Today global thinking on sustainability is undergoing a revolution. Whereas once we may have looked at water efficiency, alternative energy and land use as separate issues, today our understanding is growing that in order to truly address sustainability, we need to look at all three together. McKinsey & Company recently issued an important report on this subject: “Resource Revolution: Meeting the world’s energy, materials, food and water needs”. Aquate Group is one Israeli company at the forefront of this new approach. Aquate has developed a triple-purpose infrastructure solution that produces new water in reservoirs, generates solar energy, and increases agricultural land.

According to Israel NewTech, currently Israel manages to reclaim around 75% of its urban sewage water, which is mostly used for agricultural irrigation. Israel is the global leader in water reclamation usage, with other countries trailing far behind.

In order to ensure that reclaimed water reaches its destination in optimal form, reservoirs need to be protected from the sun, which causes evaporation and high water salinity. The ideal method for protecting reservoir water is to use reservoir covers, a proven solution. Top-standard reservoir covers offer two major advantages—they serve as both water reclamation facilities and as roofs for installing solar panels. These facilities not only protect the water in the reservoir, but also produce renewable solar energy without using up valuable agricultural land (as happens with large terrestrial solar applications). Aquate is currently leading the deployment of these next generation multi-purpose reservoir covers. The focus in the water and energy industries on resource efficiency and productivity explains why Aquate has been receiving plenty of attention from key stakeholders in governments, businesses, and NGOs.

Aquate was established in 2006 and has locations in Israel and the Unites States. Barak Yekutiely serves as CEO and Chairman, and works in conjunction with the company’s 26 shareholders, senior executives, and engineers. The Aquate team has over 30 years of experience managing reservoir cover projects and solar energy installations.

The company operates on the basis of BAT – Best Available Technology. Aquate assesses and integrates the best available technologies into its proprietary and engineered infrastructure to provide a tailored and fully-financed solution for each individual project in order to ensure maximum long-term performance. To facilitate this, Aquate runs its own technology validation plant in Israel and has an expert team covering all aspects of project creation—design, regulatory approval, finance, construction, and maintenance.

Aquate’s projects pipeline covers 10% of all existing water reservoirs in Israel. Select projects under development involve The Israel Electric Corp.; the enhancement of Israel’s first pumped storage hydroelectricity facilities in the Gilboa and Manara with Electra; and the Moshavei Hanegev Development Company, the largest agricultural company in Israel.

Recently, at Israel’s leading industry event—the WATEC Exhibition (International Conference on Water Technologies, Renewable Energy & Environmental Control), Aquate signed a ground-breaking agreement with Mekorot, Israel’s national water company.

According to the agreement, Mekorot will give Aquate a 24-year lease on a 25-acre reservoir. Both companies estimate that the deal will save 4 million cubic meters of water. Aquate plans to establish an integrated evaporative water reclamation cover system on the reservoir, as well as a six megawatt solar plant.

Due to global interest in Aquate’s MRP activities and their immense potential, London-based Ernst & Young has developed an economic model for MRP solutions, and The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is working on establishing guidelines for setting an international standard for MRP.

Aquate’s innovations are leading a fascinating niche for MRP solutions involving water, energy, and land resources. The opportunity for MRP solutions is immense – McKinsey & Company, in a November 2011 report, estimated the MRP market at $3 trillion.

Article appearing courtesy Israel NewTech.

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Israel has earned a leadership status in the international water arena, but to stay at the forefront innovation must keep pushing forward. A joint project by Israel NewTech, the Neaman Institute and the Israeli Export Institute has been launched in order to map out the needs for new water technology innovations in the largest industries in the world. The preliminary results will be presented in the beginning of next month at a conference at the Israeli Export Institute.

“Israel’s water sector must be very cautious not to rest on its laurels, but to continue to act to cement its leadership,” said Dita Bronitzky, CEO of Ormat, a leader in geothermal energy, at a recent conference run by The Marker magazine on environment and industry.

