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KINNERET DROPS BY 6cm OVER PESACH by jpost.com April 27, 2008
The water level in the Sea of Galilee, Israel’s largest reservoir and freshwater source, has dropped by six centimeters (2.36 inches) over the Passover holiday, the Water Authority announced.
In July the level is expected to drop below the “Black Line,” the absolute lower limit below which no more water can be pumped from the lake.
Experts predict Israel to experience a drought of potentially unprecedented proportions because of a relatively dry winter that follows on the heels of several dry years. The Black Line is met when water levels drop to a point so low that the openings of the pumps are exposed and further pumping becomes simply impossible.
The truth is that the Kinneret is drying up from the activities of the "peacemakers." I should know. In 1994, I interviewed the chief Israeli negotiator of the Water Treaty between Jordan and Israel. Back then I was the Israeli correspondent for a London company called the Gemini News Service. Thanks to them, my work was published widely throughout Third World newspapers. I noticed a newspaper quote about the water negotiations from Yaacov Tsemach of the national water company, Tahal. It caught my eye because a Yaacov Tsemach was my really good, longtime army buddy. I admired his sharp wit and, a rarity among Israelis, great sense of humor. So I called Tahal and to my total delight, it was my buddy on the line. We arranged to meet and got along like old times. He was assistant to the chief negotiator of the water sections of the then-building, Israeli-Jordanian Peace Treaty. I asked if I could interview the negotiator and he said he'd put in a good word for me. Well, a good word from Yaacov did the trick. If I agreed to keep the negotiator's name anonymous, he would meet with me within the week. We met at a Tel Aviv restaurant and he began, like all good bureaucrats, handing me graphs and surveys. In retrospect, I've wondered why I brought out so many sources, but the truth must be, the rest of the media were selling "peace" and I was looking where they chose not to enter. The bar graphs showed a lot of blue above the "red" line of the lake over 30 odd years before the Treaty,**** then it sunk after the proposed "peace" agreement. I, naturally, asked what happened. The negotiator ordered a drink, then shortly after, another. And he became teary. "I sure hope our leaders know what they're doing," he said. "Because if they're wrong, the Kinneret will disappear in a generation. Within twenty years, it will be nearly useless for our water needs." I asked what he meant. He then gave me the title of my Gemini article, "Giving Away Dream Water." "The government is going to give away 50 million cubic meters of lake water a year and they ordered me to find it. I'm giving away dream water." The negotiator told me where he went looking for the water. "There are brackish streams on the west of the lake. We'll give that away. We'll dam the Yarmuk and give that water away. But it was supposed to flow into the system anyway. There is no water to give away. Not even 5 million cubic meters. The government is so anxious to sign the Treaty with Jordan that it's accepting all their arguments. The truth is the Kinneret is our lake. They have no claim on it." The seriousness of the man's dilemma became more obvious as I walked him to his car. "You think 50 million cubic meters is nothing. And it is in one year, provided it's replenished the following year. But 50 million compounded year after year will suck the lake dry in one generation, after staying stable for millennia. Just don't write that I killed our lake." And still, the writers from Israel report on dry winters and hot springs as the cause of the upcoming disaster. One of the real killers of the lake is currently President of the State. Remember him with deep emotion when your tap runs dry.
***** On October 26, 1994, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Prime Minister Abdul-Salam Majali signed the Treaty of Peace between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the second peace treaty Israel has signed since its independence.
An Israeli company Bagir has devised a new way to help fathers everywhere go green, without Dad ever having to realize it. Bagir and Sears have joined forces and starting this Father's Day are selling the world's first suit made from recycled plastic bottles.
The "EcoGIR" suit to be sold under the Covington private-label, will be available come June in Sears stores across the United States. Made from wool and recycled PET plastic bottles collected in Japan, Bagir's suits will also be the first in the world to carry a carbon footprint label.
A carbon emissions label, they say, will help educate consumers to let them know how much greenhouse gas causing carbon dioxide emissions, or its equivalent, was created during the manufacturing and shipping process.
Driven by the "green" movement, but not calling themselves green, Bagir says it still has a long way to go before becoming the ultimate environmentally-conscious tailored clothing manufacturer. Its first steps however are a leap in this area, and make Bagir a trendsetter that young environmentalists everywhere are talking about.
The company's ultimate dream, says Moshe Gadot, the director of global development and marketing, is to one day see the entire tailored clothing industry go green.
"Eco was a strong direction for our company so we started working with consultants and found a few threats," he tells ISRAEL21c. The first threat was the chemical perchloroethylene known as "perc" used in the dry cleaning business, and which is now entering America's drinking water.
To reduce the use of perc, Bagir invented the world's first machine washable suit, available today through Marks and Spencer. It was a hit among men on the go who liked the idea of washing their suit in water at home or in the hotel, while saving the planet.
When looking at its carbon footprint, Bagir found that it could reduce virgin materials used in the manufacturing process and develop a recycled suit line. Bagir turned to post-consumer waste and decided to incorporate recycled plastic bottles into a couple of lines.
"Recycled bottles save 77 percent of the carbon emissions that go into suit production," says Gadot.
The company also works to educate consumers about using lower temperature wash cycles.
Working with the UK consultancy Greenstone Carbon Management, Gadot say the first step to reduce one's carbon footprint is by measuring it. "The huge impact is during air shipment. So we've started to do more shipping by sea," he says. "Once you start to measure, you start to improve."
The goal is to create a suit that has the least impact on the earth, yet remains stylish and is priced the same as competitive brands.
And if the thought of wearing recycled plastic bottles isn't your dad's thing, consider Bagir's line of organic cotton blend suits, with lining made from bamboo and buttons from Tagua palm tree seeds, ecologically harvested.
Bagir is used to innovation, both in marketing and in producing new garments. They have also created the iPod suit, for music lovers to discreetly hook up to their iPod MP3 player while at the office.
A part of the Polgat Group, today Bagir outfits 1 in 6 UK men, mainly through Marks and Spencer. In the US, Bagir supplies to the higher end label Brookes Brothers and the Limited brand.
Bagir is headquartered in Kiryat Gat Israel, where it maintains a small production line for prototypes and special orders. Its manufacturing sites today are in Jordan, Egypt and China, with subcontractors around the world.
