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
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.
Tel Aviv’s Sh*t Mountain Gets A Green Light for Environmental Remediation
Hiria, Israel’s hard-to-miss garbage mountain located off the road that connects Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, has been trying to fix its trashy image and go green. It has set up a recycling park to be used as an educational tool for professionals, created clean energy out of the methane resulting from garbage decomposition, made biking and hiking trails, and hired eco-friendly designer Brigitte Cartier to make a beautiful visitor’s center out of trash. It also houses workshops with creative ideas for reusing items that might otherwise help the garbage moutain grow.
This Sunday, July 19th it will go a little greener when it launches a new clean energy lighting system. Hiria’s getting the green light.
At an event that will be attended by Israeli Minister of Environmental Protection, Gilad Arden, members of Ariel Sharon’s family, representatives of environmental organizations, leaders of local municipalities, and the park’s architects, Hiria’s new lighting system will be launched for the very first time. The energy used for the lighting is generated from recycled waste.
People interested in attending the festive event can contact yamit@parksharon.co.il to see if there are any spots left!
Read more about Hiria Mountain::
Hiria: A Garbage Dump Turned Recycling Dream
Ayala Water & Ecology to Remediate Israel’s Sh*t Mountain with Aquatic Plants
Brigitte Cartier Creates Baladi Recyled Design
(This post was written by Karen Chernick, the Arts and Design editor for Green Prophet www.greenprophet.com)
Putting the Z5 to the Power and Emissions Test
Filed under: Environment, General, Technology
Since writing my first article on the Israeli-invented Z5, a small add on to your car’s air filter to save gas, there has been no shortage of skepticism and critics. I’d blogged about it on TreeHugger and the article was pulled due to all the negative feedback by readers who hadn’t tried it.
The public knows they are no fools: any mention of a “device” that sounds like a Cyclone Fuel Saver, FuelMAX or Water4Gas elicits a knee jerk response. How could a small cylinder added to your car’s air filter save gas, decrease pollution or give your car more power?
People want to believe that they can save up to 30% gas, and spare the environment from emissions, but does it work?
To test the company’s claims that the $208 mail-order Z5 can help the environmental cause, Green Prophet took Gal Luft from Set America Free to a garage in Israel to emissions test and power test cars before and after the Z5 installation.
Here’s what we found: Read more
Night Garden in Jerusalem Exhibited the Beauty of Solar Power
Sunshine helps flowers grow and now, thanks to a joint collaboration of the Israel Electric Corporation and O*GE Architects, it makes enormous steel and metal flowers grow, too.
In mid June, visitors to Jerusalem could stroll through a solar powered garden of larger-than-life sized flowers. As described by O*GE Architects, visitors could “immerse themselves in a sensual delight of magical light, bright sounds and fragrant aromas… The garden demonstrates the importance and beauty of alternative energy.”
The garden included a variety of flowers in different sizes, shapes, colors, and types of illumination. The Giant Lotus flowers, for example, towered at over 4 meters in diameter and would open and close, subtly changing colors. The tulips, on the other hand, were illuminated by a single color in varying intensities. Dewdrop flowers were bunched together in masses, creating “a poetic ambience of tranquility, sensual beauty, and pure serenity.”
The movement of the flowers was accompanied by music composed by Ravid Hang and Andy Isler. (The music can also be heard in the clip above.)
O*GE Architects hope to continue exploring issues of architecture and design, environmental protection, and social responsibility. They pursue many environmental design projects, including their Recycle Be-shikle Workshop.
Read more about solar power in the Middle East::
Phone Home with Sunbeam Power Using Lebanon’s Alfa
Solar Energy is Israel’s Best Energy Bet
Rich Oil State Dubai Plans to Power Up with Solar Energy
(This post was written by Karen Chernick, the Arts and Design editor at greenprophet.com)
Recycle it
Filed under: Business, Environment, General, Israeliness, coexistence
Three very different forms of recycling are going on in my neighborhood. Two have been around for ages, the other is newer, at least in these parts and they all came my way within the same day last week.
I was reading several emails about the latest form of recycling to reach Jerusalem, namely, finally (!), a recycling center in the neighborhood of Givat Shaul, where Jerusalem residents can bring pretty much any recyclable material, from glass and plastic to paper and aluminum, bags and electronics. It’s run by the Jerusalem municipality sanitation department, and while it’s not exactly next door to where I live, I’m glad that they’ve opened it. Plans are to have a carpool of sorts ferrying containers of recyclables each week to the other end of the city.
