Strategic Solution�s Floating Gas Pipes Could Avert Red-Dead Environmental Catastrophe

December 7, 2008 - 7:31 AM by Karin Kloosterman · 2 Comments
Filed under: Environment

Those who have been following the Red-Dead canal proposal, and all its controversies, know that a lot is at stake. The Dead Sea is dying because natural estuaries, such as the Jordan River, Ein Gedi bottled spring water and rainwater are not making it to its shores. Politicians think that by carving a tunnel from the Red Sea all the way to the Dead Sea, Dead Sea water can be restocked easily and plentifully. Calling it the Peace Canal, they don�t consider the impact of such water as it passes through the desert landscape.

An Israeli company �Strategic Solutions� has announced a new technology that can transport seawater from the Med Sea to Dead Sea, using floating pipes filled partially with natural gas. According to the company, �this is a viable alternative to the canal/pipeline which is an ecological disaster but which has the backing of Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and World Bank. With this new technology it can be done cheaper, safer without impacting on the environment.�

Besides the vast distance, over 200 km of the Red to Dead Sea vs. 70 km Med to Dead Sea, the main obstacle is environmental. This entire route is on an earthquake fault and it is inevitable that earthquakes will cause fissures and the salt water will destroy the freshwater aquifer as well as making the soil even more salty so that agriculture will be foreclosed. The sea spray will kill wildlife and plant life.

They write Green Prophet where this post is x-posted from: �If, because of political or financial constraints, this is the only route to be considered, the only way for this to be viable is for the waterway to NOT be in canals/tunnels or pipelines on the ground, but rather the sea water must be enclosed and transported over the ground, in an aerial pipeline.

The Israeli scientists at Strategic Solutions designed a delivery system of natural gas and liquids, be it water, oil, or petroleum products. It is based on a very simple fact: natural gas is lighter than air.

Hope floats, we hope

Like with helium, fill a balloon with natural gas, it will float, the bigger the balloon, the stronger the pressure to rise. If the balloon is very tall, there will be stronger pressure to rise. If you put this very tall balloon on the side so that on one side the gas is coming in and the other end some is coming out, the middle will rise.

The fluids need to be pumped up, but travels by gradient like your drain pipes in your house. Using this aerial pipeline, natural gas can be delivered from isolated gas wells to industrial centers that need it. It can also deliver water to isolated regions that need it. It can deliver both simultaneously so that desalination can occur at point of need as there is also sufficient fuel, natural gas.

Viable energy production
Or the water falling can generate hydro-electricity and the desalination can be by one of the company�s cleantech solar desalination methods. This presents a viable alternative to the Red to Dead Sea canal/pipeline touted by Shimon Peres and backed by the World Bank, they write.

We�d love to see some illustrations of how this would work/look. And can just imagine Israeli kids using the pipes for target practice. Let�s wait and see.

Israelis like solutions that float. See Geotectura�s solar energy balloons in Solar Energy Hope Floats.

(Above illustration comes from New York-based architect Phu Hoang Office who seeks to address and solve Dead Sea issues with �No Man�s Land,� a series of artificial islands that would provide recreation, tourist attractions, renewable energy, and create fresh water. Via Inhabitat)

Share with others

Add 'Strategic Solution�s Floating Gas Pipes Could Avert Red-Dead Environmental Catastrophe' to Del.icio.us

Add 'Strategic Solution�s Floating Gas Pipes Could Avert Red-Dead Environmental Catastrophe' to digg

Add 'Strategic Solution�s Floating Gas Pipes Could Avert Red-Dead Environmental Catastrophe' to reddit

Add 'Strategic Solution�s Floating Gas Pipes Could Avert Red-Dead Environmental Catastrophe' to Technorati

Add 'Strategic Solution�s Floating Gas Pipes Could Avert Red-Dead Environmental Catastrophe' to Stumble Upon

Add 'Strategic Solution�s Floating Gas Pipes Could Avert Red-Dead Environmental Catastrophe' to FaceBook

Add 'Strategic Solution�s Floating Gas Pipes Could Avert Red-Dead Environmental Catastrophe' to MySpace

Add 'Strategic Solution�s Floating Gas Pipes Could Avert Red-Dead Environmental Catastrophe' to Twitter

Add 'Strategic Solution�s Floating Gas Pipes Could Avert Red-Dead Environmental Catastrophe' to BlueDot

Tags: clean technology, Dead Sea, desert, ecology, Green Prophet, Israel, Jordan, Red Sea, solar energy

New (Natural) World Order

November 19, 2008 - 1:45 AM by DavidS · 6 Comments
Filed under: General

Okay folks, it’s time once again to defend the republic, or whatever it is you call it over here. Israel is once again being judged in the court of world opinion, and it’s up to we loyal Israelis to make sure we get ours. But we’re not alone this time – if you have any friends in Jordan or the Palestinian Authority, you might be able to get them to help, because they’ve got a stake in this, too.