Founded in the 1970s, the company was opened not to supply trendy bellbottom suits to Israelis, but to help give jobs to new immigrants.
And what's next for Bagir is up the company's sleeve.
A chunk of black, lava-like rock is the result of the process invented by EER to transform radioactive waste into an inert, safe substance.
By Karin Kloosterman March 18, 2007
The laws of conservation of energy and mass say that energy or mass cannot be created or destroyed - only change form. With the help of Russian scientists, Israeli firm Environmental Energy Resources (EER), has taken the laws of science and turned them into a useful invention for mankind - a reactor that converts radioactive, hazardous and municipal waste into inert byproducts such as glass and clean energy.
The problem of radioactive waste is a global one, and getting increasingly worse. All countries in the industrialized world are waking up to the need for safer hazardous waste disposal methods.
"In the beginning, nobody believed that we could do it," says Itschak Shrem, chairman of investment company Shrem, Fudim and Keiner representing EER at a press briefing announcing the innovation last week in Tel Aviv.
Shrem, himself an invoker of small miracles through the founding of one of Israel's most lucrative venture capital funds - Polaris (now Pitango) - points to a chunk of black, lava-like rock sitting on the table in front of everyone's coffee cups.
The journalists cautiously eye Shrem as he assures them that the shiny dark material, emitted from EER's pilot waste treatment reactor near Karmiel in the north, is safe to touch.
"It also makes a good recyclable material for building and paving roads," he assures them. Earlier, Shrem told ISRAEL21c that EER can take low-radioactive, medical and municipal solid waste and produce from it clean energy that "can be used for just about anything."
Using a system called plasma gasification melting technology (PGM) developed by scientists from Russia's Kurchatov Institute research center, the Radon Institute in Russia, and Israel's Technion Institute - EER combines high temperatures and low-radioactive energy to transform waste.
"We go up to 7,000 degrees centigrade and end at 1,400 centigrade," says Moshe Stern, founder and president of the Ramat Gan-based company.
Shrem adds that EER's waste disposal rector does not harm the environment and leaves no surface water, groundwater, or soil pollution in its wake. The EER reactor combines three processes into one solution: it takes plasma torches to break down the waste; carbon leftovers are gasified and inorganic components are converted to solid waste. The remaining vitrified material is inert and can be cast into molds to produce tiles, blocks or plates for the construction industry.
EER's Karmiel facility (and its other installation in the Ukraine) has a capacity to convert 500 to 1,000 kilograms of waste per hour. Other industry solutions, the company claims, can only treat as much as 50 kilograms per hour and are much more costly.
According to the journal Research Studies (Business Communications, Inc.), 'The production of nuclear weapons/power in the US has left a 50-year legacy of unprecedented volumes of radioactive waste and contaminated subsurface media and structures... Nuclear waste generators include the national laboratories, industrial research facilities, educational and medical institutions, electrical power utilities, medical diagnostics facilities, and various manufacturing processes.'
In the US alone, Research Studies predicts that this year's market for radioactive waste-management technologies in America will cap $5.5 billion.
EER was founded in 2000 and has maintained a low profile until revealing its reactor last week.
"We spent our time on R&D and building up the site in Israel which we started constructing in 2003. We realized that nobody was going to believe us unless we started doing the process physically. They always said it sounded too good to be true, so we had to prove it to them," said Shrem.
Back in 2004, the Ukrainian government put out a tender searching for a solution that would provide safer hazardous waste disposal methods. At that time, the country was looking for a way to treat its low-radioactive waste zones resulting from the Chernobyl explosion. EER sent in their proposal, and their technology won the bid.
According to Stern, the former Soviet Union was the first to build nuclear plants. Over the years they have generated "huge amounts of low-radioactive waste. They came to us looking for a solution," he said.
The Chernobyl nuclear meltdown on April 26, 1986 - was beyond a doubt the largest civil nuclear explosion in the world and one still linked to thousands of deaths. More than 20 years after the explosion, tens of kilometers around the reactor is still highly radioactive; and some 30,000 radioactive homes remain buried along with household appliances, food and clothing, explained Stern.
"The European community is afraid of what is happening there," notes Stern, warning that it is time for the clean up to begin, even if it means making only a small dent in the massive pile. "The low-radioactive waste is slowly contaminating the water and will continue to do so over the 300 years it takes to break down."
And since new conventions have been set by The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, first world countries are no longer permitted to traffic their hazardous waste to third world nations - forcing Western countries to drum up immediate and responsible solutions.
With a strict eye over its operations by Israel's Ministry of Environmental Protection, EER revealed its proof-of-concept to Israeli and foreign dignitaries in Aeblin, near Karmiel last week, showing how it can take mountains of municipal waste and reduce it to a pile of black rubble.
"We are not burning. This is the key word," Shrem said. "When you burn you produce dioxin. Instead, we vacuum out the oxygen to prevent combustion."
EER then purifies the gas and with it operates turbines to generate electricity. EER produces energy - 70% of which goes back to power the reactor with a 30% excess which can be sold.
"In effect, we are combining two of the most exciting markets in the US - the environment and clean energy," says Stern, "We also reduce the carbon footprint."
The cost for treating and burying low-radioactive nuclear waste currently stands at about $30,000 per ton. The EER process will cost $3,000 per ton and produce only a 1% per volume solid byproduct.
In the US, EER is working to treat low-radioactive liquid waste and recently contracted with Energy Solutions, the largest American company in the field with 75% of the US market.
Based on the financial forecasts, EER is certainly giving a fresh meaning to the expression - one man's garbage is another man's treasure. But in EER's case, ones man's hazardous waste may very well be EER's goldmine.
Americans have growing concerns over organic chemicals such as birth control pills and fertilizers contaminating their water wells. More recently the dangers of inorganic compounds such as perchlorate, a byproduct of rocket fuel, have trickled into the headlines and consciousness in America.
Israel's En Gibton, named after a centuries' year old water fountain outside the Israeli city of Rehovot, plan on making America's drinking water cleaner and safer.
Developed by scientists at Hebrew University, En Gibton's main product is ClayMix, a filtration compound made from clay and natural organic materials. The ClayMix attracts negative and neutrally-charged organic and inorganic ions, and locks them away on its microscopic cup-shaped surface.
