Reusing an abandoned movie theater as an art exhibition space?  There’s an idea.

An idea conjured up by the Inspire Collective, an inspiring group of artists who describe themselves like this:

“We’re a small group of full time public artists now (for the last seven years) working with a wide variety of mediums and organize global public art exhibitions, etc…an inspired art/activist collective in the middle east working for a positive social climate by underemphasis of politics, economy, and dogma thru the overemphasis of art, creativity, and the dynamics human spirit that refuses to submit to oppression.   We are people who know that cooperation is magic…

Since the formation of the ubiquitous INSPIRE Collective (in W.Jerusalem / 2003), we have helped over 700 independent artists from around the world to exhibit their works here in the middle east.”

Their latest project was ReUse 3, an art exhibition that took place last night and transformed an abandoned movie theater on Pinsker Street in Tel Aviv into an exhibition space to temporarily house the works of 150 local and international artists.

Inspire Collective explains the mission of the exhibition as follows: “On November 19th; ART WILL SERVE A SOCIAL CAUSE, INDEED: whether we like it or not, abandoned and neglected spaces are a global bi-product of industrial abuse. Due to the wasteful nature of capitalist ideologies, “real world” problems, like “homelessness”, “poverty”, and “social alienation” never seem to get solved, yet rethinking and reusing these neglected and abandoned spaces within our own communities can help to ease these “societal ills”…  Reusing these public spaces causes us to perceive these spaces without economic glasses; it helps us to see thru a more social lens & potentially reverse the process of these problems around the world…”

Check out some cool images from the exhibition on Inspire Collective’s flickr page.

Read about art exhibitions with an environmental focus::

White Trash, An Ecological Group Exhibition, Opens in Tel Aviv Next Week

Environmentally Focused Art at the “Farm Gallery” in Holon

ReUse: An Evening of Eco-Art in Central Jerusalem

Appearing on CNBC, serial entrepreneur Jon Medved mentions the thousand or so clean tech start-ups in Israel. He’s also talking about the tried tested and true clean tech companies: In geothermal energy, the largest in the world is Israel’s Ormat (ORA) which trades on the NASDAQ.

Medved discusses the solar companies Solel and BrightSource. Solel has been operating plants in America for 30 years. These two companies are now neck in neck, looking to provide power for 2.5 million homes in California.

Medved also talks about the Ashkelon’s IDE which builds desalination plants in 35 countries around the world. He also touches on irrigation, and Shai Agassi’s Better Place.

Imagine being able to detect leaks and water pipes and create hydro-electric power at the same time. Two Israeli companies, Arad Technologies  and Leviathan Energy  appear to have done this, and the result is not only the saving of millions of gallons of lost water by finding leaks in water piping, but in creating hydro-electricity from water flow pressure in the pipes at the same time.

Founded in 2000,  and covered by Ari Rabinovich in Reuters,  Arad Technologies, part of the Arad Group, was created by two large agricultural Kibbutzim to find a solution to chronic water loses from leaking pipes and water mains.

Arad came up with the idea to  monitor water leakage loss,  from water mains by having small pilot-less drone aircraft fly about 900 meters (2,800 ft) above the group and pick up water leakage signals instantaneously from small transmitters installed in the meters of water pipes that detect water leakage.

This system has proven to be much more accurate than detectors installed in vehicles which only pick up the signals from the water meter transmitters hours later, resulting in substantial water loss.

The signals can be picked up from the small, 1 kg drones flying up to a mile away from where the signal is being sent. The leakage information is then transferred to the repair departments of both private and public water companies, who send a crew out to repair the leak.  

Arad Technologies also manufactures water meters equipped with these special transmitters and recently sold more than $100 million  in water meters worldwide, and finalized a contract to supply the Indian City of Mumbai with these water meters by the year 2012. These meters, combined with Arad’s “fly-by monitoring technology” is helping to save millions of gallons of lost water by discovering and repairing water pipe seepage in shorter periods of time.

