Black gold in the desert August 26, 2008
Posted by israelrenewableenergy in Blog.Tags: dead sea, energy, Fuel Efficiency, Israel, judean desert, oil, SPNI
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The Jerusalem Post reports on potential oil discoveries (and the potential ensuing environmental damage) in yesterday’s paper. (see JP article) While at first blush, it looks to be a significant step towards making Israel more energy independent, it’s a mirage. According to SPNI (Society for Protection of Nature in Israel, also known as חברה הגנת הטבה ) :
Israel uses about 80 million barrels of oil per year, or 270,000 per day. 6.5 million barrels would meet Israel’s needs for less than a month.
According to a JP article in 2006, the oil could potentially be extracted at a rate of 1,000 barrels per day for 15 years. Translation: for massive environmental damage, Israel could provide .00037% of her daily energy needs on her own.
The talkbacks appear to be dominated by the “Drill now. Drill everywhere” form of energy policy. Hopefully rational minds will prevail and realize that the return on investment to the country and the people (though not to the oil drilling company) will be much greater by a series of un-sexy initiatives that look at consolidating land-use, enabling better public transit, assessing tax policy vis-a-vis corporate leasing programs, and raising fuel efficiency standards as a start.
Simple is beautiful August 26, 2008
Posted by israelrenewableenergy in Blog.Tags: cars, electric vehicle, energy efficiency, Fuel Efficiency, Israel
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Sexy solutions, like an electric vehicle, with its revolutionary ideas of completely changing the world get so much play, it fails to remind us mere mortals that there are other ways to achieve efficiency. For this reason, it’s nice to see that Israeli company, Agam Energy Systems is able to get a little press.
The Jerusalem Post today says that Agam’s new engine prototype can
enable cars to drive at 45 km/litre. The engine is more efficient even in start and stop city driving because the car stores recoverable kinetic energy.
If this is true, it certainly will be encouraging information. Let’s keep a close eye to see how it works out.