The cost-effective solution uses environmentally-friendly raw materials and achieves the highest efficiency in removing dissolved organic matter in brackish waters, reports the company.
"It's medium-tech cleantech," says En Gibton's CEO Rafi Nevo to ISRAEL21c. Nevo also heads TreaTec 21 Industries, a company specializing in advanced electrochemical water purification systems.
What's especially attractive about ClayMix, he says, is that the groundwater, surface water and wastewater treatment solution requires virtually no input of energy - just electricity to pump the water through the system.
Contaminated water is an acute and growing problem around the world. ClayMix, however, claims that it has the power to sequester up to 99 percent of its targeted contaminants, such as pharmaceuticals and fertilizers, from water, versus a 60% success rate in the industry standard carbon-based solution.
As populations grow and industrial and military processes increase, more and more American underwater wells and aquifers are becoming polluted. More recently, perchlorates in America have entered the environmental hazard radar, especially in regions such as Colorado.
"Perchlorates found in the Colorado River area can accumulate in breast milk, dairy milk and lettuce leaves and is known to affect the thyroid," says Nevo, noting that water treatment facilities in Colorado are on his check-list for potential US-based pilot plants of En Gibton's solution.
Founded in 2005, En Gibton is located in Ashkelon at the Ashkelon Technological Industries Incubator. The company is also supported by Israel's national water utility via the company WaTech, which has been beta testing En Gibton's technology in Israel.
En Gibton has tested the ClayMix solution in laboratories on organic contaminants and is currently treating Israeli water wells from perchlorates with great success. This issue of perchlorates is a global concern, says Nevo. And shutting down wells that are contaminated can only be a temporary solution.
"Perchlorates bind to the water," he says, "they stay there and accumulate. It's expanding and dispersing, so it's not clever to shut down a well. [The water] has to be treated. Our solution makes it possible to reopen these wells and prevent the closure of operating wells."
A common feature on domestic dwellings in Israel is the solar panels mounted at an angle on their roofs, with a water boiler on top of that. Jewish dwellings have metal boilers, painted white, while Arab houses have unsightly black plastic ones. You can actually distinguish Jewish and Arab neighborhoods from the color of the boilers - apart from the inevitable fertility poles (minarets) of the Muslim Arabs. What used to make these boiler systems even less acceptable aesthetically was that they were connected to apartments below them by means of ugly black pipes running on the outside down buildings. One still sees it on old buildings, but I, unfortunately don't have a camera to photograph such a building. I've also been looking for a photo to go with this posting to show the solar panels and boilers on buildings, but the only one that has come up, is this one. It makes this posting political-environmental, because it shows the result of a direct hit of a Grad-type Katyusha rocket launched from Gaza on an apartment building in Ashkelon. This kind of abuse is reality in Israel for decades even before the Jewish State was re-established in 1948, two thousand years after the Roman occupation and destruction of their land caused most Jews into a diaspora.
Judging from the white boilers, it's unmistakably a Jewish neighborhood. Bombing civilian areas is a contravention of international law, according to Adullah, a Muslim human rights organization - that is when Israel tries to take out rocket launchers at locations among or near Arab civilian buildings.
Anyway, what I want to talk about is the long way hot water needs to go to apartments at lower levels of apartment buildings - that comprises the accommodation of most Israelis. I found it a bit strange, coming from South Africa where most middle class people live in sprawling suburban neighborhoods with each family dwelling having some land around it,- that is also common in the USA. My problem with the boilers mounted on roofs, is the amount of water that is wasted before hot water comes out of the faucet, two, three, four, five floors below.
The only solution as far as I know, is to install boilers as close as possible to where the hot water is needed and to circulated the water through the solar panels on the roof by means of small pumps. I think that is how it is mostly done in the USA. It means extra costs to move the boilers, install pumps and of electricity, but water is becoming a much more scarce commodity than energy. In fact, we have probably years back already passed the PEAK of water supplies. It is definitely the case in Israel with the level of her biggest source of water, the Sea of Galilee, being less than a meter above its critical RED LINE - even after the rain season. In addition Israel's population is ever increasing from Jews needing to leave their host nations because of anti-Semitism, or the "pull" to the land just getting too strong to resist.
On the other hand, boilers inside and even on the side of buildings can be better insulated against loss heat of water.
(IsraelNN.com) The Knesset Monday night approved an amendment to existing legislation in order to give more authority to municipalities to fight air pollution. Cities now will be able to close streets at certain hours and limit the number of vehicle on roads in order to cut pollution.
Violators may be fined, but each city's plan will require the approval of the Ministry of Transportation. Income from the fines will be used to improve the quality of air by building and maintaining bicycle routes and subsidizing bus travel.
(IsraelNN.com) A pilot program has begun to test the recycling of some of the 100,000 tons of electronics waste a year in Israel. Snunit Recycling has set up the project in Pardes Hana, east of Haifa, in an effort to make a profit on the electronic waste, which American studies have shown account for most household toxic waste.
The waste from devices such as MP3 players, old DVDs, telephones, kitchen appliances and televisions will be processed into materials that can be re-used. "We take the collected equipment to our center, dismantle it, send the metals and plastics to Europe and ensure proper disposal of the toxic substances," Snunit founder Natan Shalva told Globes.
Snunit operates two collection stations and also has mobile waste collectors. Private investors have backed the project.
'Water is Not Everywhere and Not All Drops for Drinking
(IsraelNN.com) Israel's dwindling water resources are leaving the country with less drinkable water because of ground contamination, the Water Authority's Hydraulic Service has warned. The water in the Coastal Aquifer already is below standards for drinking, it said.
Both the Kinneret and the larger underground aquifer system have been severely depleted because of less than average rain the past several years and growing water consumption. Last year, the rainfall reached near the average but came only after an early winter drought that caused an unusual decrease in the level of the Kinneret because of farmer's needs for irrigation.
The Kinneret now is slightly more than 3.5 meters below the desirable level, one of the lowest levels ever for this time of year. Light rain is expected Thursday night and Friday morning in the north, but dry weather is forecast for all of Israel on the Sabbath and Monday. However, more rain is expected by next Monday or Tuesday.
