Category Archive » Environment
65@65: Fact 53 of 65… Israel and India
Post Comment
Professory Yoram Oren, an expert on water desaliniation from Ben Gurion University, spent his sabbatical year in India. He set up a water research laboratoy at Karunya University in Tamil Nadu India to help rehabilitate the polluted river.
For the full list of 65@65 facts click here
VIDEO: Ofer Blutrich – AGAINST ALL ODDS – Videographer: Eyal Gamili
Eyal is currently working on a new project whose goal is to help Ofer Blutrich, an Israeli rock climber and one of the top rock climbers in the world. Eyal wants to provide Ofer a little bit of financial support for his endeavors in Israel and around the world
65@65: Fact 28 of 65… Israel’s Solar-Powered water heaters
Israel has the highest number of solar-power water heaters per capita.
For the full list of 65@65 facts click here
Israeli teens to compete in int’l eco-writing contest
Youths from all of over the world stand to enter international competition held in Denmark, aimed to find next generation of environmental reporters
The international Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) competition, held in Denmark, has begun taking entries, and is now also open to Israeli teens.
The contest means to encourage teens and youths to investigate and report on environmental issues and their solutions via journalistic vehicles, such as writing, photography or video.
Teenagers who are interested in entering the competition are required to prepare a short written or video article focusing on a local environmental issue and its solutions and post it, via their school newspaper, local media or social networks. A digital copy must be submitted by March 21.
The works will be reviewed by the judging panel as well as leading environmental journalists.
The judges are comprised of representatives of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the European Environment Agency (EEA), the International Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and The Times.
The winners of each category – who will be the semi-finalists – will be announced in April.
The winners will be announced in Denmark on the next Earth Day, in June.
Entry details and instruction are available be emailing the competition or on the competition’s Facebook page.
This year, 27 counties will be participating, including Israel, Canada, the United States, China, Cyprus, France, Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Malta, Morocco, Montenegro, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Britain, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia and the UAE.
Source: Ynetnews.com
Ministry approves nationwide cycling grid
In attempt to both encourage people to opt for eco-friendly transportation mode, fight deadly accidents Transportation Ministry greenlights paving of 400km of cycling trails
The Transportation Ministry has approved a new project that would see a new and extensive grid of cycling trails paved nationwide.
The Israel National Roads Company (NRC) has been tasked with creating the grid, which will stretch across 400 kilometers of both urban and interurban roads.
The project’s main goal is to minimize the deadly accidents cyclists are involved, especially when using interurban highways.
As a bonus, once safety is dramatically improved, the ministry hopes it would encourage more people to use this eco-friendly mode of transportation.
Israel’s competitive cycling community numbers in the thousands, and the recreational cycling community numbers in the tens of thousands.
The past few years have seen dozens of deadly accidents involving competitive road cyclists, both professional and amateur; and the more popular the sport became, the more pressing its infrastructure problem has become, as well.
The ministry and the NRC partnered with the Israel Cycling Federation and the Israel Police to plan the new grid, which stand to cost tens of millions of shekels.
The grid will span some 180km in northern Israel, 100km across its center and coastline and 120km in the south. NRC will also be responsible from their routine maintenance.
“The use of bicycles has grown exponentially over the past few years. They are now an important part of Israel’s transportation lineup and therefore the ministry has decided to increase its investment in infrastructure,” Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz told Yedioth Ahronoth.
Source: Ynetnews.com
Israeli cleantech industry gets new promotional apps
National program meant to promote local cleantech initiatives worldwide launches new marketing apps
The Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry’s national cleantech promotion program has launched a new initiative meant to promote cleantech initiatives worldwide.
The new tool in the ministry’s kit is an app that showcases the projects from development to application stages, in a manner that allows potential investors to see Israeli innovations at work.
The companies themselves can use the app as one of their marketing tools.
The “CleanTech in the making” map, created by Israel NewTech – the national program aimed at promoting Israel’s water and sustainable energy sectors – seeks to present investors with the Israeli industries achievements on water, agriculture, renewable and sustainable energy and the environment.
Israel NewTech’s Facebook application has already gotten over 2,000 visitors, mostly from the United States and India.
The maps are fully interactive, and according to Adi Yefet Beeri of Israel NewTech, it was created “as a marketing tool meant to highlight the Israeli industries’ capabilities and the fact that they are world leaders in their fields.”
Another app, called “Mapped in Israel,” includes, so far, 907 Israeli start-up companies, the majority of which are from the cleantech and greentech industries.
“It was important to me to illustrate how Israel is a real start-up nation,” Ben Lang, a young developer who came up with the app, told Ynet. “It will help investors see what their next investment could be, not just read about it.”
Source: Ynetnews.com