Israel's First Bio-Waste Power Facility

Blue Sphere Corp., a Wall Street OTC market-traded US company and the Environmental Services Company (ESC) will work together to establish a biogas facility to generate electricity from organic waste, primarily food leftovers. The facility will be built at the Neot Hovav Eco Industrial Park in the Negev, at an investment of NIS 100 million, and is expected to produce 5 megawatts of electricity and process more than one hundred thousand tons of organic waste per year.

This project is the first of its kind in Israel, and a first step in the Israeli government and Environmental Services Company's initiative to close the gap between Israel and other OECD countries in matters of waste recycling and the production of "green" energy.

The waste-treatment process at the facility will significantly reduce the annual volume of landfill waste, and will thus prevent soil contamination caused by the landfill process. The process will also make possible the production of clean energy as an alternative to oil and diesel, which are more expensive and more polluting materials.

According to the regulation for the production of energy from waste, the project will be eligible for a license to produce and provide electricity for Israel Electric Corporation. The license is for a 20-year period, and the Israel Electric Corporation will commit to buy the electricity that Blue Sphere produces.

Blue Sphere Corporation deals in development, management, and operation of projects to produce electricity from waste around the world, and manufactures biogas from organic waste. The Environmental Services Company is a government company, founded in 1990, which specializes in environmental projects including the biological treatment of contaminated soil and land rehabilitation.

Source: Globes

Israel, The Promised Land for Vegans

Israelis are embracing veganism, to the point where even the army now has options for vegan soldiers.

As per Omri Paz, organizer of the Vegan Fest fair, 4% of Israelis define themselves as vegan, the most out of any country in the world.

Tel Aviv's Vegan Fest attracted 15,000 people in a day. The most popular stand was American company Domino's, which launched its vegan pizza in Israel, reportedly selling 300,000 of them so far.

Furthermore, Israel's Big Brother show recently became a platform to spread veganism when vegan activist Tal Gilboa took part and won.

Even Israel's army now offers leather-free boots and an allowance to buy vegan food outside of mess halls.

Meanwhile, Facebook is filled with Israeli vegan pages.

Kosher dietary laws, which prohibit mixing meat and dairy, make Israelis predisposed to a vegan diet.

Read more about it here.

Off to enjoy a vegan meal on this lovely evening, till next time!

J

Solar eTree That Keeps on Giving

First came the Solar Tree – solar artwork created in 2007 by Ross Lovegrove, a Welsh industrial designer.

Then came the Strawberry Tree, the world’s first public solar charger for mobile devices developed in 2010 by Serbian company Strawberry Energy.

This October, Israeli company Sologic installed its first eTree in the Ramat Hanadiv Memorial Gardens and Nature Park near Haifa. It provides a shady LED-lit place to sit, an unlocked Wi-Fi connection, four USB ports for phone charging, and a chilled drinking water fountain whose wastewater then drains into a ground-level water bowl for pets.

The energy produced from the solar panels activates a camera and LCD screen display providing visitors with weather information as well as educational and environmental content. The LCD screen allows for communication between eTrees planted in different locations around the world.

An eTree costs between $15,000 and $150,000, depending on the number of branches. The most deluxe models will be able to produce up to 50 liters of water per day by harvesting the humidity in the atmosphere.