Israeli energy initiative makes climate change a social cause By Karin Kloosterman Environmental entrepreneur, Eyal Biger, the founder of Israel's Good Energy Initiative. January 31, 2008
For every car that drives, every plane that flies and every appliance that gets plugged into the wall, a price is paid by the environment. The burning of fossil fuels for use in transport, industry and our day-to-day lives, emits carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Al Gore has exposed the effects of global warming at great lengths. And some activists around the world - like those from Israel's Good Energy Initiative - think that there is still time to turn around, or at least stop, the acceleration of climate change.
The Good Energy Initiative, a non-profit organization, is the first and only voluntary carbon offset provider in Israel. Through donations, it lets people and organizations neutralize their "carbon footprint" by funnelling cash investments into local grassroots educational and social projects. Carbon offset money also goes toward developing new alternative energy projects.
This term carbon neutral is used when the amount of greenhouse gases one emits (a carbon footprint), is balanced either through the purchase of offsets, or by greenhouse gas reduction practices.
The Israeli project is unique because its offset projects are all based locally, and have a strong social element. Not only does the organization plan to reduce greenhouses gases emitted locally, it educates schoolchildren about global warming, alleviates pressures on marginalized communities, and creates new alternative energy projects.
By working locally, the initiative may also have profound implications for peace building, too. What normally happens in carbon offsetting initiatives is that projects are carried out elsewhere, often in developing nations.
But for $6 a pound, one can neutralize your carbon footprint through Good Energy and know that the projects are being monitored closely. The group currently appeals for donations from conference organizers, the media, and even those flying to the Holy Land on mission trips.
Since it was founded a year ago by environmental entrepreneur Eyal Biger, who specializes in biological fuel alternatives, the initiative has helped a number of local businesses go carbon neutral. The list includes The Marker, a Hebrew language business daily; and the organization is currently advising coffee chain Aroma Israel, how to become carbon neutral.
The offset money goes to a number of local projects, and includes an effort to reduce emissions by replacing boilers with solar heating systems in apartment buildings. The group has supplied solar energy systems for cancer-stricken children in Bedouin settlements. In lieu of diesel generators, their parents now use a non-polluting means to keep medicine cool.
Good Energy is also running an organic waste composting program for communities and public entities; and has developed a regional incandescent-to-CFL bulb campaign.
"Ours is a social venture. Our only profit is the social profit," Tom Brecher, environmental advisor at Good Energy tells ISRAEL21c.
The Good Energy Initiative owes its start in life to the Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership, Israel's premiere environment education center. Heschel will support Good Energy until next year.
This particular project is "super innovative" says Heschel's resource developer David Pearlman Paran. "It is breaking new ground in Israel. Its focus on social initiatives is fairly uncommon," he says, and it adds value by "improving energy efficiency and society."
How does Good Energy compare to other offset organizations in the rest of the world? "It is up to speed, and in some ways it is far ahead," replies Paran.
There's nothing fishy about it. Israeli Prof. Yonathan Zohar has spent a lifetime researching fish production and has a solution that might stop the world's dramatic decline in fisheries. Hip "green" environmentalists and sushi lovers will like it too.
Zohar has created fish farms for the urban environment. His special self-contained fish pools can be built close to fresh food markets, in city warehouses and even in your condominium.
"It is clear that the consumption of seafood and fish is on the rise, because of the great health benefits... but now we are over-harvesting," warns Zohar, director of the Center of Marine Biotechnology at the University of Maryland. "We need to change that practice and become more efficient in a way that is compatible to the earth."
Zohar, who was born in Jerusalem and is a graduate of Hebrew University, thinks his solution is ideal. In the basement of the center in Baltimore, he has built a series of high-tech fish pools. They are filled with freshwater from the tap, and have been adjusted with salts and buffers to mimic the marine environment.
Using advanced concepts of microbiology, Zohar has entrained special microbes to live in symbiosis with the fish in order to digest their waste. Aerated by plastic plugs that house the microbes, the fish pools are bio-secure and contaminant free, according to Zohar.
In addition, part of the solid waste that is created by uneaten food or microbial byproducts is converted into methane and used as biofuel, says Zohar. This is significant. Zohar was one of the original team to develop the technology of fish farming in floating cages at sea in Israel.
These cages have become deeply controversial because the waste created by the farmed fish pollutes the surrounding seawater. In addition, the waters where the fish are raised are often heavily polluted with heavy metals such as mercury, leading to problems such as the recent toxic sushi scare in the US.
"I am trying to develop the next generation technology, to address cages and nets in light of environmental concerns," he says. "It is clear we are over-harvesting the ocean and running out of fish. We've focused on an alternative land-based method that can be used in the urban environment."
The urban fish pools, each about the size of a children's pool with higher walls and a roof, can be put into operation anywhere Zohar stresses. "They can be placed in the mid-West or in Las Vegas," he says.
These urban fish pools certainly address the problem of declining fish populations. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization, about 75 percent of the world's commercially fished species are either depleted, overfished or fully fished. If current trends continue, the fisheries will collapse by 2050.
The pools can also address another environmental issue - our carbon footprint - how far food needs to travel before it arrives at the dinner table. Eating locally is becoming not only fashionable in the United States; some people consider it to be more important than eating organic.
Zohar is now looking for an investor to build a pilot plant. But the idea is not a dream - a prototype, replete with living fish, now resides in Baltimore. There, he is growing Mediterranean gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata), also known as dorade royale, or aurata.
And the taste? "Our fish were tested by local seafood restaurants and were highly praised for their taste, texture and freshness," says Zohar. "We are currently shifting our focus to additional high value marine fish, to include the European seabass (bronzini) and cobia."
Late in 1945, two brothers serving abroad in different branches of the armed forces accidentally met up on the island of Saipan in the Pacific. Dreaming of home and a future after the War, Irving and Morton Shapiro began discussing possibilities for a family-run business to call their own. Irving, the oldest Shapiro brother, had worked part-time for the Standard Paper Company before going of to war, and knew a great deal about the paper business. Before leaving Saipan for their respective duties, the Shapiro brothers made a pact that, should they both return safely home, they would begin their own paper company.
Fate was kind to the Shapiros, and in June of 1946 the Mansfield Paper Company began to take shape. Now the largest distributor of its kind in the western Massachusetts-northern Connecticut region.