Leviathan Energy, a company specializing in creating energy from hydro, wind and wave energy sources, has capitalized on creating electricity from water pressure present inside water meters such as the ones manufactured by Arad Technologies.

The company has only been operating since 2006, yet its innovations and products are already very much in demand in Africa, Europe, and Asia, especially its unique Bekatina hydroelectric turbine that contains a miniature turbine whose spinning motions created by the fast flowing water can generate up to 1 kw of electricity from  water flowing through a 10 cm or 4 inch pipe.

The turbine generators can be used with piping carrying various kinds of liquids, including fresh and waste water, rain water and industrial run-off, and water flowing through drainage canals.

The national Israeli water company, Mekorot, has expressed interested in Leviathan’s pipe turbines, and is currently conducting a test on a system installed in a water pumping station outside of Jerusalem.

 According to Leviathan’s Chief Operations Officer, Gadi Hareli, the turbine system will cost around $2,000 per kilowatt of electricity generated.

This amount will vary, depending on the width of the water piping that the installation will be using. Hareli believes that the system will work very well in large factories that have a lot of piping, with the electricity generated being utilized by the factory or sold back to Israel’s national electricity grid.

Another Leviathan Energy product, a unique wind turbine called the Wind Lotus, was demonstrated last February at the 2009 Eilat Renewable Energy Conference.

Judging from the favorable response that both Arad Technologies and Leviathan Energy have received on their products so far, it is evident that Israeli companies are coming up with innovations that not only help preserve water but creates energy from it as well.

Photo: www.reuters.com

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger returned to Israel to sign a renewable energy R&D cooperation agreement with the Israeli government and the fifth annual WATEC international water exhibition kicked off in Tel Aviv. For these stories and the rest of the nine headlines from the past week, check below.

Water
Deep sea aquaculture startup prepares for harvest
WATEC comes to town
Brazil to learn water saving from Israel for Rio 2016
Mekorot officials: Not enough funding for water purification projects

Industry
Jewish Israelis and Jewish Americans Look to US-Israel Cooperation To Break Oil Dependence
Israel Going Green
Yissum Introduces a Novel, Environmentally-Friendly Method for Preventing and Affecting Biofilm of Bacteria and Fungi
UNEP Europe head ponders Israel’s ’solar paradox’

Partnerships
California’s Governator In Israel To Sign Clean Tech Co-op Deal

The most amazing thing about chronicling Israel’s high-tech industry, Singer tells ISRAEL21c, is that no-one has done it before. In the book, he and Senor explore how a small country of only 7.1 million people – a nation in a constant state of war and with no natural resources – has carved out a lucrative niche for itself in high-tech on a par in scale and calibre with America’s top companies.

Tom Brokaw from NBC News has praised the book, as has the president of eBay. When ISRAEL21c was interviewing Singer and Senor, the two were busy wrapping up an article on Start-Up Nation with Bloomberg News. This followed a very successful placement on the Meet the Press TV show in the US, where Senor was recently featured.

The authors contend that as they examine the world’s most dynamic “start-up nation,” their book is not only an exposé of historical and business facts, but portrays Israel as a model for individuals and nations seeking to build their own enterprises and boost their economic confidence.

Natural risk-takers and entrepreneurs

Why Israeli high-tech and why now? “We were interested in this topic,” Singer says. “What’s going on in Israel – there is such an amazing amount of innovation and startups – and we started asking ourselves, there must be a book about this.”

A wide search turned up only quasi-academic books, so the two decided to take up the challenge: “And what we tried to do is not just the lay-out – not just a profile of different companies, by sectors – we started to describe the extent of Israeli success. We knew it was strong, but we didn’t know how strong.”

The trickier part was teasing out the ingredients in “Israel’s secret sauce,” which Singer is more than happy to reveal: It’s partly derived from the military of course, “but not just the parts that people have looked at.”