As I was reading the email, some familiar sounds began drifting through the window. It was the ‘alte sachen’ man, one of several — hey, maybe one of dozens of — Arab men who walk up and down the streets, calling out, in Yiddish, “Alte sachen,” which means ‘old things.’ This is the prompt for anyone looking to get rid of old clothes, t.v. sets, furniture, you name it. No schlepping it anywhere, the alte sachen man will pick it up and schelp it for you.
That was the second form of recycling that came my way, even though I didn’t take advantage of it at the time.
And finally, during my afternoon jaunt to the park with the boys, I picked my head up from chatting with fellow mothers long enough to notice a communal garden in the far corner, accompanied by several bins of composting. Turns out my sister is one of the composters, if not one of the gardeners, and anyone from the ‘hood is more than welcome to compost and bring it on over. Then again, I could just compost for my own garden. We’ll see.
Iran’s New Year “Nowruz” An Ecological Bridge To Make Peace With Israel?
Filed under: A New Reality, Environment
Jews in Israel and the world over are busy now celebrating Passover, while Christians ready themselves for Easter. Iranians, we learn had their own celebrations this time of the year, coinciding with the vernal equinox on March 21.
Iran’s political makeup and leadership may not be making many friends these days, but its annual festival Nowruz, or the Persian New Year festival, is being celebrated in a number of countries, and by several different religions as well.
Nowruz spelled also Nowrouz or Nouruz, which means “New Day” in Persian, officially marks the first day of Spring in the Persian calendar and corresponds to the Spring Equinox which is marked on Western calendars as March 21.
The holiday is not only celebrated by the Iranians, but also by countries in Central Asia, South Asia, Western China, The Crimea, and by a number of ethnic groups in Balkan countries such as Albania, Kosovo, and Macedonia. The holiday marks the period when the sun crosses the celestial equator and creates equal day and night.
The sun and fire are important elements in the ancient Persian religion of Zoroaster and the festival is observed by this ancient monotheistic faith. In fact, Nowruz is one of the seven most important Zoroastrian festivals the festival is also observed by the much newer Bahai faith which also has its origins in Iran.
The founder of the Bahai religion, Bahalulah, placed much importance on the observance of this annual change of seasons and Bahai faith members the world over eagerly await this event.
Legend has it that this festival, which has it origins in ancient Persia around 600 BCE, is the basis for the Jewish festival of Purim which also comes around this time and is based on the lunar calendar. The festival is celebrated by a number of Muslim communities, including among the Alewite and Alevi sects.
Signifying rebirth, some of the main customs of the holiday includes spring cleaning and inter-family visitation.
As in other holidays that celebrate the New Year, it is believed that what people do on Nowruz will affect them for the remainder of the year. Certain flowers such as tulips and hycinths are placed in the home. Like before Jewish holidays, new clothing is also purchased. Another nice custom involves something sweet being hidden somewhere outside the home, and whoever finds its and brings it inside will have a better year. Families also visit the graves of loved ones on the last Thursday or Friday of the old year proceeding festival.
Faith plays an important role in spreading environmental awareness, and joint environmental concerns can unite faiths. Nowrouz and its many derivations means so much to so many people, it may yet be an excellent ecological “bridge” to unite peoples the world over.
This post was written by Maurice Picow and first appeared on the Middle East environment news site Green Prophet. To subscribe to the newsletter send an email to contact@greenprophet.com.
[Image via Hamed Saber]
Hassidism at Boombamela
Filed under: A New Reality, Environment, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Israeliness, Music, Pop Culture, Profiles, Religion
A long-time disciple of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach and a seasoned grassroots organizer, Michael Golomb used to spend his efforts marching against the Vietnam War. But since moving to Israel along with many of Carlebach’s Hassidim as part of that community’s mid-Seventies exodus from Haight-Ashbury, Golomb has busied himself with spreading a message of love at gatherings, encounter events and festivals – even mainstream, teenybopper-y ones like Boombamela, Shantipi and Beresheet.
Golomb and his crew have helped to organize Tents of Love and Prayer at several of these festivals, with the sub-camp serving as a festival within a festival for many party-goers. According to a statement released this week by director Guy Peleg, Boombalema’s planners love Carlebach-style Judaism because of its emphasis on happiness and love of mankind, making Golomb’s contributions key elements to the eye-opening, pan-spiritualist experience Peleg is trying to forge.
At the festivals, the Tent of Love and Prayer offers kosher food (which is even harder to come by during Passover), prayer services, meditation sessions, low-impact lectures and the like.