Israel NewTech, The Israeli Export Institute and the Samuel Neaman Institute for national policy research, are also thinking about how Israel can further leverage its success in the water sector, that’s why they have joined together to work on improving the competitiveness of Israel’s water sector. One of their joint projects maps different industrial sectors with high water use, which need technological innovations to increase efficiency, and even to survive in their competitive markets.

This joint research project was launched in July 2011 and is meant to stretch out over a year, led by Dr. Gilead (Gili) Fortuna, head of the Center for Industrial Excellence, and a senior research fellow from the Neaman Institute. Fortuna brings with him rich experience in Israeli industry, having held senior management positions in the past at TEVA and Israeli Petrochemicals, and he is also one of the entrepreneurs behind the successful water purification company Aqwise. Aiding in the project is Shiri Freund Koren, his research assistant.

“We examine international industries which are heavy consumers of water and whose growth rates can be significantly impacted by improved innovative water technology,” explains Fortuna, “For example the gas and oil production industries. Today their need for vast amounts of water greatly impacts production. The deeper the well the more water they need to consume in order to produce the gas or oil. The world always turned to the cheaper sources for gas and oil production, but today the situation necessitates turning to the more expensive source. One of the main reasons for this high cost is the huge expenditure on water use and treatment that the process demands.”

The research outlines seven industrial sectors which are heavy consumers of water and in need of innovative water technologies to make their processes more efficient:
1. Gas and Oil
2. Mining
3. The pharmaceutical industry
4. Heavy metal processing
5. The semiconductor industry
6. Food Industry
7. Tourism industry (hotels, swimming pools, spas, sites that serve global tourism)

The project is meant to bring a deeper understanding of each sector’s needs, while pinpointing the challenges that require solutions. In other words, the objective is to map needs in different industries in order to create market-focused Israeli solutions, which will be in demand globally.

In order to support the research endeavor the Samuel Neaman Institute is cooperating with Israeli academics, under the supervision of the noted water expert from the Technion (Israel’s leading technology university), Professor Raphael Semiat.

The first two chapters of the project, on the gas and oil production industries and the mining industry, will be presented to a list of “who’s who” in Israel’s water industry at a conference which will take place at the Israeli Export Institute on February 7th, under the title: Water Challenges in Industry – Leveraging your Technology. Dr. Fortuna emphasizes that his motivation to hold the conference now is to create an open ongoing dialogue with Israeli water companies and get their feedback and guidance. “This will make our work more business oriented to the industry’s real needs and its abilities to implement.”

In parallel to the research, practical steps have begun to be taken to implement the initial learnings, and thus Israel NewTech and The Israel Export Institute have begun to create connections and mediate with the mining industry. An Israeli delegation visited Chile recently, where there is a large mining industry which is in need of technological solutions (click here for the post on this visit).

In addition, the three bodies responsible for the research project are working on identifying local partners in the different target countries, in order to facilitate the penetration of Israeli water companies to those industries which were mapped out in the research as needing innovative technologies. Likewise, in each sector a consultant with practical experience on the ground is employed. For example, for the pharmaceutical industry Meirav Avigdor, who manages the ecological department at TEVA, will provide consulting. The project begins with research, but will result in successful business implementation.

Article by Israel NewTech.

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Masdar Carbon, one of the five business units of Masdar, the Abu Dhabi national clean energy conglomerate, announced yesterday in Abu Dhabi that it is moving ahead with a carbon capture and sequestration facility that will capture nearly 1 million tons of CO2 annually at the Emirates Steel complex at Mussafah.

The CO2 feed stream from the Emirates Steel plant will be compressed, dehydrated and then pumped through 50km of pipeline and injected in an onshore field, operated by Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations.

Part of the collaboration between Masdar and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, the carbon capture facility is part of a program to explore joint projects between the two firms to reduce the carbon footprint of the emirate. The UAE has the second-highest per capita carbon emissions in the world, mostly because of it’s energy-intensive industrial base and extreme climatic conditions.

“Climate change is not a mirage,” Masdar Carbon Director Bader Al Lamki told me at the World Future Energy Conference in Abu Dhabi as we sat down to talk on Thursday.

“The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has recognized CCS as a means to reduce carbon emissions,” and “the International Energy Agency clearly states that CCS is part of the answer for climate change mitigation.”