It’s also the result of ’spin-offs’ of military R&D and the companies created by Israeli engineers who have passed through the special military tech program. (Read how Israel’s military translates to clean tech). More than that, however, the military in Israel “promotes innovation and entrepreneurship,” says Singer, adding, “It’s a country of immigrants who by nature are natural risk-takers and entrepreneurs.”

And Senor adds that, “While there has been a burst of clean-tech ventures in Israel, most exciting to us are the companies and sectors that one would least likely expect in Israel – from a world-class digital animation studio in Jerusalem to a next-generation asset management industry in Tel Aviv

Start-up by definition

The two are also looking into ways for carbon capture –a method which proposes to suck up and store greenhouse gas emissions.

Although many of the chemicals produced by the American chemical giant are used in the petroleum distilling and petrochemical industries, with much of the company’s “raw material” is coming from Saudi Arabia.

Both Dow executives and the Saudi Arabian government know they need to become involved in projects that are  more environmentally friendly; especially in the energy market.

KAUST is a new graduate level academic institution that just opened its doors in September, and whose campus has been designed to be more eco-sustainable and better adapted to being located in the harsh, hot climate of the Arabia Peninsula.

Read a previous Green Prophet article about its unique architectural and environmentally friendly designs.

In addition to the joint chemical derivatives projects, Dow also plans to explore being involved in ecological projects which will be carried out at KAUST’s Research Park and Innovations Cluster. Some of these projects include CO2 capture, enhanced oil recovery, water desalination, solar energy and wind energy.

CO2 capture and storage or CCS, sequesters carbon dioxide gas that is present during the petroleum distillation process to prevent it from escaping into the atmosphere and contributing to global warming.

Dow for its part, appears to be getting more involved in areas dealing with the environment and the company’s social responsibility towards helping the planet after so many years of being heavily connected with the petroleum industry and its effect on the world environment.

Trying to find solutions to the water resource problems that many countries face, including Saudi Arabia, is now an important part of Dow’s environmental responsibility goals. Dow was part of August’s World Water Week, held in Stockholm, where delegates from nations all over the world met to explore ways in which  countries can work together to find solutions to preserving present fresh water resources, recycling waste water, and producing fresh water from desalination and other means.

For its part, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia now has what is said to be the world’s largest desalination plant and is now able to produce 70% of its fresh water from reverse osmosis and other methods of desalination.

These will be some of the projects that both Dow and KAUST research teams will be jointly involved in within the framework of this agreement, as well as the chemical derivatives research, which hopefully will not be dedicated to the long term continuation and dependence on fossil fuels.

“I promised I would travel the world to sell California and find employers to provide new jobs for Californians,” Schwarzenegger told a group of more than 200 Israeli and American business leaders, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs at the Tel Aviv Hilton.

He’s baaaaack. Globes reports that the former Terminator movie actor lovingly known as The Governator is due to sign a renewable energy cooperation deal with Israel’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Benjamin Ben-Eliezer.

Flying in on his private jet, Schwarzenegger is signing the cooperation agreement to promote Israel-California strategic R&D in renewable energy and environmental technologies by establishing joint ventures between Israeli renewable energy companies and municipal authorities in California.

The agreement will also boost mutual investment, and foster research collaboration, Globes reports. Specifics and terms of the agreement were not revealed.

The Governator is in Israel as part of the prestigious Saban Forum happening on Saturday in Jerusalem along with former US president Bill Clinton. They will join senior Israeli officials to talk about US-Israeli relations and Middle East policy, as well as environment technologies. Palestinian concerns will be part of the forum; the entourage will travel to Ramallah on Sunday to meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

Israeli participants in the forum include some of the country’s most prominent leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Opposition leader Tzipi Livni, Military Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin, Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin and Governor of the Bank of Israel, Stanley Fischer.

The Saban Forum is the initiative of Israeli-American communications tycoon Haim Saban, who founded the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institute in Washington.

The State of California has shown its leadership in America for its policy and desire to get off oil – for environmental and security reasons.