But it’s not always easy to keep one’s mind on lofty ideas when corporate sponsorship banners are flying high and scantily clad perky young ones are doing the same. And the mainstream festival circuit has received plenty of criticism in recent years about these trends from the hippie hardcore populace that first provided their critical mass about a decade ago. But Carlebach-style outreach was never afraid of “elevating the sparks” (as the Hassidic masters might have put it) out from the ditches. As The Chicago Tribune did put it back in 2007:
…Carlebach was one of the first emissaries of the Lubavitcher movement, a Hasidic group that pioneered outreach to disaffected Jews in the 1950s. Carlebach found himself particularly drawn to lost souls: drug addicts, runaway young people, the homeless.
Golomb carries this torch proudly, dancing while carrying a Torah scroll into the throngs of drum circle, sunset-hailing revelers at the opening evening of each festival. And it’s nice to see Boombalema’s leadership, which essentially represents the ultimate in the crossroads between mainstream pop culture and new-age (which usually means post-Jewish) spiritualism, appreciating his efforts.
This year’s three-day Boombamela Festival on Nitzanim Beach is set to kick off on April 9, with plans for this year including utilization of solar energy to cut down on electricity waste by half.
It’s in your hands
Filed under: Environment, General, Movies, Pop Culture, design
Well, if Rafael’s Bollywood advertisement made you give up hope that Israelis could ever do marketing, then hopefully this advert will make you think again.
Created free by the ad agency, Shalmor Avnon Amichay/Young & Rubican for EcoOcean, a non-profit organization dedicated to marine education, it’s a touching but simple advert that gets its environmental message – about saving Israel’s turtles – across cleanly and powerfully.
The Hebrew message at the end: “Life is in your hands.”
No baby turtles were hurt during the shooting of this video.
Ostrich farming rollercoaster
Filed under: Business, Environment, Food, General, History and Culture
What with mad cow disease fears, concern over the unhealthy effects of eating animal fats and reports on the environmental damage caused by cattle farms, “alternative meat” (not to be confused with “meat alternatives”) is a growth industry.
Compared to other meats, ostrich meat cooks faster, has richer flavor and contains less than half the fat that even chicken has. Hence the relatively heavy marketing efforts associated with the burgundy poultry meat, especially in England.
Here in Israel, the ostrich meat industry started to gain momentum in the Nineties, although in 2007, some new legislation was necessary in order to make it retroactively legal, when Environmental Protection Minister Gideon Ezra reclassified ostriches and crocodiles as “nurtured wildlife.”
Mike van Grevenbroek, a Dutch immigrant to Israel, and his wife Tsophia, have been farming ostriches for 27 years now in the western Negev’s Besor district. The van Grevenbroeks and their organization, called Exotic Crops, were recently profiled in depth in Ha’aretz. The farm keeps a living inventory of some 7000 ostriches currently, and its managers estimate that they export over 150 tons of meat annually – all to Europe. Soon they’ll start marketing to locals too.
Although the large birds were once an indigenous species here, they disappeared from Israel back in the Twenties. So in 1973, van Grevenbroek smuggled 50 chicks from Ethiopia:
This was no easy feat. “At the time, you weren’t allowed to take ostriches out of South Africa,” [he] explains. “The Africans knew they had a gold mine and didn’t want to share it. In those years, they were the only ones in the world who raised ostriches, primarily for feathers and the leather industry, and they didn’t want any competition. But we were already swept up in the fantasy, and felt there was no other way except to smuggle some eggs to Israel. And so one day, I put a few eggs that were almost ready to hatch in a carry-on bag – the chicks were really ready – and within a few hours we were on an African Airlines flight from Johannesburg to Tel Aviv.”
The industry endured a rocky road since then, with demand increasing in the Eighties and peaking in 2000, with 20 ostrich farms in operation in Israel, export laws changing all the time due to pressures from the kibbutz movement. But it wasn’t always about the meat – Exotic Crops only opened its slaughterhouse in the early Nineties – and even now, with ostrich meat booming in international popularity, competition has become stiff, with many firms around the world making for a crowded market.
Ostrich meat has even given new meaning to our nation’s ongoing conflict with the Iranians. But Israeli ingenuity seems to be up to the task. And another local ostrich farmer Reginald Michiels offers us many savory recipes beyond enormous sandwiches, if you’re interesting in trying it at home.
Image of an Israeli ostrich courtesy thenotbelonghereguy from Flickr under a Creative Commons license.
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