The system is jointly funded by Chinese and Israeli entrepreneurs.

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The ribbon-cutting ceremony took place on Tuesday at the Rotem Industrial Park, some 160 km south of Jerusalem, in the presence of Energy and Water Minister Uzi Landau, Chinese Ambassador Gao Yanping and a delegation from China that included Yun Xishun, the governor of western Inner Mongolian province Alashan.

The investors in HelioFocus, which was established in 2007, are the Israel Corporation’s IC Green Energy and the Sanhua Holding Group’s Zhejiang Sanhua Company.

On Monday, HelioFocus signed an agreement with Sanhua to begin construction in 2013 on a 10-megawatt solar facility in Inner Mongolia, for the Chinese energy company TaiQing. The facility, which will eventually expand to 60 megawatts, will back up a 600-megawatt coalfired power plant.

“I believe that with the collaboration with the Chinese market, which has accelerated in the past years, the company will produce facilities for the Chinese electricity market and for many other locations worldwide,” Landau said at Tuesday’s ceremony.

Extremely high temperatures

Sparkling against the glare of the desert sun, parabolic dish concentrators capture the light and create temperatures of up to 650 degrees Celsius, then channel the radiation to a receiver above that heats the air.

Through pipes, the air then moves to a central heat exchange system that in turn produces hot steam, which can drive a power plant turbine.

The technology can be used as a support system for coalor oil-fired power plants, eliminating the need for natural gas or diesel generator backup systems, explained Eli Mandelberg, executive vice president of HelioFocus.

Solar-Thermal dish

While other solar-thermal systems exist similar in concept to this one, with panels feeding heat to a receiver above, the unique aspect of the HelioFocus system is its ability to heat the air to extremely high temperatures – much higher than in other systems, according to Mandelberg.

They are able to do this because of their higher concentration ratio – the aperture of the mirrors divided by the aperture of the receiver – which leads to higher temperatures, he said. With this higher temperature and higher concentration ration, heat loss is reduced.

Also, the space required for one unit is quite small – about 500 square meters – in comparison to other solarthermal systems, Mandelberg said.

The unit at Rotem can produce 360 kilowatts of heat exchange through steam, which produces about 130 kilowatts of useable electricity.

Per one megawatt installed in Israel, such a system can produce about 2,500 megawatt hours of electricity per year, he explained.

While the demonstration facility’s launch is encouraging, hard work still lies ahead for HelioFocus, acknowledged Dr. Yom Tov Samia, who is chairman of the board of HelioFocus, as well as CEO and president of IC Green Energy.

“The real challenges are ahead, to convert successful technology to a successful commercial size,” Samia said.
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Via the Jerusalem Post

Much of the losses are incurred due to small, sometimes tiny leaks. But most systems designed to protect water supply networks are intended to plug large-scale seepage.

Curapipe Systems, founded in 2007, has created a new method to repair leaks with its trenchless automated leakage repair (TALR) system. TALR automatically detects and repairs small leaks in distribution pipes.

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Curapipe offers what might be called minimally invasive surgery for pipes, an alternative to actual pipeline replacement and the resulting urban disruption. Using a proprietary sponge-like unit called a pig, the system employs water pressure to detect small leaks, and deploys an epoxy-based viscous substance to seal and cure the affected pipe.

According to Curapipe, most existing ‘find-and-fix’ methods contribute primarily to maintaining leakage levels. Aggressive measures to reduce leakage in bulk are carried out through costly high-end trenchless or traditional water pipe networks renewal, the company says.

Curapipe is currently working on a pilot test with Thames Water in London. “We plan to establish partnerships in multiple locations with service delivery partners to expedite market penetration, we are currently engaging with potential partners for setting up a joint venture in the UK. Others follow-on markets in Europe will be targeted, such as Italy, France or Spain,” Paz says.

According to Paz, Curapipe’s technology platform is also suitable for future rollout in the oil and gas industries.

The company was awarded a grant of 800,000 Euros from the European Union for commercialization over a 36-month period. It was also nominated in 2011 as a finalist in the Most Innovative New Technology of the Year category by Water Industry Achievements Awards in the UK.