At the meeting Ben-Eliezer said, “This important agreement can boost research by these two sun-drenched states, and facilitate cooperation between researchers and industrialists on both sides. Both states are well-known worldwide as having strong renewable energy capabilities, which is why this agreement is important and desirable. This is a specialized agreement in renewable energy with an important economy, such as California, which is an important center of technology in the world.”

US-Israeli trade in 2009 totalled $17 billion from January-September 2009, including $12 billion in Israeli exports to the US, and $5 billion in imports, reports Globes.

Read more on clean tech co-op between Israel and California:
Top California Investors Visit Israel’s Clean Tech Sector
California’s PG&E Signs Historic Deal With Israel’s BrightSource
Jewish Clean Tech Conference in San Francisco
NewDealDesign Develops Charge Stations for Better Place

Located on a hillside above the predominantly Christian city of Jounieh,  the more than 1,000 year old forest had been threatened by real estate developers and construction contractors who wanted to include the area in a series of holiday resort developments that included a cable car (pictured above), restaurants and night clubs, and a large casino. But it’s thanks to the work of a church that generations in the future will get to experience this natural treasure.

Unique in both its flora and fauna, the Harissa Forest, despite its small land area, contains more than 27 endangered and 52 rare plant species, as well as 168 species of animals, 152 types of butterflies and 69 species of birds.

Most, it not all of this national treasure might have been destroyed or severely altered, had not the Maronite Church stepped in and declared the forest to be the word’s first “Maronite Protected Environment”. The Maronite Church, an eastern branch of the Catholic Church, is one of the oldest Christian sects and has been in existence since Roman times.

It owns considerable property in Lebanon, including a good portion of the Harissa Forest itself. Due to concern out of seeing this lovely natural heritage fall victim to commercial interests, the Church leaders in Lebanon, led by the Maronite Patriarch himself,  Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir decided to declare the forest to be a natural reserve and as such would be afforded the Church’s protection.

The Maronite Church has also become involved in helping to preserve other natural locations in Lebanon and has opened an ecology center, as well as sponsoring environmental education and action programs in more than 75 villages and towns.

The church’s actions involving preserving the environment has resulted in its being considered as one of the main environmental protectors in Lebanon, according to Martin Palmer, Chief Administrator of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation(ARC) .

The Harrisa forest is just one of Lebanon’s natural sites mentioned by Green Prophet. A previous article noted work being done by activists to save the country’s historic cedars in the Chouf  Cedars Forest, Lebanon’s largest cedar grove, from the ravages of climate change.

Another article noted efforts being made to combat forest and brush fires, which last summer alone damaged more than 15 million square meters of forest and brush land.

By being active in environmental and ecological projects in Lebanon, the Maronite Church, the country’s largest Christian sect, can be great influence on helping to preserve some of the oldest and most historic forest areas in the Eastern Mediterranean. They can set an example for the rest of the Middle East to follow.

Photo: www.karimsalha.com

It all sounds very grandiose and really too good to be true, but a number of  Persian Gulf states, including Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain and Qatar are hoping to be able to satisfy a good portion of their massive energy needs through alternative and renewable energy sources, instead of relying mostly on oil.

In a part of the world that experiences some of the hottest summer temperatures, averaging above 44 degrees Celsius during at least 4 months of the year; and whose energy growth use is growing by more than 10% per annum, these countries have their work cut out for them to be able to realize 70% of their total energy needs  from alterntive and renewable energy by the year 2030.

By trying they definitely are, and with unique sustainable environment projects like Abu Dhabi’s zero-carbon Masdar City and Qatar’s carbon-neutral Energy City being able to produce a good part of their required energy needs may not be as far fetched as it seems.

In the two noted examples, both Abu Dhabi and Qatar plan to us a combination of renewable energy power sources to provide electricity and other energy needs for these pilot projects which will be the basis for the gradual switching from conventional power sources to those such as solar energy and wind power, geothermal and hydrogen (which also can be used to power cars and other vehicles).