Fate was kind to the Shapiros, and in June of 1946 the Mansfield Paper Company began to take shape. Now the largest distributor of its kind in the western Massachusetts-northern Connecticut region, the Mansfield Paper Company is continually "Greening" their practices and their products to continue serving their clientele with worldly vision and family service. They proudly sell biodegradable, compostable and recyclable paper products including cups, containers, and cutlery, among others. These products are made from a variety of sustainable and eco-friendly materials, including corn, potatoes, and even bamboo.
For more options in Green paper products made from renewable resources, check out www.mansfieldpaper.com/ for both family and business use. "As consumers are increasingly committed to protecting their environment," Mansfield Paper Company's website informs, "the demand for biodegradable materials will increase. Retailers who use environmentally friendly products will distinguish themselves from their competitors." And speaking of distinguish, Mansfield also offers custom-printing services to put your environmentally-conscious company's logo on Mansfield Paper Company quality products-a surefire strategy for Business, Consumer, and most importantly, Mother Earth.
For more information on Mansfield Paper Company, visit their website at www.mansfieldpaper.comor stop by and visit them at the Waste Management Inc. sponsored Going Green Expo in Boston. The event will be held on February 2nd and 3rd at the Bayside Expo Center, and will be the third green event of its kind hosted by Going Green Magazine. With hundreds of Green exhibitors and dozens of Green workshops, the Boston expo promises to attract an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 consumers.
For more information on Going Green Energy & Living Expos visit www.goinggreenexpos.com or call: 603-491-6177.
Sponsors of the Boston show are still signing on and include Waste Management, groSolar, Andersen Renewal, Boston Green Realty, Ben & Jerry's, and Dragin Geothermal. Collaborating Partners are the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, MyEnergyStar, EPA Region 1, and Event Video Productions. Media Partners for the Expo include the Boston Phoenix Media Group, WFX Radio, the River, WCRB Classical, The Frank, and WOKQ. For an up-to-date listing of Sponsors and Exhibitors for the Boston Expo go to www.GoingGreenExpos/BostonSponsors.html
Israel's Nirosoft puts the sweet back into drinking water
By Sharon Kanon January 28, 2008
Antarctica is the highest, coldest, windiest, driest continent on earth. The harshly beautiful landscape - covered with ice in the winter, becomes a Martian desert in the summer with ice caps on the horizon.
Nirosoft's mobile desalination unit arrives in the Maldives in the wake of the devastating 2004 tsunami.
Penguins in the Antarctica don't worry about drinking water, but it is a necessity for the scientists studying the ebb of glaciers, temperature changes, marine life, and collecting geological samples. Their work has become critical as Antarctica provides an early warning of the "greenhouse effect."
Every year Australia has had to solve the problem of safe drinking water for the swelling team of investigators at its Antarctic Research Stations. This year, it has turned to Nirosoft Water Industries, an experienced Israeli company, to provide drinking water for its expanding expedition in Davis.
"Desalination is cheaper than melting ice," said Mino Negrin, managing director and founder of Nirosoft, which simulated the environment at the Davis Station in its R&D labs.
The company's self-contained desalination unit provides up to 100,000 liters a day of purified, desalinated water. Its Lego-like portability makes it easy to ship by air. "We can produce drinking water from almost any source - sea water, rivers and lakes, brackish groundwater, estuaries and lagoons," said Negrin, who hopes to visit the Antarctic Station sometime this year.
This is not the first time that Australia has used Nirosoft's technology. The Australian Defense Forces, alongside the Belgian and US forces, have been using Nirosoft technology in remote locations for years. Australia has also bought Nirosoft's RO (reverse osmosis) purification systems for production of drinking water from brackish groundwater for remote Aboriginal communities.
Nirosoft has been at the forefront of water purification for many years. After the tsunami in South East Asia in 2004, UNICEF asked the company to supply drinking water to people living in the Maldives, which was badly hit by the disaster.
"Huge waves had destroyed wells for drinking water on the islands," Negrin told ISRAEL21c. "In record time, we sent out 10 mobile units to desalinate the water. These units are still working," he added, showing a video clip of a mobile water purification unit (with the logos of UNICEF and Nirosoft prominently displayed) being taken off a barge on one of the exotic islands. "In fact, at the request of the government, we recently sent one of our technicians to do maintenance and training."
The UN (High Council for Refugees) also turned to the privately owned Karmiel-based company to supply drinking water to refugee camps in Kosovo and Albania. The company was also commissioned for relief projects in Latin America.
Lack of an energy source is not a constraint. The Israeli company has shipped containerized, self-powered units easily transported by small trucks, to supply drinking water to villages in disaster areas in Honduras, Guatemala and Colombia. Water produced meets the most stringent World Health Organization quality standards.
Two of the main advantages of the system are that use of chemicals is minimal, and operating costs are low. No wonder Negrin was sought out by Chinese television. China, with a thirsty population of over 1.3 billion, is facing a water crisis. The rollicking economy is a mixed blessing. Water pollution is rampant. Demand keeps rising as cities, agriculture, and industry compete for diminishing supplies. "We are already selling our products in China," said Negrin, who sees a big market for Nirosoft in China. "Our products are needed to help solve China's severe water problems."
Nirosoft's high tech products use UF (ultra filtration), RO (reverse osmosis), and nano-filtration, as well as ion exchange, and membrane bio-reactors (MBR) for heavily loaded industrial and domestic waste streams. Industrial wastewater treatment is a rapidly growing segment of the business. Increasingly stringent environmental regulations have increased demand by industry. Culprits are the paper industry, chemicals, electronics, metal, printing, and even the food industry. Cosmetics and chocolates would seem to be innocent products, but even they require wastewater treatment.
Nirosoft offers tailor-made solutions for each installation. Minimal use of chemicals and a high level of automation and control are major benefits it offers.
The company has also developed advanced innovative technology and processes in response to the increasing demand for ultra-pure water (UPW) by the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, as well as medical and research laboratories, the food supplement industry, microprocessor and electronic components manufacturers.
Another growing segment is effluent (sludge) reclamation by membrane separation. Treated municipal sewage can yield water that is used for irrigation of vineyards and vegetables. Recycling of as much as 50 percent of wastewater from textile dye production is an achievement. Excess irrigation water in a hydroponic nursery is recycled with none of the nutrients lost.