The free app was launched as part of the ministry’s Let’s Think Green campaign.

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“After years of being accustomed to commercials that encourage wasteful and unnecessary consumerism, we stand on the same stage and call for smart consumerism,” the Minister of Environmental Protection, Gilad Erdan, said.

He added that “we will continue to address the public wherever it may be: on television, the internet, and smart phones, in order to raise awareness to the fact that with small behavioral changes, each and every one of us can save hundreds of shekels and reduce environmental damage.”

Green Tips

The app has several tips on how to cut costs by implementing green behavior at home, at work, on the road and in nature.

The app is introduced by the popular Israeli comedian Tal Friedman, whose character guides the users in an amusing way.

Here are some of the tips you can find on the app:

• Driving 90 km/h instead of 110 km/h reduces gas consumption by 15 percent
• An electricity saving light bulb consumes five times less electricity than standard light bulbs and still produces the same light intensity.
• Driving at a steady speed while avoiding acceleration or strong braking decreases fuel consumption.
• Disconnecting chargers and electric appliances after use reduces electricity consumption. These devices continue to consume power even when not in use.

The app also has a Test Yourself questionnaire that examines users awareness of financial savings made possible by “thinking green,” based on the environmental tips.

The app, called “environment – let’s think green” in Hebrew, is available for use in Hebrew, English, Russian and Arabic.

Researchers from Israel, the U.S. and Japan are now saying that the nuclear clock used to measure the age of the solar system has been “ticking faster” than previously thought and that the Earth formed much more quickly than originally believed.

“We determined that half life of the geological clock ticks faster,” Michael Paul, a professor of nuclear physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told The Media Line.

The formation of the Earth

Paul and his team from the University of Notre Dame and the Argonne National Laboratory and two Japanese universities, reexamined Samarium 146, one of the main isotopes used to chart the evolution of the solar system. They found that its half life was only 68 million years and not the 103 million as previously assumed.

“The age of the solar system has not changed. But the time it took to form the Earth as it is at present with its mantel and crust and rocks and so on according to this new measurement is shorter than it was estimated before,” Paul said.

The findings, published in the journal Science, have yet to be accepted by the astrophysicist community. Nor do the findings alter the age of the universe, which is generally believed to have been formed about 4.6 billion years ago.

Half lives of atomic nuclei

Measuring half lives of atomic nuclei was first developed in the mid 20th century. Radiocarbon dating was invented in Chicago in the 1940s and has been used to date artifacts by measuring the half life of Carbon 14, which is a few thousand years. But when it came to measuring like the history of the earth and solar system, chronometers with much longer lives were needed.

This particular heavy element samarium-146 was “live” in our sun and solar system when they were born and could be used as “mineral archives” for their slow pace of decay, or half life that could be measured in dozens of millions of years.

“What we determined is that this time scale associated with its half life was shorter than what was estimated before,” Paul said.

According to the research, everything in our solar system formed from star dust several billion years ago. The findings also are significant implications not only for the planet Earth but possibly Mars, the moon and other planets, Paul said.

“These rocky planets have gone through a form of differentiation of their core and a little later of their mantel, which is the outer shell of the planet,” he said. “What is measured with this isotope chronometer is the time scale of this process.”

He said he and his colleagues decided to re-measure Samarium-146 because the previous four calculations that had been made were highly inconsistent and had never been verified. The previously adopted half life was set at 103 million years. Their revised measurement found it to be much shorter at 68 million years, a staggering 30% shorter.

“When we got a result, which was different than what was adopted, we pursued and did a series of confirmation of this measure and published it,” he said.

Shrinking the chronology of events

The project took some four years but, interestingly, the new calculations jived better with the new timescale and seemed to explain previous discrepancies, Paul said.

“It shrinks the chronology of early events in the solar system, like the formation of planets into a shorter time span,” Paul said. “It also means some of the oldest rocks on Earth would have formed earlier – as early as 120 million years after the solar system was formed,” rather than approximately 200 million years after.