“The close collaboration between Masdar Carbon and ADNOC will ensure steady progress and the project will take us another step closer to implementing measures for the reduction of carbon emissions and contributing to Abu Dhabi’s clean energy initiatives,” said Al Lamki said.

Bader Al Lamki explained that successful carbon capture projects are anticipated to have a positive long-term economic impact on Abu Dhabi including economic growth, job creation and the development and export of CCS-related technology know-how.

“It will also decisively affirm our global status as a major developer of carbon abatement projects and technologies,” Al Lamki said.

Mandated by the Abu Dhabi government to drive cleaner fossil fuel energy and energy efficiency at an industrial level, monetizing emission reductions along the way, Masdar Carbon provides technical assistance, project management, carbon finance and emissions trading expertise to asset owners primarily in the oil and gas and power sectors in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

And as was announced earlier in the week by Scotland First Minister Alex Salmond in Abu Dhabi, Masdar will be partnering with Scotland, another small, oil-producing nation gunning to ramp up its renewable energy portfolio, to develop advancements in CCS technology, value chain applications, policy and deployment strategies for clean energy and CCS.

Article by Timothy Hurst, appearing courtesy Earth & Industry.

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One of the biggest challenges in the water arena is lowering the cost of wastewater purification, which is a heavy consumer of energy. Israeli start-ups Diffusaire and Mapal have developed technologies which bring dramatic cost-savings to wastewater treatment facilities.

Wastewater Treatment – Background

In advertising for home water purification systems we’re used to seeing pure, crystal clear water, but in reality the water only stays looking like this for a very short while, and actually all the water we use quickly turn to sewage water – drinking water, bath water, water used in industry …everything. Wastewater treatment is a very central activity in the water arena. Wastewater treatment uses up 1.5% of all the energy consumption in the U.S., so we’re talking about a big guzzler of energy.

Wastewater that remains untreated goes on to contaminate land and water sources. It is absolutely essential to treat wastewater, and in most of the world wastewater is converted into water for agriculture (Israel holds the #1 position in the world with 75% of wastewater reclaimed).

Wastewater is treated in wastewater treatment facilities which can be divided into two main types: open basins, large and shallow, situated in cheaper land outside residential areas, and the smaller, deep concrete pools, located in urban areas, on more expensive, more crowded land.

The purification of the contaminants that are dissolved in the water is done through bacteria which gobble them up (“biological purification”) and just as in fish tanks there need to be water bubbles so that the fish get oxygen, it’s also necessary to supply the bacteria with oxygen so that they can go on doing their job. Therefore, wastewater treatment facilities include aeration systems, which function is to bring oxygen into the pool. Today, the fine bubbles diffusers systems, which use advanced systems to insert small oxygen bubbles into them facility, are becoming more and more popular.

The diffusers are pipe systems which bring bubbles from the bottom of the facility pool. It’s possible to install such systems only in facilities with a concrete floor and not in open air pools. Open pools usually have a mechanical top layer device installed, and this system uses up a lot more energy, because it necessitates ongoing, costly maintenance. Therefore, the industry prefers bottom pool systems. Either way, we’re talking about an energy guzzler – about 50% of the energy expenditure of the entire facility.

Two Israeli start-ups are showing excellent progress in the race to develop winning solutions to make airing of wastewater facilities less costly: Diffusaire and Mapal. Diffusaire has developed a next generation diffuser, an innovative under-floor airing system for wastewater facilities with a concrete floor, and Mapal developed a technology for covering and upgrading existing diffusers, in order to utilize them in places where before it was impossible to do so (open air basins without a concrete floor). The bottom line is that both companies’ solutions bring dramatic reductions in operational costs.

First steps in the market:

Diffusaire works out of the water incubator Kinrot Ventures. The technology that the Company developed multiplies the length of time that the bubbles stay in the wastewater, thus significantly increasing the oxygen supply in the process. According to the Company, this creates a 25% reduction in costs in comparison with other diffusers.

