Local authorities in southern Israel are aiming to produce their own green electricity, and export the technology to the rest of the world, the head of Eilot Regional Council told an international conference in Eilat last week.
"[Our goal is] not just to produce 100 percent of the area's electricity, but also to export the knowledge to the world," Eilot Regional Coucil Chairman Udi Gat told participants at the First International Conference on Sustainable Energy as a Catalyst for Regional Development.
The conference was attended by several Jordanian representatives, as local officials are seeking to cooperate with Jordan to help meet the area's energy needs.
"I very much hope for cooperation with our neighbors to the east, the city of Aqaba," said Eilat Deputy Mayor Eli Lankry. "This can serve as an example for cooperation throughout the entire region."
General (ret.) Mansour Abu Rashid, head of Amman Center for Peace and Development, said the project could help create a "new era of reconciliation in the Middle East marked by cooperation and economic development."
Gat and Eilat Mayor Meir Yitzhak-Halevy are spearheading an initiative to establish a renewable energy technologies park in the southern Arava, which would serve as a hub of research and development and provide the area with energy independence.
"We have all that is needed in order to turn the area into a world leader in renewable energy," Gat said. "We have wind and most importantly we have sun. This area has the strongest solar radiation in the world."
"This idea can create a human greenhouse for research, and turn the Arava into the green silicon valley," added Yitzhak-Halevy. "I would be happy to be the first solar city in Israel."
Dr. Bilal Bashir, commissioner for environmental regulation and enforcement in the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority, said aggressive development plans being pursued by both Eilat and Aqaba require that both sides address their energy and water needs.
"Water and energy are crucial for the potential of both cities to grow naturally," said Bashir. "We are both far from the population centers of our respective countries. We must think about generating our own resources for sustained growth."
The conference highlighted a wide range of ideas for generating renewable energy that are suited to the Arava?s climate, from producing fuels from sources such as agricultural and organic waste as well as algae, to using passive cooling towers in order to manufacture wind.
The passive cooling towers, which are most effective in hot, arid climates such as the Arava, use a spray of water to cool the air at the top of the tower. The cooler air then descends, picking up velocity and cooling further as it does so. According to Technion Professor Dan Zaslavsky, who presented the proposal, the descending air in his design can reach velocities of up to 80 km/h, and is then directed through wind turbines.
The air can alternatively be simply directed through a building in order to cool it without the need for air conditioning, as is done at Kibbutz Naot Smadar.
The conference's primary technological focus, however, was solar energy. "Everyone must work in the field in which he has a relative advantage," said Shai Avital, director-general of the Environmental Protection Ministry. "The Negev?s relative advantage is solar energy, and we must go in this direction."
Solar energy, however, continues to have one crucial flaw - it is relatively expensive. Even with the new tariffs announced by Israel Electric Authority at the conference, which set the rate for electricity generated at a solar plant at NIS 0.691, or roughly $0.17 per kilowatt hour, solar power is more expensive than electricity generated at a coal-fired plant.
But in Eilat, where consumers bear the added cost of importing the electricity from the Ashkelon power plant, the relative price disadvantage is smaller than in other parts of the country. According to Dan Sagie of Rotem Industries, while the price for conventional electricity in central Israel currently stands at roughly $.011-.012 per kilowatt hour, in Eilat it costs $0.15.
Nonetheless, conference participants across the board called for the government to step in and provide the necessary incentives to make solar power cost-effective.
"We have to be realistic about this, you may initially need some subsidies," said Bashir. "But we have to know that in due time the market forces will have their say in making this a reliable energy source."
"If in Germany and Denmark there were sun and we had wind, then solar power would be cheap and we'd be stuck with the wind," added Yoel Gilon, deputy CEO of the solar power plant company Luz II. "Today, wind power is cheap. Why? Because they subsidized the hell out of it."
Professor David Faiman of Ben-Gurion University proposed imposing a green tax of $.01 per kilowatt hour on conventional electricity. According to a study conducted by Faiman, the tax would raise some $590 million annually between Israel and Jordan, and, along with the income generated by the plants, could finance enough solar plants in order to meet the expected increase in energy consumption in both countries.
While much of the conference focused on cleaner methods for generating energy, it also highlighted methods for reducing energy needs - such as urban planning and architectural designs that reduce energy consumption by fully utilizing wind and the sun, naturally heating or cooling buildings and urban areas.
Eyal Biger of the Good Energy Initiative, which helps organizations voluntarily reduce their consumption and sell the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions on the international emissions credit market, said the demand-side component of addressing the global climate crisis must not be ignored.
"The one thing that no one is talking about, because it isn't sexy, is changing our consumption patterns," said Biger. "This is what Western governments and environmentalists must start putting on the table - reducing the consumption in our lifestyle."
JNF eyes 'green' credentials
The Jewish National Fund is seeking to redefine itself as an environmental organization, Alon Tal, chairman of the JNF land development committee, told Haaretz during last week's conference in Eilat.
"What is the Jewish people's response to climate change?" said Tal. "The JNF is going to help the Jewish people formulate a response."
Tal said the JNF, which was one of the sponsors of the Eilat conference, is translating its traditional forestry project into one with a goal of carbon sequestration.
The JNF is also constructing bike trails, including along the Trans-Israel trail and a 60 kilometer path from Jerusalem to the sea in honor of Israel's 60th Independence Day in 2008. "Israel is addicted to diesel fuels," said Tal.
Finally, the organization is embarking on a sustainable energy initiative in the Negev, helping schools utilize solar energy in order to become carbon-neutral.
"It'll give schools in the Negev something to be proud of," said Tal. "They'll be the environmental cutting-edge."
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