The Samarium-146 was studied using Argonne’s superconducting linear accelerator known as ATLAS, a machine that shoots beams of subatomic particles in materials to unravel near invisible mysteries.
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Via The Media Line
Photo by NASA Goddard Photo and Video

Over the past two months, the Indian government has been promoting a large scale endeavor to clean the Ganges River, which is considered holy in Hinduism.

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Due to the river’s importance as a fresh water source for as well as a ritual site, and considering that the river has become a source of infection and disease, the Indian government treats this initiative very seriously.

Recently, the Indian government decided to invite leading Israeli water technology companies to take part in the efforts to clean the river.

For this purpose, representatives of Indian research institutes, water technology companies and other relevant agencies will come to Israel to learn about the Israeli water and sewage purification technologies, and to examine ways to integrate them in the project.

The delegation will include representatives from the India Institute of Technology (IIT), an organization appointed by Indian government to advise and to formulate recommendations for the government regarding the technological solutions to be adopted for the cleaning endeavors.

The delegation will meet with several Israeli companies dealing with sewage purification, solid waste treatment, desalination and management of water resources, and visit their facilities. In addition, the delegation will meet with representatives of relevant government authorities such as the Israeli Water Authority.
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Via Ynetnews
Photo by Paul Mannix

The alternative to overfishing has been the development of “fish farms” – enclosed areas, usually set up near water sources and coasts, where fish are raised in a controlled environment. They have been around for years, enabling growers to set up controlled conditions that can ensure a specific yield of fish.

But these farms also have limitations. While they enhance the conservation of fish in the sea, fish farms are often considered environmental hazards because of the waste generated by the fish, such as nitrogen, which is then dumped into the sea.

Israeli company GFA says it offers a solution to the geographical and environmental constraints of fish farms: They created a way to run fish farms anywhere, even in extreme conditions like the desert, with minimal damage to the environment.

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Special biological filters

Based on the work of Israeli scientist Dr. Yossi Tal and Hebrew University professor Jaap van Rijn – inventor of the system – GFA has developed an on-land environment where fish can be raised, without having to exchange water or treat it chemically.

“We call this a zero-discharge system,” GFA Advanced Systems CEO Dotan Bar-Noy has said. “We use biological filters and specially developed bacteria to treat the water the fish are growing in, without wasting anything. The system can be set up to raise salt-water fish anywhere in the world – even in the desert, thousands of miles from the ocean,” he said.

Prior to the GFA solution, purification systems were based on electrical treatment systems, which are expensive to install and run, and not all that effective, says Bar-Noy. “Even when they work, the electrical purification systems are too expensive, and fish produced with those systems will cost far more than fish from the sea.”

Tanks using the GFA system are filled with water and fish and then the GFA microbes are added. These microbes treat the nitrogen and organic waste byproducts of fish production right in the tank. No water is discharged at all; in fact the only fluid exchange is the addition of water to replenish that which is lost through evaporation.

The company even alleges that fish grown in tanks purified with their product taste better because of the clean water they grow in.

High-capacity aquaculture

GFA’s system has already been set up in several locations in Israel and the company runs an additional purification facility in New York, which has been operating since 2009. The New York facility produces about 100 tons of fish last yearmostly salt-water fish like sea bream, bass and tilapia.

The resulting system allows for high-capacity aquaculture, with as much as 100 kg of fish per cubic meter of water. In addition, due to the ability to grow fish in any environment, including in large cities, fish can be brought to markets the same day they’re harvested. This enables farmers to reduce transportation time and costs.

The company was formed in 2008, but the technology behind it has been under development for the past 20 years. “While the ideas were there for awhile, the only viable purification techniques were based on electrical devices. It was only with the rise of biotechnology techniques that we were able to develop the bacteria that enable us to do the purification cheaply,” Bar-Noy explains.

Photo by Bytemarks

The bacteria used by GFA’s system are cheap and easy to produce, so any initial costs for purchasing a system are more than offset by the savings realized in not having to clean tanks.