According to Yuval Suskind, Diffusaire’s CEO, the Company has completed testing and is now signing first agreements with two Israeli water utilities – the “Tkua” utility in the Judean area, and the “Mei Reket” utility in Tiberius. Up until this point the Israeli government has invested about half a million dollars in the Company, which is entering its third year of activity in the Kinrot incubator and is seeking out private investment of $2 million. The objective of the investment is to finance the projects in Israel, as well as to market the solution in Europe, North America and India.

The second Israeli company active in this sphere, Mapal, targets a different kind of wastewater treatment facility, the open air basins, in which as mentioned, it’s not possible to install under-floor systems. Mapal enables use of diffusers in open air basins, using a patented covering of the basin. Its solution makes it unnecessary to build pools with a concrete floor in order to use the gentle bubbles system, thus enabling dramatic cost-savings.

“In this way we reduce energy consumption by almost 70% in comparison to top layer airing systems,” says Zeev Fisher, one of the founders and the VP Business Development of Mapal. The Company’s technology is installed in the wastewater treatment facility in Israel’s Ramat Hasharon, which treats 10,000 cube meters of wastewater every day, “And there we achieved an energy saving of almost 40%,” says Fisher. Additionally, the Company has systems installed in Netanya, which treats 40,000 cube meters per day, and is in the final stages of an agreement with a large water utility in the UK, as well as in negotiations with a facility which treats 200,000 cube meters per day, and negotiations for the upgrading of 18 facilities in Lima, Peru.
Up to date, Mapal has raised about $3 million in investments, more then half a million of which was invested by the founders, and is today entering a third round of investment, of $5 million, in order to fund projects.
Both of these companies target different segments in the wastewater purification arena, but they have an important common ground. For one thing, both claim that their solutions can be implemented on working facilities, without the need to suspend activity, and with the existing systems staying on as backup for some time.

The second thing they have in common is the method of financing. Both companies have selected a financing system in which the companies themselves fund the system for the facility, getting their pay through the savings that the new solution brings to the facility. In this way the facility is saved having to raise funds to upgrade its system.

These two approaches make entry into agreements with water utilities, which are often conservative and risk-averse, much easier and smoother.

Article appearing courtesy Israel NewTech.

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The UN has declared 2012 the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All. Using his platform as a keynote speaker at the World Future Energy Summit, the project’s global launch which kicked off yesterday in Abu Dhabi, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on governments, the private sector, and civil society to make significant commitments to action in support of UN’s drive to promote alternative energy.

“This is the right time for this Initiative,” said the Secretary-General. “Across the world we see momentum building for concrete action that reduces energy poverty, catalyzes sustainable economic growth, and mitigates the risks of climate change. Achieving sustainable energy for all is both feasible and necessary. My Initiative will help us meet these objectives simultaneously. It can be a triple win for all.”

Ban Ki-Monn has made sustainable development one his top priorities for his next term, which lasts five years. The energy issue is central to that. One fifth of the world’s population lacks access to modern electricity and two thirds rely on dirty, rudimentary energy such as wood, coal, and animal waste for cooking and heating. Meanwhile, the developed world wastes energy.

The UN wants to ensure universal access to modern energy services. It also wants energy to be more efficient and it wants to double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix. The Secretary-General has appointed a High-level Group of global leaders from business, finance, government and civil society to push the alternative energy agenda across governments and corporate boardrooms.

At the Abu Dhabi meeting, the Group met and produced a Framework for an Action Agenda, which proposes several actions at the national and international level, including action to expand energy access, promotion of efficiency standards and policies, and strengthening of investment in renewables.

The plan is to launch the Action Agenda, publicizing the commitments made by all stakeholders to the Initiative, towards the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in June.

Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.

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Oded Distel, head of Israel NewTech, believes the international Cleantech industry in 2012 will be guided by the economic environment first and foremost. “The difficult economic climate in the world today, which the Cleantech industry is already feeling, will continue to impact the industry in 2012,” he says. “The focus will shift more and more to efficiency and cost-effectiveness. This will present a challenge to the industry, but also a great opportunity for those companies whose solutions and technologies specifically address the need for efficiency.”

