This week there was a milestone
announcement that some may have missed.
Half of Israel’s electricity now comes from natural
gas - mainly from the new Tamar offshore gas field. As if to mark the occasion, last week was
ablaze with news of energetic Israelis and their innovations and
achievements.
Coinciding with the landmark natural gas
highlight, Israel Corporation subsidiary IC
Green Energy inaugurated a facility in New Jersey to produce
gasoline from natural gas. The
plant can produce up to 100,000 gallons (440,000 liters) of gasoline a
year. Automobiles will be able to use
the lower cost, less emissions fuel without any modifications.
Staying in the US, Ebay has brought in
Israel’s Ormat Technologies to build a 5MW Recoverable
Energy Generator (REG) for its Utah data center. REGs turn waste energy
from industrial processes into usable electrical power. Ormat already recovers 160 megawatts in the
USA and 595 MW worldwide.
Turning to individuals, Israel’s Miss
Israel beauty queen, 22-year-old Ethiopian-born
Yityish Aynaw, certainly energized the citizens of Los Angeles,
where she was a guest of Christian preacher Ronald V. Myers. Rev Myers said
that everyone should know what Israel did to rescue Ethiopian Jews. Over in Amsterdam, a 19-year-old Israeli,
Shahar Shenhar, used the “magical”
energy of his playing cards to become 2013 world champion at Magic: The Gathering. MtG is as popular as chess among young
intellectuals.
When there is too much energy, Israel’s
fire scouts are on hand to help put out the flames. About 1,500 Israeli teens (often from
problem homes) learn to operate fire trucks, ladders and hoses, plus rescue
techniques and types of fires. Their
skills have saved lives directly, including two 18-month-old babies rescued
from a burning apartment. Energetic
kids also need safeguarding, so you may wish to consider the Israeli Foxiwatch
to keep a watch on them. The Foxiwatch has GPS, a mobile phone and
an emergency contact button.
For those who need more sophisticated monitoring
of their energy levels and other physiological readings, Israel’s Elfi Tech monitors
your pulse rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, blood flow and much more,
non-invasively at any time with the help of a sensor smaller than a dime. It has just been selected as a finalist of
the Nokia Sensing XChallenge.
Food and water are the basic components of
energy for mankind. Agriculture in the Balkans received a boost when Israel’s
Makhteshim Agan Industries purchased Magan Agrochemicals Serbia. The Israeli company supplies solutions to
farmers that combat
disease and increase yields.
Over in Asia, “Israeli
water week” brought over Israel’s Netafim, Amiad, Bermad and Odis to
Vietnam to forge cooperation and demonstrate their advanced water technologies.
One of the functions of proteins in the
body is to break down food to produce energy.
However, there was far more on the menu of the ninth Jakub K. Parnas
Conference at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The conference, entitled
“Proteins - from Birth to Death” fueled the interest
of 160 leading biomedical scientists from Israel, Europe and the US. One protein - Collagen - is the most
abundant protein in mammals, keeping
the body moving by repairing damaged muscles and wounds. Israel’s
Collplant synthesizes Collagen and has received a 10% injection of foreign
funds to help propel Collplant’s products around China. Nearby, a Japanese investment in Israel’s
Argo Medical will increase the speed of production of its unique ReWalk
exoskeleton and enable more
paraplegics to walk.
Back in Israel, more
people are back on their feet despite the global economic slowdown. Israel’s August unemployment rate fell to
6.1%, the lowest in two decades. At the same time, participation in the labor
market continues to expand, reaching 64% in August. Israel’s economy may be stable, but a new chain of cafes is
keeping the price
of a caffeine fix as low as possible.
In fact, all beverages and food at Israel’s new kosher café chain,
Cofix, will be just 5 shekels per item.
Customers for the first new takeaway-only franchise in Tel Aviv were
queuing far down the street.
Finally, if you really are suffering from a
lack of energy then look forward to the day when you will be able to swap your
regular coffee in exchange for Israel’s brand new beverage. Israeli startup Inno-Bev’s has developed an
all-natural drink called “WakeUp”,
which has won Best Functional Drink at the Drinktec Beverage Innovation
Awards. WakeUp contains guarana, ginkgo
biloba, elderberry and a unique apple sugar with a low glycaemic index that
reduces sugar fluctuation.
Come back next week for another burst of
Israel’s positive energy.
Michael Ordman writes a free weekly
newsletter containing Good News stories about Israel.
For a free subscription, email a request to
michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com