"Our goal is green, environmentally-friendly, technology," said Negrin. The enterprising managing director of Nirosoft, came to Israel in 1981, after graduation from high school in Milan, Italy. He served in the Israeli Army, and then went to the Technion Israel Institute of Science where he majored in industrial engineering and management.
"My father had been in commerce in Milan. In the late '80s, he identified the issue of water. 'Water is the future. We can do something good for the world.'" The Negrins had a house with a two-car garage in Haifa. "We took out the cars and started the business in the garage," said Mino Negrin.
Nirosoft was officially established in 1990. The company's offices, R&D, and manufacturing plant are now nestled in the green hills of the Galilee. "We have 40 designers and engineers in Israel, and also offices in Italy." The family business has one outside investor. "Ronald Lauder invested in the company in 2004. We are now a two-family business," said Negrin.
"Water scarcity is a global problem. There is not enough water in the rivers. The sea is the only other fresh water. We are constantly improving our technology," said Negrin. And expanding markets: Sales are expected to double next year.
Investors view the environment as a major long-term investing opportunity, according to the results of a survey of investors released by Allianz Global Investors, a global investment firm.
Of the 1,003 investors surveyed, nearly half (49%) said that over the next 12 months they were likely to invest in a company or mutual fund looking to provide solutions for environmental problems; 17% reported having already made such an investment.
“The environment is a fertile investment area at an early stage of growth,” said Bozena Jankowska, lead portfolio manager of the Allianz RCM Global EcoTrends Fund, a continuously offered closed-end interval fund, and head of the RCM Sustainability Research Team. “It is one of the few sectors where the public and politicians are in alignment and inclined to act. As popular sentiment grows and legislation continues to tighten, technological innovation will accelerate, laying the groundwork for great investment opportunities.”
The poll of 1,003 adults examined investors’ understanding of and attitudes toward the environment, absolutely and with specific regard to investing. The poll was conducted via the Internet between December 14 and December 20, 2007 by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media, a division of GfK Custom Research North America. Participants had to be age 25 or older and have primary or shared responsibility for investment decisions in households with financial assets of at least $100,000. The sample was weighted to match the characteristics of the total online population in terms of gender, age, and region, according to the U.S. Census.
Green is the New Black
Better than seven in 10 investors (71%) deemed environmental technology a “buy”, the most desirable sector of the six surveyed.3 More than half (54%) said that environmental investing will be an “important focus” for them in the future.
“Protecting the environment is a social and political imperative, and, increasingly, an investing priority as well,” Jankowska said. “Our research shows that investors understand that significant environmental issues represent potential lucrative opportunities for businesses endeavoring to bring real solutions to a global market.”
Investors expressed strong familiarity with environmental issues. Seventy-three percent said they knew at least a fair amount about the Greenhouse Effect and 73% said they knew at least a fair amount about the Energy Star energy efficiency rating. That compares with 77% who said they knew at least a fair amount about mutual funds.
Seventy-one percent of respondents said environmental investments offered the potential for long-term capital growth. In terms of specific investment opportunities, 62% of investors said they consider solar energy a major investment opportunity. It was followed by wind power (57%), hybrid vehicles (53%), and water purification (50%). Ethanol (cited as a major opportunity by 37% of investors) and Eco-tourism (17%) were the least highly rated sectors.
“Environmental investing is not a passing fancy, but a substantial opportunity with real staying power,” Jankowska said. “As an investment, the environment has all the hallmarks of information technology in the early 90s – popular attention, robust demand, high innovation, abundant capital, an enduring need and rising valuations. We believe that we are in the early stages of a long-term secular up-cycle for environment-related companies.”
More at www.allianzinvestors.com
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Cities and companies in the US are concerned about energy usage. Not only does consuming excessive electricity to cover lighting costs for streetlights and stores, affect the bottom line, it also takes a toll on the environment.
Now Netanya-based company Metrolight has a "green" lighting solution that will be easier on the accounting books and also the earth. The company has engineered a lighting control system that prolongs the life of industrial high-intensity discharge (HID) lights, while making them more efficient at the same time.
HID lights are the most common type of lights used in city streetlights. They are also found in grocery stories and shopping malls. Brighter than fluorescent, HID lights suffer quickly from wear and tear, via an igniting and operating mechanism known as a ballast.
Through its flagship product, the Smart Electronic Ballast, Metrolight has developed a new kind of ballast that not only extends the life of the lamp, but which can make industrial lighting more efficient. Up to 65 percent more efficient, the company says.
Metrolight has been in the business since 1996, and after seeing the success of its product in the global marketplace, it now has a bold ambition of reducing America's (and the world's) total energy consumption by three percent. This equals the CO2 pollution emitted by 65 million cars, and millions - if not billions - of dollars in savings.
The company claims to have already saved its customers about $6.5 million.
"We are selling energy savings," says Metrolight's CTO Jonathan Hollander, who has helped develop the ballast. He explains that the traditional magnetic ballasts used in HID lights, quickly reduce the output of the light by about 50 percent. To compensate, as a rule, light designers install lights that are stronger than necessary.
This is wasteful, reasons Hollander. "Light designers know this and will overshoot," he tells ISRAEL21c.
To keep the HID light strong and long lasting, the core of Metrolight's solution is its ballast, which controls the light ignition process slowly, by not destroying the electrode, says Hollander. In technical-speak he says: "We operate the lamp with a high frequency regime."
According to a 2002 US Department of Energy report, lighting amounts to about 22 percent of all electricity used in America. Of that, HID lights account for 26 percent of lighting energy, or about six percent of the total energy used in lighting. If Metrolight can save up to 65 percent of six percent, the company estimates about three percent of America's total energy costs can be conserved.
Cities in the US are using the solution, so is the Tenafly Racquet Club in New Jersey and the Carlsberg beer factory in Israel. Metrolight reports that some 250 thousand ballasts have been installed in locations around the world.
"When we realized that what we do has the potential to save energy, this was something that we were excited about," says Hollander. "We want to save three percent of the world's energy. That is a huge amount of savings. We are concerned about the world we live in and try to minimize damage, and Metrolight is an effective way to do that."