One area in which such solutions are already making headway is in the arena of energy efficiency in wastewater treatment plants. Two notable Israeli companies active in this arena are Mapal Green Energy and Diffusaire, both of which developed technologies to significantly reduce energy expenditure in wastewater purification. Mapal Green Energy developed a unique technology of floating aeration units which can save up to 70% in energy consumption and up to 80% in maintenance costs, as well as improve water quality. Mapal is currently installing a pilot system in Lima’s 18 wastewater treatment plants, following an agreement with Peruvian water company SEDAPAL. A more recent entry into this arena is Diffusaire,a promising company that has emerged out of Kinrot Ventures, Israel’s water-tech incubator. Diffusaire’s OTECH aeration technology offers substantial saving in electricity for wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) operators as well as for aqua-farmers.(To view a video on Diffusaire’s technology click here.)

“In general, this shifting approach to cleantech solutions will require a change in the way that the finance and purchasing managers at water and energy utilities examine suppliers,” continues Distel. Previously, certain parameters like energy expenditure in water processes was accepted at certain levels. Today the trend is to break down and examine the energy expenditure at each stage of the process. “Transparency is key. Utilities will expect suppliers to be much more clear and detailed in how they are minimizing loss of energy and water. This is a challenge, but also an opportunity for those companies which are able to present cost-effective technologies and to communicate them effectively.”

Efficiency will be key in all areas of Cleantech, another example is water management systems and water efficiency. IPNP is an Israeli company which provides management of sewage system maintenance. Distel explains, “If, for example, once sewage pipes were automatically cleaned once every three months, with no further thought, today companies like IPNP are showing that there are more effective ways to manage the system, like measuring pressure in different pipes, giving more attention to those who need it and less to those in which there is less traffic and pressure. This saves pipe bursts and unnecessary maintenance, and overall results in cost savings and a more efficient management of the system.”

“There are many Israeli companies well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities which 2012 will provide,” concludes Distel. “We are recognized for technology innovation and flexibility. The important thing is understand where the market is headed, and to provide effective solutions to the growing needs of the market for cost-effectiveness and transparency.”

Article appearing courtesy Israel NewTech.

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We all remember sights of people lined up for clean water in Haiti after the devastating earthquake in 2010, or in Japan last year after the great tsunami hit with horrific consequences. Large scale natural disasters will unfortunately continue to be a global threat. Beyond the initial loss of life and home, they also wreak havoc on basic infrastructures putting food, clean water, and electricity out of reach, for as long as months in their aftermath.

While preventing natural disasters is next to impossible, providing for populations in need following such disasters is most definitely not, and can mean the difference between a few casualties and thousands. One Israeli company, in particular, has developed a unique product ideal for such situations.

EZPack, formed in 2010 by Danny Cohen, Alex Harel and Ohad Zecharia, has created a unique way to transfer clean, drinkable water to disaster areas and other emergency zones, while still maintaining its quality and purity. The start-up makes use of innovative pillow bladder tanks which consist of a PVC outer layer, and “food-graded” material within. This dual-layer system creates a highly durable transportation apparatus while allowing the transferred water to remain clean, drinkable and uncontaminated for extensive periods of time.

While EZPack has not yet had the opportunity to put their product into action in disaster areas, it has already been deployed with great success for homes and remote locations (pillow bladder tanks serve as ideal low-space water storage for both homes and off-site projects such as oil rigs) and has been approved by the Israeli Water Authority for water distribution in emergency situations.

EZPack’s unique solution represents what is hopefully a growing trend in cleantech, an effort to use “green technology” to provide relief in emergency situations. As the world grows ever more connected, international crises, whether in Haiti, Japan, China, Chile, or elsewhere, must be responded to by global, technologically advanced solutions, and cleantech might be just the industry to create them.

Article appearing courtesy Israel NewTech.

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Abu Dhabi is staged to become one of the leaders in cleantech. With a recent multi-million dollar commitment to the development of renewable energy, this country which provides a large quantity of the world’s oil is poised to be a leader in renewable energy sources.

