By SHARON UDASIN 02/23/2012 04:35 Concentrated solar power facility launched by environment and infrastructure firm includes about 100 parabolic troughs. Environment and infrastructure firm Shikun u’Binui (Housing & Construction Holding Company) launched its solar thermal research and development facility in the Arava Desert on Wednesday, an experimental site that precedes a 120- megawatt commercial version […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 02/23/2012 04:22 OECD findings are front and center at Eilat-Eilot Forum for Renewable Energy Policy workshop. Hiking the Negev wilderness By Joe Yudin By establishing a cleantech “cluster” within its bounds, the Negev will simultaneously stimulate regional development as a whole, experts agreed during a workshop at the Eilat-Eilot Forum for Renewable […]

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Those who dump building waste must shoulder the cost of the cleanup. By Zafrir Rinat Over the last few weeks bulldozers have been removing huge piles of building waste from a site in Petah Tikva in order to pave a new section of a road and build an educational complex. That would be good news […]

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After the particularly rainy winter that took Israel by storm this year, there will no longer be a need to artificially raise the water levels of the Kinneret. By Eli Ashkenazi The rainy winter Israel has experienced this year has led to a vast rise in the Kinneret’s water levels, prompting the Mekorot Water Company […]

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by Rachel Havrelock. University of Chicago Press. 320 pages | 15 halftones | 6 x 9 | © 2011 Cloth $40.00 ISBN: 9780226319575 Published November 2011 E-book $7.00 to $32.00 About E-books ISBN: 9780226319599 Published October 2011 As the site of several miracles in the Jewish and Christian traditions, the Jordan is one of the […]

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But Interior Ministry unlikely to ax Route 16 plan By Zafrir Rinat Irrevocable damage would be caused to the Jerusalem Forest by a new road in the capital, say environmentalists. The National Roads Company planning Route 16, which would connect the city’s Route 1 entrance with Jerusalem’s southwest neighborhoods, insists it would relieve the heavy […]

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Petra | Feb 23,2012 | 22:59 AMMAN — Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh on Thursday met with a delegation from the United Nations Compensation Committee (UNCC), which is on a visit to the Kingdom to assess the environmental compensation that Jordan received following the 1991 Gulf War. During the meeting, Khasawneh stressed the government’s keenness to […]

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By BEN HARTMAN 02/22/2012 05:42 Public can now vote on what shape the NIS 833 million rehabilitation of the Dead Sea will take in the coming years. The Dead Sea By Marc Israel Sellem The Tourism Ministry on Tuesday launched an online ballot where the public can vote on what shape the NIS 833 million […]

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Ninety-nine percent of Egypt’s poorest villages lack sanitary drainage, according to a report released Monday by the cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center. The report said sewage water is a main source of pollution, containing biological and chemical pollutants. A gap exists between Egyptian cities and villages in terms of subsurface drainage, the report said, […]

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Israeli planning reform gets last-minute revision, drawing environmentalists’ ire – Haaretz Government claims bill will allow for quicker approval of construction plans, but green groups worry it could harm the landscape and the public’s ability to oppose plans. By Zafrir Rinat Published 21.02.12 Critics of a proposed reform of Israel’s planning establishment were shocked to […]

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Recycling programs in new ecology push – Jerusalem Post By JTA/JESSICA STEINBERG 02/11/2012 00:50 Proponents of recycling say that little by little, Israelis are learning to become more conscious of their environment. recycling in Jerusalem By Yossi Zamir/JTA The still-new recycling center in the Givat Shaul neighborhood of Jerusalem is fairly quiet on a crisp […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 02/15/2012 23:25 Program aims to present environmental trends for past 2 decades, outline options for future. air pollution By Thinkstock A new environmental project that examines the country’s consumption trends for the past two decades and outlines potential outcomes and solutions for the next two is asking that the public actively participate […]

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Pollution in Lebanon is rife and obvious, from its sea to it rivers and quarries, and this despite the dozens of organizations, NGOs, and committees in the country that purport to protect the environment for current and future generations of Lebanese. Over the years these entities have failed to make any significant impact on the […]

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22-02-2012 Representatives of international financial institutions (IFIs), the European Commission and the Norwegian government gathered last week at the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) headquarters in Barcelona to discuss a technical update for the Gaza Strip Desalination Facility project, as well as progress towards financial commitments. A press release said that the preliminary technical and […]

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22-02-2012 The first of 8 decentralized waste water treatment plants was inaugurated in the town of Baakline, Lebanon. The first results of collection and purification of “grey” water carried out by the EU-funded Urban Water Management project (WADI) in the Mount Lebanon governorate were presented at the meeting of project partners held in Baakine from […]

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By Brooke Anderson The Daily Star BEIRUT: At his goat farm in the remote Bekaa Valley town of Qaa near the Syrian border, Hasan Istaytiyyah is enjoying a rare luxury in Lebanon: 24-hour electricity.For the past seven months, the house on his farm has been running on a solar-powered system that has replaced unreliable state-run […]

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by Taylor Luck | Feb 21,2012 | 23:38 AMMAN — Jordan has reached an understanding with a South Korean firm to resume oil exploration in a Dead Sea region some claim to be home to the country’s only commercially viable oil deposits. The Natural Resources Authority (NRA) and Korean firm, Korea Global Petroleum Corporation, signed […]

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One of Israel’s most overcrowded cities, Bnei Brak, is about to get a green lung transplant with plans to expand Yarkon Park. By Zafrir Rinat Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park is to be expanded into Bnei Brak. The area’s regional planning committee will officially confirm the plans in coming weeks, paving the way for work to […]

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Eagles are one of the many bird populations in Israel that are under threat, according to a new study. By Zafrir Rinat What do members of the bustard family, the cream-colored courser and the Nubian nightjar have in common? These birds are becoming extinct in Israel, because their nests are being destroyed. According to a […]

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By Juliane von Mittelstaedt Photo Gallery: Solar Power for the West Bank Photos AP Several small Palestinian villages in the West Bank had been without electricity for decades — before an Israeli foundation with funding from Europe recently installed solar panels and wind turbines. Now, though, Israel wants to remove the facilities because they are […]

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