I would like to suggest a new creation and trade name for part of the commercial area in Modiin-Maccabim-Reut. I suggest merging society’s need to promote employment together with preservation of the city’s environmental quality, and announce the establishment of:
“THE ISRAELI CLEAN-TECH CENTER”
Rationale & Vision
An employed resident who earns an honorable income can be free of worry about the environment. An unemployed resident who does not earn an honorable income cannot be free to worry about the environment. And therefore, it is clear to all of us that every resident needs help in finding work in general and preferably near his home in particular. There are many residents in Modiin-Maccabim-Reut who work in the field of high-tech and who, in order to earn a livelihood, must drive to other towns every day sometimes an hour and-a-half to two hours away in each direction. Others are unemployed altogether and frequently leave the city due to lack of local work opportunities in his/her profession.
In my opinion, the solution lies in aggressive marketing in order to attract “clean-tech” entrepreneurs, industry and factories to operate in the municipal commercial area and establish “the Israeli Clean-Tech Center”.
Regrettably up until today, there have been no marketing efforts in this sphere, and most of those working in the high-tech industry opened plants, industry and businesses in cities adjacent to Modiin-Maccabim-Reut such as Lod, Airport City, the new Terminal Park located next to Airport City, Yehud, Or Yehuda, Jerusalem, Petach Tikvah, Herzliya, Kfar Saba, Caesaria and Raanana. These towns succeeded with high-tech industries due to effective marketing done and being done these days, while Modiin-Maccabim-Reut remains empty of factories, industry and businesses in the field. And this is a pity.
What is “Clean-Tech”?
“Clean-Tech” or in Hebrew, “Environmental Technology Industry” are new technologies or products aimed at significantly reducing polluting emissions affecting the environment, or considerably purifying the environment from pollutants directly or indirectly. Clean-tech industry comprises those dealing with advanced and alternative energies which develop products that will provide the world with cleaner air, better quality industries for water purification, industries that provide sure-standing solutions such as solar energy from the sun, bio-energy industries, clean fuels, recycling plants, green chemicals industry, advanced agriculture, the field of water desalinization, non-polluting transport, biological alternatives for chemicals, biological fuels, polluting emissions treatment, green construction, proper irrigation, and more. It is estimated that in the past year, there were more than 200 issues on major world stock markets of companies that deal with clean-tech technologies! Major financial bodies have also entered the field of a healthy future. Ben Gurion University of the Negev is leading a variety of clean-tech research studies in Israel. Clean-tech is flourishing immensely. During 2006, there were 290 companies in the field, and another 400 were added in 2007. This industry is advancing at a spectacular rate.
The clean-tech industry is filled with challenges due to global warming, increased air pollution, lack of alternative fuels, and erosion of the earth’s natural resources. Clean-tech has attained high acclaim and support, even the State (the regulator) encourages its growth and companies and financial institutions are interested in investing in it.
Why is it worthwhile to establish clean-tech in Modiin’s business zone? TABA (land allocation registry) permits 4 types of activity in the commercial zone of Modiin-Maccabim-Reut, which covers an area of 1.5 million sq.m: high-tech industry, service centers (such as storage), offices and commerce.
Recently, a number of manufacturers arrived in the business area and established “service centers”. In my opinion, they will in fact set up huge storehouses for commercial purposes, and selected Modiin’s business area because of its attractive location in the center of the country, which is accessible to Highway 1, Route 443, Road 6 and Ben Gurion Airport, with access to the railway with lines from the south to Nahariya in the north, and more. While it is important that these warehouses are located here, I feel that they will not bring employment to the city’s residents, except for a small number of laborers. It is good to bring these businesses to the city, but in the right quantity, so that the increase in the number of storehouses will not in the end transform the area into one huge storage depot, whose activities will defer any attempt to call the area a high-tech or clean-tech center. One of the characteristics of high-tech industry is the concentration of production plants and entrepreneurs into one crowded area, but when many trucks pass through the area every day on their way to service centers – there will be a drop in scientific industries coming to the area. Therefore, I feel that we are at the 89th minute, when we have to designate and name part of the business area for high-tech industry, and part for “the Israeli Clean-Tech Center”, a move which will attract many businesses in the field to come to the area where many clean-tech industries are situated.
Modiin is an ideal location for the “Israeli Clean-Tech Center” due to the following facts: 1. Modiin-Maccabim-Reut was declared as Israel’s capital of environmental quality by the mayor and this designation matches the vision to establish clean-tech employment. 2. The city is a leader in many environmental issues such as the establishment of a recycling plant for construction debris, broad environmental education activities, underground communication and electrical cables, and more. 3. Many city residents have a high appreciation of the environment. 4. The existence of stringent environmental regulations regarding the opening of new businesses or factories within city limits. 5. The business zone is surrounded by open spaces, with the Ben Shemen Forest along the northern and western edges. 6. There is efficient and convenient access for vehicles to the business area. 7. The city has a human element that is interested in being employed close to home in the field of high-tech and clean-tech (the last survey conducted by the high-tech forum in Modiin showed that there are over 4000 residents in the city who work in high-tech!)
This, in my opinion, is a classic case of win-win where everybody gains: clean-tech industries will open factories and businesses in the commercial zone of Modiin-Maccabim-Reut, the clean-tech industry branch will be advanced to benefit the Israeli market, many city residents will earn their living there, the city will profit from commercial activity and municipal taxes - in short: employment and income on the one hand, and preservation of the environment on the other!
How can the vision of “Israeli Clean-Tech Center” be advanced? In order to promote the issue, I plan to meet shortly with the projects manager that the city employs in order to promote the business sector, Mr. Gabi Valikson, and interest him in my dream of establishing the “Israeli Clean-Tech Center”. In addition, I plan to meet with Prof. Shemansky and Tamir Ben Shachar who are preparing a strategy plan for the municipality to promote the business zone.
Two months ago, I met with Ms. Chen Altschuler, Managing Director and owner of the venture capital company Altschuler-Shacham, which invests in clean-tech industries such as the green hothouse in Haifa. Ms. Altschuler expressed great interest in helping to advance initiatives in the field of clean-tech in Modiin, and will assist in promoting the dream of an “Israeli Clean-Tech Center”.