1 ) General Electric. In 2008, GE donated more than $50 million to the Masdar Cleantech fund to assist in established a center for clean energy technology in Abu Dhabi. The money is to be used through the Masdar Initiative, which is the umbrella group for all the current cleantech projects.

2 ) Masdar Initiative. One of Abu Dhabi’s largest cleantech programs is the Masdar Initiative. This company is dedicated to the development, commercialization, and deployment of clean technologies and renewable energy solutions. Masdar works alongside other global institutions to create new technologies that will increase renewable energy technologies. Its biggest project to date has been Masdar City. It was a city created by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi who wanted to create a viable response for a sustainable future. The city is currently becoming the global hub for clean technology and renewable energy. It is a city where global businesses can showcase, market, fund, research, develop, test, and implement their new technologies. The entire city is also powered through renewable energy and leaves no fossil fuel foot print. It has become the world’s most sustainable urban development.

3 ) Zayed Future Energy Prize. Abu Dhabi aims to inspire innovation as well as the development of solutions to assist with locating sustainable energy alternatives. The Zayad Future Energy Prize recognizes those governments, companies, institutions, NGOs, and even individuals who have developed and implemented sustainable energy solutions. It is a $1.5 million prize to assist in the acceleration of the idea.

4 ) Masdar Institute of Science and Technology. One of the most important things to the Abu Dhabi cleantech program is to foster research and development for the future. Opened in 2009, the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology offers a host of MSc and PhD programs that focus on sustainable technologies and renewable energies. This institute was created in cooperation of the United States Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT. Masdar Institute is to be the heart of the Masdar City research and development community. Researchers and students will be focused on collaborating on modern technological solutions for the challenges faced by the global community in regards to sustainability and renewable energy.

5 ) International Renewable Energy Agency. Located in Abu Dhabi is the International Renewable Energy Agency, or IRENA, for short. It was established in 2009 and currently has 148 member states. IRENA’s mission is to promote increased adoption of renewable and sustainable energy sources. IRENA is involved in the facilitation of all information regarding relevant renewable strategy techniques, as well as lessons to be learned, policy frameworks, and energy efficiency measures. IRENA maintains that renewable energy is a major solution the world’s current and future energy challenges. IRENA creates comprehensive solutions to problems, such as insufficient renewable energy awareness, technical barriers, insufficient funding for renewable energy projected, and lengthy permitting procedures.

6 ) World Future Energy Summit. Held every year in Abu Dhabi is the World Future Energy Summit. The summit provides an important platform needed to address the current and urgent global need to locate viable energy solutions that are not only secure, but sustainable as well. Policy makers, researchers, specialists, scientists, investors, and political leaders show up for this summit under the belief that an interdisciplinary approach to this challenge is the effective route to take. At the summit, there is the World Future Energy Exhibition, which looks a advanced renewable energy sources, and the World Future Environment Exhibition, which pays special focus to waste, water, and air management solutions and technologies.

7 ) TAQA. In 2005, TAQA was founded with the goal of becoming a leader on the global energy sector platform. Through innovation, integrity, teamwork, and performance, TAQA looks to be one of the premier energy companies. They provide companies on an international level with valuable information they can use to learn how to conserve energy. In the Netherlands, for example, TAQA assists with CO2 storage and energy conservation.

8 ) Abu Dhabi Recycling Initiative. The residents of Abu Dhabi generate more than one and a half kilograms of waste per day. In one year alone, Abu Dhabi will make more than five million tonnes of waste. Abu Dhabi ranks high among the list of cities generating the most amount of waste. To lower these numbers, the Center of Waste Management created an incentive program to be given to Abu Dhabi residents who join the comprehensive recycling scheme. The scheme involves the handing out of two different garbage bins, one for recyclables and one for waste. This is the first eco-friendly recycling program to be launched in Abu Dhabi.

9 ) Intelligent Transportation System. There are many cars on the road in Abu Dhabi and because of this; they have been looking at viable ways to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Through the use of the Intelligent Transportation System, or ITS, the Department of Transport is hoping to lower their greenhouse emissions. ITS provides information on road congestion, highway advisories, and detour points. The thought is that by allowing individuals access to information about what are the quickest roads to take, the less they will be driving, and the less greenhouse gases to be emitted from the vehicle.