As the world population has grown, now topping seven billion people, the “green revolution” of the past 50 years is beginning to show its age. Pesticides are not as effective as they used to be as insects become more resistant, and water for irrigation is becoming an ever more expensive — and more rare — commodity, as food production ramps up to meet demand. Of even greater concern to scientists are the increasingly Westernized lifestyles in the Far East, as billions of people begin demanding better quality food, and especially meat; it takes far more water to produce a pound of meat than a pound of wheat. There’s only so much pesticide farmers can apply to crops, and there’s only so much water available.

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Master genome regulator

Rosetta Green has been developing microRNA (miRNA) genes to alleviate both these problems. In the 1990s, researchers discovered that miRNA acts as a “master genome regulator” in plants and mammals. By manipulating miRNA, Rosetta Green scientists have been able to develop more resistant strains of cotton, corn, soybeans, and other crops.

The problems in food crop production are exacerbated in cotton production. Because cotton is not considered a food, stronger pesticides can be used to treat them. However, those pesticides eventually find their way into the surrounding environment, contaminating water and land. In addition, irrigation practices in many countries that are dependent on cotton for exports, like Egypt and Pakistan, have placed a major strain on water resources. Even in countries where water use is more efficient, like in Australia, recent droughts have challenged cotton farmers and raised the cost of production significantly.

Tens of millions of dollars worth royalties

It’s in response to these problems, the company said, that Rosetta Green will work with Bayer in an attempt to develop new cotton varieties that could produce better yields under difficult environmental conditions, using less or poorer quality water. Bayer, the company said, has committed to pay Rosetta Green if certain milestones are achieved in the development and commercialization of the products, plus royalties on future revenues from sales. Those royalties could amount to tens of millions of dollars, the company added.

Amir Avniel, Rosetta Green’s CEO was optimistic that the company’s researchers could come up with new and improved cotton strains. “We believe that microRNA genes have great potential in the agriculture industry and in crop improvement, and are hopeful that the new technology that Bayer and Rosetta Green will develop will succeed in significantly increasing cotton yields, especially in periods of drought and water shortage and in countries that suffer from chronic scarcity in potable water. Such developments could significantly increase the areas where crops can be grown and gradually grow more and more crops in arid areas with limited water availability or access to brackish water only,” Avniel added.
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Via The Times Of Israel
Photo by kimberlykv

This sight is what he credits for the idea to use the energy of the sea for human benefit. Today he is the CEO of SDE Energy, an Israeli cleantech company that develops technologies to produce electricity from sea waves.

SDE’s method uses sea wave motion to generate hydraulic pressure, which is then transformed into electricity. The system takes advantage of the wave’s speed, height, depth, rise and fall – and the flow beneath the approaching wave to produce energy.

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Taking advantage of the waves

The company was recently ranked by the New Energy Congress – a team of international scientists – as the world’s number one developer of Sea Wave Energy Technologies, number six in Tidal Energy and River Energy, and one of the Top 100 cleantech companies in the world.

A full-scale model of the patented technologies was operated in Jaffa Port, Israel, in 2010 and produced 40ekW (Electrical Kilowatts) for almost one year. According to SDE, the model has been tested and approved by experienced engineers.

The research conducted in Israel showed that the technology can produce electricity at a cost of$2 cents per KWH. According to the company, the cost is significantly lower compared to other renewable energy technologies such as wind energy – 12 cents – and solar energy – 16 cents per KWH.

Ovadia says he is hoping that this model will lead to significant reductions in electricity costs in areas it will be operated.

Facing competition

Due to the high oil prices and the rising costs of electricity, Ovadia and his partners were looking for an alternative for renewable energy production. Although they are far from being the only players in this market, SDE claims to have a few advantages on other companies that produce electricity from sea waves.

Due to the lack of shore areas available for commercial use, SDE developed a system that requires minimal use of land.

According to Ovadia, SDE’s technology “utilizes the waves’ ascent and descent, the entering and retreating wave, the upper and lower wave -while most of SDE’s competitors’ technologies utilize only the upper wave.”

The company says it currently holds several letters of intent and orders from states and electric companies in Chile, Mexico, Zanzibar and Kenya, for approximately $1 billion. The company has also deployed a system in China, financed by the Chinese government.

