriptions.
As someone who’s father was never able to visit Jerusalem due to the relative lack of physical consideration for people with disabilities, I applaud the city’s efforts. But there’s much more work to be done in the capital and around all of Israel.
Kfar Blum’s Pastoral Pastures
Filed under: Environment, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Travel
I’ve always had a thing for the kibbutz, that is, the kibbutz lifestyle, where you live in a tight-knit community of people whom you hopefully like, can avail yourself of the kibbutz pool and have the opportunity to eat freshly fried schnitzel at almost any given time. I mean, hey, that’s living, right?
So you can imagine how pleased I was to be spending part of our Sukkot vacation at Kibbutz Kfar Blum’s hotel, now known as Pastoral Kfar Blum. What was once just a run-of-the-mill kibbutz hotel has become a higher-end version of this Israeli standard, with lush grounds, a truly stupendous breakfast and dinner spread and great access to all the local attractions.
As a New York Times article quoted back in 1990,
“When I asked the manager of Mitzpeh Rachel, whom everybody calls Juhah, to explain the difference between his hostelry and ordinary hotels, he answered: ”At the kibbutzim the staff owns the hotels, so everybody cares. It isn’t just a job. And where else will you see a guest and a waiter – a kibbutz member – sitting after dinner and chatting over a cup of coffee?” A guest there put it this way: ”A hotel is a place where you sleep. Here, I am at home.”
19 years later, much of what Nitza Rosovsky wrote in her review of Israel’s best kibbutz guesthouses still rings true, and many of the kibbutzim have taken it a step beyond, with renovated guestrooms, sumptuous spreads, spas — yes, spas — and a very casual, easy atmosphere that makes it comfortable for all sorts. There’s even a Kibbutz Hotels Chain, with a website, although it seems to be closed until October 19, strange.
In any case, as the website points out, kibbutz hotels are everywhere — well, anywhere where there are kibbutzim — from Eilat’s Red Sea to the snowy slopes of Mount Hermon.
Kfar Blum, which is an easy ride to Mount Hermon and other northern destinations, was founded in November 1943 by the Labor Zionist Habonim (now Habonim Dror) youth movement, according to Wikipedia. The founding members of the kibbutz were primarily from the United Kingdom, South Africa, the United States and the Baltic countries, and the kibbutz was named in honor of Léon Blum, the Jewish socialist former Prime Minister of France who was the focus of a widely-publicized, and ultimately unsuccessful, show trial in 1942 mounted by the collaborationist Vichy regime.
Besides working with agriculture, light industry and tourism — including the hotel and the kibbutz kayaking/rafting company, the kibbutz was once home to Hapoel Galil Elyon, a top division basketball team, which in 1993 became the only club from outside Tel Aviv to win the championship. I’ve also heard that its Olympic size pool was once the only one around for miles, and was used for Olympian trainees, but couldn’t confirm that particular fact.
Prices are not cheap, particularly during the high season of the holidays. But if you’re looking for an easy getaway, and for a guestroom that doesn’t have a Jacuzzi next to your bed — a common feature in many Israeli tzimmers — I’m voting for Kfar Blum.
Seeing stripes in Gaza
One of the painted donkeys at the Happy Land Zoo in Gaza.
Reports abounded last week about the goings on at Gaza’s Happy Land Zoo, where, with a little masking tape and women’s hair dye, two donkeys were transformed into striped zebras.
The reason? A genuine zebra would have been too expensive to bring into Gaza via smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt, said owner Mohammed Bargouthi. “It would have cost me $30,000 to get a real one,” who added that his zoo charges an entrance fee of only $15 for a busload of school kids.
Due to Hamas being still in a state of war with Israel, the Israeli government has kept an embargo imposed on Gaza, which has decimated the zoo that Bargouthi opened last year.
Other than the would-be zebras, lion and two ostriches, there’s only a camel and some birds.
According to an AFP report, the animals are often sick and the medicine they need is unavailable in Gaza.
“If there was an animal protection group here, they would have us all arrested for mistreating the animals,” said Bargouthi. “I tell myself that it’s a sin not to take care of them properly, but I try to do my best.”
“The zoo is meant for children. When they come here, they are happy, they run, they have fun. They want to see the lion and the zebra — they believe it’s real,” Bargouthi told AFP.
Nidal Bargouthi, whose father owns the zoo, told Ynet that the initial attempts at painting the donkeys didn’t turn out so well.
“The first time we used paint but it didn’t look good,” he said. “The children don’t know so they call them zebras and they are happy to see something new.”
When the mayor of Ramat Gan, Tzvi Bar, read about the zoo’s plight in the Ynet story, he said he was shocked. He called the director of the much more affluent Ramat Gan Safari and asked him to send two zebras to the Gaza zoo in hopes it will prevent similar occurrences in the future.