10 ) World’s Largest Solar Power Plant. Abu Dhabi’s Masdar company, along with Total and Abengoa Solar in Europe, are spending more than $600 million on a solar power plant that will put a dent in Abu Dhabi’s every growing energy needs. With this one being made, the expectation is that it will lead to the creation of more. The solar power plant will provide energy to the UAE’s national grid but will be supplied to Abu Dhabi in an effort to cut continually growing energy costs.

Article by Shawn Lesser, Co-founder & Managing Partner of Atlanta-based Watershed Capital Group – an investment bank assisting sustainable fund and companies raise capital, perform acquisitions, and in other strategic financial decisions. He is also a Co-founder of the GCCA Global Cleantech Cluster Association ”The Global Voice of Cleantech”. He writes for various cleantech publications and is known as the David Letterman of Cleantech for his “Top 10″ series. He can be reached at shawn@watershedcapital.com

photo: slleong

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Muammar Gadhaffi’s 42 year-old regime is in its death rattle – maybe today, maybe tomorrow, his administration that has ruled Libya with a quixotic and brutal hand is about to pass, in Trotsky’s piquant phrase, “into the dustbin of history,” prompting the question “what next?”

The glittering prize is Libya’s 1.6 million barrels per day output of high quality crude, which accounted for about 2 percent of global oil output drawn from Africa’s largest oil reserves, whose exports have been stymied since the NATO-led campaign began six months ago. Projecting into the future, analysts believe that has reserves to sustain its previous level of production for 80 years.

Who will eventually control this asset, with oil prices currently at roughly $84 a barrel, generating an income of more than $12.6 million per day?

Italy’s ENI?

France’s Total?

Britain’s BP?

U.S. companies?

Or, will China add Libyan future production to its string of acquisitions, as it is already China’s eleventh largest source of imports?

The crystal ball is murky indeed, but when the uprising against Gadhaffi began six months ago, according to the Chinese media, about 36,000 Chinese were in Libya working on 50 projects.

Cautiously accepting the new reality, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement posted Monday on the ministry’s website, “The Chinese side respects the choice of the Libyan people. The Chinese side is willing to work with the international community to play a positive role in the reconstruction process of Libya in the future.”

The key word here is “reconstruction,” a noun conspicuously absent from any statements by the NATO coalition members.

When the uprising against Gadhaffi began 75 Chinese companies had already invested billions of dollars in Libya in infrastructure projects, including oil, railway and telecoms projects. After the insurrection erupted in February China began a substantial land, sea and air evacuation operation of its nationals.

Benghazi-based Libyan rebel oil firm Arabian Gulf Oil Co. (AGOCO) information manager Abdeljalil Mayouf cautioned however that China’s “softly, softly” approach to the uprising may initially cost it influence in the new Libyan reality, saying, “We don’t have a problem with Western countries like the Italians, French and UK companies. But we may have some political issues with Russia, China and Brazil.”

While many analysts believe that Italy’s ENI and France’s Total could be successful in post-insurrection Libya because of their countries’ heavy support for the rebels, it may all devolve down to a question of funding, and given Beijing’s pockets, despite its caution in its foreign policy, that may well give China the edge.

Few promoting the prospects of Italian and French energy firms now remember that just a couple of months ago the Libyan dissidents were literally begging for financial assistance.

Furthermore, particularly in African endeavors, Chinese investment has extended far beyond mere resource acquisition to providing infrastructure essentials such as roads, schools and health clinics, all of which will be in short supply in post-Gadhaffi Libya.

Finally, certainly last but not least, China has no history of colonialism in North Africa, unlike Libya (occupied by Italy, 1911-1947), Tunisia (France, 1883-1956), Algeria (France, 1830-1962), Morocco (France, 1906-1956) and Egypt (Britain, 1882-1922.) While such issues are not fiscally tangible, they may well influence the post-Gadhaffi negotiations.