Photo by polandeze

To account for this neglected need, AirBase Systems, an Israel- and Berlin-based environmental technology startup, launched its new CanarIT S.O.S system, low-cost emergency air monitoring kits designed primarily for city use. The $20,000 kits, which are made up of 20 battery-operated CanarIT units, monitor levels of several noxious elements and can immediately transmit data to an Internet collection base, according to the company.

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The kits are particularly useful during large-scale accidents such as fires or factory explosions, in which plants suddenly emit high volumes of dangerous pollutants into the air.

“Dense cities are delicate places,” said Irad Kuhnreich, founder and CEO of AirBase Systems.

“Any pollution event can develop very easily into a serious health risk to the people. The capability of the emergency forces to manage the situation properly is based on real-time data from the city’s streets – and this is exactly what we have to offer at a price that is even lower than a regular, old-fashioned monitoring station.”

Managing these crises, particularly in dense urban areas, must be based on real time accurate data to save people’s lives, Kuhnreich added.

Collecting data within 20 seconds

All of the research and development for the CanarIT occurred in Israel, and several of the systems have already been deployed on an experimental basis throughout the country. Meanwhile, Liad Ortar, vice president for marketing and business development at AirBase, said the company had heard from interested parties across the globe. The company recently held its first meeting with representatives of Israel’s Environmental Protection Ministry to discuss selling units to the government office, and is in the process of preparing validations of their technology for the ministry, according to Ortar. Studies with the Technion and other professional research institutions around the world are also underway, he added.

The Environmental Protection Ministry confirmed to the The Jerusalem Post on Monday that representatives from the office did meet with an AirBase team, but did not provide further comment.

While the emergency kits are primarily for municipalities, the stationary individual units have achieved such a “significant drop in price” that the devices could be suitable for purchase by environmental NGOs or even individual families dealing with asthma and poor air quality, Ortar said Monday afternoon.

In either case, Ortar explained, the devices pick up data instantly and within 20 seconds feed information to the online server. “This is why it’s so important for emergency services,” he said.
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Via The Jerusalem Post
Photo by LadyDragonflyCC – BDay Weekend,,Holland, Michigan

The anti-virus “spider net” marketed by Meteor features a web of tiny micro-fibers that insects cannot penetrate. By keeping the bugs out, Meteor CEO Avi Klayman said, the nets are able to prevent the spread of diseases that until recently have caused major financial losses for farmers.

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Meteor’s nets have been instrumental in helping to prevent infestations of one of the whitefly, one of the greatest nemeses of farmers, Klayman said in a recent interview. The creature, which carries, among other diseases, Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus, is alone responsible for some $1 billion in damage annually. The whitefly attacks the DNA of plants, causing them to shrivel up and die, and is extremely difficult to control as it is capable of quickly building up resistance to pesticides. For Western farmers, said Klayman, it’s an inconvenience and an expense; but for billions of people in the third world, whitefly infestation and the subsequent destruction of crops could mean privation, if not starvation.

Meteor began producing agricultural nets in the late 1980s, after Israel lost nearly all of its tomatoes to yellow curl disease. After consulting with scientists at Israel’s Agricultural Research Organization (the Vulcani Institute), Meteor developed a net that was capable of blocking the whitefly’s physical access to plants, while allowing sunshine and air circulation to penetrate. As an additional benefit, the net allows farmers to avoid overuse of pesticides.

Kosher Lettuce

One of the more interesting aspects of Meteor’s technology has been its use in the “kosher vegetable” industry. Ever since DDT was banned in the early 1970s, Orthodox Jews have been leery of leafy vegetables, such as lettuce and parsley, because of insect infestation. According to Jewish law, eating any insect is forbidden, and the rules regarding inspection of produce are very strict.

Inspecting leafy vegetables that grow under normal conditions is so involved and difficult that some observant Jews insist on one of the “Gush Katif” vegetable brands that are grown under conditions that greatly reduce insect infestation. The original “bug-free” vegetables were grown in hydroponic hothouses in the Jewish communities in Gaza that were disbanded in the 2005 disengagement, but the term has been expanded to cover any leafy vegetables grown under conditions that prevent insect infestation.
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Via The Times Of Israel
Photo by timsackton