In regards to geothermal power which utilizes energy from volcanoes and hot springs, and is now said to be more economical than either coal or natural gas, the UAE and other Gulf States may find it worthwhile to do business with an Israeli company, Ormat Industries, which is now said to be involved in a large geothermal energy project in Indonesia.

Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim country and one that does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. If Indonesia can do business with an Israeli company like Ormat (which is also involved in solar energy projects), so can countries like Abu Dhabi and Qatar.

In order to generate more interest in renewable and alternative energy projects in the UAE and other Gulf states, various international conferences and exhibitions are being held there, including the Alter Energy 09 Convention, recently held last month at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Center , with the theme of developing and implementing alternative and renewable energy to reduce dependence on conventional energy sources.

And then there is the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi,   in January 2010, that will feature the concept of environmentally sustainable “eco-cites” of which Masdar City will be one of when completed.

Fortunately for these Gulf countries, most of them have enough remaining oil wealth to finance these projects without having to apply for crippling loans from the World Bank (whose theme is a “world free of poverty”) or other financial institutions.

These countries are also acutely aware that they need to wean themselves off dependence on petroleum for both their livelihood and primary energy source;  for they are aware of the reality that in regards to oil, it won’t last forever.

Photo via Financial Times:  www.ft.com

Baha’i, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Shintoists, Taoists and Sikhs all gathered at London’s Windsor Castle with a united environmental agenda. In an era of increasing religious divide, a once little thought of topic known as “the environment” was able to bring together ancient faith groups to discuss a modern solution.

And with Islam at the forefront of today’s news, Muslim leaders proved Islam’s ability to adapt and meet new needs.

Under the newfound coalition toward eco-commitment and a Muslim Seven Year Plan, Medina, Islam’s second most important city after Mecca, is to serve as a model green city.  This move is critical since Saudi Arabia is essentially, for better or worse, presently the pillar of the Arab nations.

Medina, “The City of the Prophet”, is a strategic start pointing that has the capacity to really launch a green campaign in neighboring territories.

The Seven Year Plan was presented by the Sheikh Ali Goma’a, Egypt’s Grand Mufti, who has already introduced the plan into his own city of Dar Al Iftaa.  Some key initiatives of the Seven Year Plan include:

• Develop and implement a “Green Hajj”.  With 2-3 million people visiting Mecca during Hajj alone, transforming the experience into an environmentally-friendly pilgrimage will reap immediate benefits.
• Construct a “green mosque” and introduce this model for other Islamic buildings worldwide.
• In the first phase, develop 2-3 green model cities; in the second phase, adapt ten other Muslim cities to implement the model.
• Integrate eco-awareness into Islamic education.
• Publish “green Qurans”, printed on paper procured from sustainable wood.
• Create a specialized TV channel focused on Islam and the environment.
• Create award and prize systems for excellence in this field.

The ultimate goal here, as with other faith groups, is to radically redefine faith-based relationships with the environment.  While the “greenie” movement is still seen as a secular front by a number of conservative groups, the world’s oldest religions with a following in the billions will be able to bring much needed attention and authority to an issue that has predated our recognition of it.

Faith groups also realize the inherent relationship they have with the environment.  Islam’s Sufi Muslims have long been known to have a deep reverence for nature.

However, despite regional shifts toward eco-awareness, ARC Secretary General Martin Palmer accurately points out the difficultly in Islamic groups face in changing what are essentially government policies.

As Palmer states, essentially Muslims groups will be “saying to Islamic governments that this is how you should act Islamically.”  Palmer also astutely notes that implementing green changes are possible if they can be proven to be Islamic in nature.  In anticipation of this obstacle, plans are in effect to functionally launce the Muslim Association for Climate Change Action (MACCA).

With 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide, the Seven Year Plan not only paves the way for increased interfaith cooperation, increased dialogue, but will also have a considerable environmental impact.  With faith as the new foundation of a green movement, critical eco-issues have a new audience and a new life force that has the potential to quickly propel the issue forward – providing not only increased awareness but effective and long lasting solutions to a growing number of environmental concerns.