I also met with Ms. Clara Oren, Managing Director of “the green hothouse” which was established in Haifa. I asked her to consider establishing another green hothouse here in the “Israeli Clean-Tech Center in Modiin”, and I plan to meet with her again in order to assess this option.
About two months ago at the “Watek” exhibition that was organized by the Ministry of Environmental Protection about water and environmental technology, I met with Mr. Nir Kedmi, head of the Economic Branch in the Ministry of Environmental Protection, which promotes governmental policy concerning clean-tech (environmental technology). He told me that there is over $400 million waiting to be invested in clean-tech industries in Israel! I also met with Dr. Doron Lavi from the Parto Engineering Company Ltd, which is formulating national policy for the government to promote clean-tech (environmental technology). I plan to interest them in helping to establish the “Israeli Clean-Tech Center” in Modiin.
In addition, there are capital venture funds that are already raising capital for industry in this field such as the Oasis Company, Tamarix and Natchers and others whom we should approach and fast. These companies are in the midst of raising hundreds of millions of dollars for the clean-tech industry in Israel. We should hurry and not hesitate.
The European Union will be investing 32 billion euro in 2007-2013 to promote global clean-tech technology. Even Sherri Arison has established an investment fund for this purpose. Recently, I met with a number of city residents who work in the field and who are interested in helping to promote the idea. These residents claim to have connections with companies in Italy and other places that have shown an interest in investing in a special center for clean-tech industry. In addition, representatives for two Canadian Funds - SDTC (sustainable development technology Canada) - arrived in Israel to assess investment possibilities in clean-tech at the level of 2 billion dollars! The Brazilian company Petrobras is also evaluating investing in the area of clean-tech in Israel.
In my opinion, “clean-tech” is the future of Modiin.
Continuation of the Vision to Promote Employment in Modiin-Maccabim-Reut and Preservation of the Environment I am interested in establishing a green hothouse in the Israeli Clean-Tech Center in Modiin which will help senior scientists in the Ministry of Environmental Protection and me to nurture clean-tech start-up companies on their way.
I plan to host the “Annual Israeli Clean-Tech Conference” every year in the new Cultural Center in Modiin where entrepreneurs, industrialists, hothouse technologies and so on will participate in a workshop to advance the issue in the city in particular, and in Israel in general.
I plan to organize at the same time an annual “Clean-Tech Employment Fair” where residents can seek employment in their field and even in industries that will be established in Modiin.
I suggest that the future “Israeli Clean-Tech Center” in Modiin will be built according to “green construction” standards and “green materials”. It is vital that factories only use green solar energy, use and apply green treatment to sewage and garbage, acquire alternative power and fuel sources, use biological chemicals to tend municipal gardens, recycled water, use of recycling devices and so on. The business zone will operate in the spirit of “clean-tech”.
I suggest that investors be encouraged to establish industries with municipal assurance to use their products by return from these companies which will manufacture them according to clean-tech technology, garbage treatment, water treatment and so on.
I suggest a budget be allocated towards a “Start-Up Fund” in order to encourage investors to come and invest in the Clean-Tech area in Modiin.
A building that will be used as “a technological green hothouse in Modiin” should be considered.
To summarize:
In my opinion, Modiin-Maccabim-Reut can fill a unique niche as the leading clean-tech industrial entity in Israel and will lead the country in this realm.
Due to city residents complaining of burning in the eyes and smoke in the evenings at the Shimsony and Tzsipor neighborhoods'
I wrote to the army and to the people in charge to deal with the issue since it occurs over the green line where we have no jurisdiction:
For about the past three months, residents of Modiin-Maccabim-Reut have been engulfed by unpleasant and acrid fumes every night. Many residents have complained about burning eyes and nausea.
The sources of burning tires were identified from the Arab villages in Judea & Samaria adjacent to Modiin-Maccabim-Reut, as well as from pirate garbage dumps in the area of the Arab village of Naalin, near Kiryat Sefer and Hashmonaim. Each night, one can see a landscape of huge illegal bonfires of burning garbage from the Naalin road.
Residents of the area, instead of dumping their garbage in an approved dumping site, burn the garbage close to the road to the village of Naalin, including materials that are forbidden to burn such as batteries, chemical substances, nylon sheeting, etc. The terrible fumes and smoke that erupt every night from the garbage heaps, are borne by wind to the settlements of Kiryat Sefer, Hashmonaim, and Modiin-Maccabim-Reut.
Recently, I also learned that Israeli trucks pass by the checkpoint and arrive at these garbage dumps in order to save on the cost of dumping their garbage at approved Israeli dumping centers which apparently charge more than dumping at Naalin.
My recommendation is to implement a number of steps which will help in curbing this situation:
Send clear instructions to soldiers at the checkpoints on the road to Naalin, not to allow the passage of Israeli garbage trucks to these dumping sites.
These dumping sites should be closed by the army, and garbage redirected to legal dumping sites. To remind you: In addition to the high air pollution that both Arab and Jewish residents alike suffer from, garbage that is not properly treated has severe detrimental effects on the environment, such as seepage of toxic substances into the nearby water aquifer, passage of pesticides and dangerous chemicals are transported via birds to Israeli agricultural fields, and so on. When uncontrolled burning of garbage takes place, hydrogen sulphate and dioxides escape into the air, which are very dangerous to human breathing.
In this way, I hope that relief will come to residents in the Israeli sector who can breathe cleaner air again.
Yours sincerely, Alex Weinreb Deputy Mayor Modiin-Maccabim-Reut
Cc: MK Gidon Ezra, Minister of Environmental Protection MK Dov Hanin Attorney Tzippi Issar-Itzik, Director General, ?Adam, Teva v?Din? Ms. Alona Shefer, Director General, Life and Environment
(IsraelNN.com) Residents of the northern town of Meron were horrified to find that one of the largest and oldest oak trees in the region had been cut down Monday night – on Tu B’Shvat, the Jewish New Year for trees.
The oak tree, which is along the path to Mitzpeh Harashim, had been damaged in the past and was being rehabilitated by park rangers and tree doctors.
Local Galilee Arabs have been known to start forest fires and cut tress down illegally for firewood.
The Green Prophet is a green lifestyle blog dedicated to promoting an environmentally-sound future for Israel and beyond.
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