Waiting in the wings are U.S. and Canadian companies such as Marathon, ConocoPhillips, Hess, Occidental and Suncor, which withdrew Libya at the onset of insurrection, as well as Russian companies, including oil firms Gazprom Neft and Tatneft, which had projects worth billions of dollars in Libya alongside Brazil’s Petrobras. BP, which did not have production in Libya before the war, said it was planning to return for exploration efforts.

In the coming weeks Libya’s National Transitional Council will doubtless be inundated with offers from various companies promoting their advantages. Total and ENI have the inside geographical edge, being across the Mediterranean, while American and British companies have cutting edge technology to refurbish Libya’s decrepit energy infrastructure.

But it is too early to count China out from the race – they do not come burdened by history, and they come with deeper pockets than all their competitors. The NTC, if it indeed represents the Libyan people, will not be unswayed by such concerns, as the European rivals have yet to utter the one of the words most dreaded on Wall Street in considering profits, “reconstruction.” Whatever the shortcomings of Beijing’s views of events in Africa’s largest oil producer, they do extend beyond mere corporate profits to include rebuilding, which is likely to ensure them a place at the table.

Article by John C.K. Daly, appearing courtesy OilPrice.com.

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Modern electronics as we know them, from televisions to computers, depend on conducting materials that can control electronic properties. As technology shrinks down to pocket sized communications devices and microchips that can fit on the head of a pin, nano-sized conducting materials are in big demand. Now, Prof. Eran Rabani of Tel Aviv University’s School of Chemistry at the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, in collaboration with Profs. Uri Banin and Oded Millo at the Hebrew University, has been able to demonstrate how semiconductor nanocrystals can be doped in order to change their electronic properties and be used as conductors. This opens a world of possibilities, says Prof. Rabani, in terms of applications of small electronic and electro-optical devices, such as diodes and photodiodes, electric components used in cellular phones, digital cameras, and solar panels.

Nanotechnology (sometimes shortened to “nanotech”) is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with structures sized between 1 to 100 nanometer in at least one dimension, and involves developing materials or devices possessing at least one dimension within that size. Quantum mechanical effects are very important at this scale, which is in the quantum realm.

Solar panels are typically made from a pn junction. This is an interface between two regions in a semiconductor crystal which have been treated so that one is a p-type semiconductor and the other is an n-type semiconductor; it contains a permanent dipole charge layer.

When they absorb light, the junction separates the negatively charged electrons and the positively charged holes, producing an electrical current, explains Prof. Rabani. “With this new method for doping nanocrystals to make them both p and n type, we hope that solar panels can be made not only more efficient, but cheaper as well,” he says. This research has been published recently in the journal Science.

According to Prof. Rabani, the quest to electrically dope nanocrystals has been an uphill battle. The crystals themselves have the capacity to self-purify, which means that they cleanse themselves of dopants. Also, he adds, some of the synthetic methods for doping were problematic on the nano-scale — the crystals were unable to withstand doping techniques applicable to bulk semiconductors.

The key, explains Prof. Rabani, was to find a method for doping the nanocrystals without “bleaching” their optical properties — and therefore nullifying their absorption capabilities. If you can dope nanocrystals in this way, he says, it opens the door to many practical applications based on nanocrystalline materials. “Whatever you can do with nanocrystals, you can do with doped nanocrystals — and more by controlling their electronic properties.”

The researchers used a scanning tunneling microscope (STM), a device that images surfaces at an atomic level, in order to determine the success of their doping procedure. These measurements indicated how the Fermi energy of the nanocrystals changed upon doping, a key feature in controlling the electronic properties of electronic devices. The results, notes Prof. Rabani, indicate that the nanocrystals have been doped with both n-type dopants, indicating the presence of excess electrons in the nanocrystals, and p-type, which contribute positively charged holes to the semiconductors. This will allow for their use in electronics that require a pn junction, such as solar panels, light emitting diodes, and more.

Prof. Rabani says that this technology can go a long way. Doping semiconductors, he explains, has been essential for the development of technology. “Parallel to this, we also know we want to make electrical components very small. A big portion of future electronics or optics is going to be based on doping nanoparticles.”

Article by Andy Soos, appearing courtesy Environmental News Network.

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