First there were the Seven Wonders of the World – so named because they really were wonders. Till today, for example, nobody has been able to figure out how the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids. Now that’s a wonder! And you knew they were wonders because they had the imprimatur of the ancient Greeks. Later, though, it became clear that there were newer wonders that weren’t included in the original list, like the Great Wall of China, so various universities and the like compiled additional Seven Wonders lists. The Old City of Jerusalem, for example, is one of the New Seven Wonders, according to USA Today.

The latest Seven Wonders gimmick, however, has The People voting on what constitutes a Wonder of the World. The voting is coordinated by the New7Wonders Foundation, which was founded by aviator/explorer/museum curator Bernard Weber. One hundred million people voted to name the Foundation’s “New Seven Wonders,” which were announced on July 7, 2007, and include impressive monuments like the Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu, and Petra.

Now the Foundation is conducting voting for the Seven Wonders of the Natural World, with the i to be named in early 2009. The candidates include sites you would expect to be on such a list, like Mount Everest, Mount Fuji, the Grand Canyon, and Niagara Falls (the latter two being the only sites in North America to make the list). But there are lots of places many people are probably not familiar with. Interestingly, all of the top ten currently rated sites are in the Far East – with four of them in the Philippines, and three in Vietnam!

Israel is respectably represented as well: The coral reefs of the Red Sea are listed (actually, they’re listed as representing not only Israel, but the PA, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and other countries too), as is the Dead Sea (also Jordan and PA), both currently in 13th and 14th places respectively. Also on the list, at 64, is Ein Gedi, the oasis on the shores of the Dead Sea (exclusively Israeli).
red sea1120.jpg
Now, I’m sure the Philippines has many beautiful natural wonders – but four of the current top seven? And while there are many occasions where tapping into The Wisdom of Crowds is a good idea, I’m not sure determining a question like this is one of them. Based on the current standings, it looks more like a popularity contest – with people urging their friends to vote for their county’s site. But if that’ the way it works, I say “game on.” Just surf on over to the New7Wonders site and cast your vote. When you register, you get to choose your seven picks – so why not get all three Israeli sites as close to the top seven as possible? Our national – or should I say “natural” – pride is at stake!

Share with others

Add 'New (Natural) World Order' to Del.icio.us

Add 'New (Natural) World Order' to reddit

Add 'New (Natural) World Order' to Technorati

Add 'New (Natural) World Order' to Stumble Upon

Add 'New (Natural) World Order' to FaceBook

Add 'New (Natural) World Order' to MySpace

Add 'New (Natural) World Order' to Twitter

Add 'New (Natural) World Order' to BlueDot

Tags: Dead Sea, egypt, ein gedi, far east, great wall, Jordan, Machu Picchu, Old City, pa, Palestinian, Petra, philippenes, Red Sea, Seven Wonders of the World, Taj Mahal, vietnam, Wisdom of Crowds

Nostalgia Sunday – 1967

October 27, 2008 - 12:55 AM by Rachel Neiman · 2 Comments
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Nostalgia Sunday

Perhaps the most genius service of the century is Scan Cafe, which takes those crates and crates of slides so many families have lying around the house — the slide projectors having died years ago — and puts them into digital format.

We must have had thousands of slides, carefully organized in slide trays (kids, ask your parents about these), which gathered dust for years in Newton, Massachusetts, until my Dad moved to Los Angeles in 1998 so that they could continue to gather dust in California. After my dad passed away, my sisters took charge of the monumental task of going through his crap – and there was plenty of it. That’s when they found Scan Cafe, which allowed us to finally see pictures of our childhood that we hadn’t seen since… er… well, since our childhood.

We came to visit Israel in June 1967. The trip had been planned months before, as my Israeli mother wanted to visit family and have them meet her husband and children. We arrived a few days after school — and the war — ended. And so, our family outing photos have some historical merit. I’ve selected a few from a trip my parents took to an outpost at the former Jordanian border. Then, as now, it starts by heading towards the Dead Sea:

1967 Sea Level sign