“The zebras will be transferred to Gaza under the official commitment of the Gazans, to take good care of the animals,” Bar told Ynet.
This week the Safari will begin the many arrangements involved in transporting the animals to Gaza, including permits from the Defense Ministry, IDF, Nature and Park Authority and the Palestinian Authority.
Whether the neighborly move will prompt Gazans to change their stripes in their attitude toward Israel remains to be seen.
Cleaning up after desert
Yesterday we joined a group of 30 friends for an inspiring hike in the Judean Desert. We started at the Dragot Cliffs just south of the checkpoint on the Dead Sea highway, and ended some 7 hours later at the Mitzpeh Shalem kibbutz.
The hike itself was stunning, with plenty of steep climbs up, down and around the gorgeous moonscape canyons below. We took a break at the Muraba’at Caves which our tour leader Asher explained had been used in both the Great Revolt against the Romans and the Bar Kochba uprising 60 years later (written fragments and coins from both eras were found).
As we ate our pesto and salmon sandwiches, it was hard to act blasé about this amazing country, with its huge variety of ecosystems, from lush forest in the north to harsh desert further south, all within several hundred kilometers of each other.
That was until we came upon the trash. We had just started our final descent back towards the Dead Sea. There, strewn along the rocks, was a scattered pile of rubbish that accompanied us for a good 10 minutes of our hike down. Dirty plates that once held meat or hummus, bottles of cola, plastic cups.
How could people be so thoughtless to ruin such a pristine landscape, we remarked with little of our former glee? We thought back to our trip last summer to Africa where the strictly enforced rule on safari was GIGO – “garbage in/garbage out” (otherwise the animals would surely devour any trash bin in the game park).
Just as we were feeling down on our adopted country, something remarkable happened. Members of our group began cleaning up – picking up the trash, placing it into bags and carrying the result down the cliffs where it could be disposed of properly.
Mind you, carrying an extra load where you need both hands to safely navigate was a mitzvah in itself. And this part of the hike wasn’t short – it took us an hour and a half to reach flat ground again. But no one complained – it was clear to all that this was the right thing to do.
Yes, we have a beautiful country. And a (mostly) beautiful people too.
4 Trade Secrets For Clean Tech Entrepreneurs In Israel
A plucky little country, is how the late Princess Diana once described Israel to Shimon Peres. About the size of New Jersey, Israel has a disproportionate number of clean tech companies and investment in clean technology compared to its size. And now businessman and investor David Anthony from 21Ventures in the US is about to reveal his trade secrets and insider information about clean tech investing in Israel. If you are itching to become a clean tech entrepreneur in Israel, this is must-read information. If you’d like to know more about what makes the industry tick, read on.
Unlike Silicon Valley and the high-tech industry, the clean tech market today has no center of excellence, Anthony tells Green Prophet. In the last 50 years of venture capital investing there has been a saying: Never fly over your company –– meaning one shouldn’t invest in a company that isn’t within a 60 mile radius of the office. But without a center for clean technology, explains Anthony, a VC fund now has to dig into new territory to find the golden investment egg. Investors need to cross borders and turn over new stones.
To help Green Prophet readers better understand what American investors are looking for, we’ve asked Anthony for some tips. Compared to any other country in the Middle East, Israel is a clear and defined leader in this market, so we’ve focused on Israel. Most of Anthony’s tips could work in other non-US locales as well.
Read more
Picture of the week – A green Yom Kippur for all the world
Filed under: Environment, General, Holidays, Picture of the Week
Children riding their bikes and bimbas on an empty street in Jerusalem. Photo by Nati Shohat/Flash90.
For some it’s a solemn day of fasting, prayer, and asking for forgiveness, for others – specifically children – Yom Kippur is the day they claim the streets.
Ever year, children all over the country hone their cycling skills as the traffic stops and the roads clear. Whether it’s on a bike, roller blades, scooters, bimbas, or even unicycles, the nation takes to the street in what is probably – ironically – one of the most joyous holidays of the year.
Aside from the sheer pleasure of cycling undisturbed down some of Israel’s main arteries – like route 6, or the Ayalon Freeway, the quality of undisturbed silence is unparalleled. There are no buses, no cars, no trains, no airplanes even. The only sound is the whir of bikes, and the calls of children.
And the air quality, well…
I’ve long thought that some form of Yom Kippur actually ought to be adopted by other countries as an environmental measure. This must be the greenest day in Israel.
Every year there are reports in the local press about the dramatic decline in air pollution throughout Israel’s towns and cities. It’s a chance for the country to breathe again. Imagine what would happen if London followed suit, or New York, or Beijing. Perhaps this should be the latest campaign for environmentalists.
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