[img]96|left|||no_popup[/img]Dateline Jerusalem – It started on Shabbat a couple of weeks ago when visiting friends. The electricity went off for a few minutes. The lights went back on, but their air-conditioner unit needed to be re-set, and dealing with electricity on Shabbat is forbidden. At least their apartment had cross ventilation when the windows were opened. Then during the week, all of a sudden the electricity would go off again for several consecutive days. Sometimes it was for minutes, sometimes for well over an hour. It is a good thing I have surge protectors. Last Shabbat while in the midst of prayer, the lights and air-conditioning quit at the shul (synagogue) and never went back on. It seems that there are planned electrical outages or “brown-outs” due to the shortage of electricity to prevent a total blackout in the country during this extremely hot summer we are experiencing in Israel. Because of the Arab Spring revolution in Egypt last year, Egypt has stopped its export of natural gas from Sinai to Israel, in violation of its agreement to provide natural gas to Israel after Israel returned the Sinai to Egypt.
Israel might be having an energy crisis, but so am I. I have no energy to leave my hot apartment! Not that I am complaining. But 102-degree temperatures with up to 91 percent humidity has made me lethargic. I finally bought a portable air-conditioner and moved into my living room. The recliner chair I won on a quiz show 25 years ago has become my bed and dining room table because it is positioned in front of the air-conditioner unit. I am still hot because although it has been set to a comfortable 74 degrees (22 C), so far 88 degrees (29 C) is the coolest my apartment has been since I purchased the unit, and it has been going full blast the entire time. I hate to see what my electric bill will be this month. The only good thing is, I have finally figured out how to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius and vice versa.
For those of my family and friends who live in the hot but dry, Mojave Desert of California, wind turbines that look like airplane propeller windmills and giant solar panels can be seen from the freeway. Both are Israeli innovations. The Israeli company Solel has nine fields of solar collectors in the Mojave Desert and signed a contract to build the Mojave Solar Park, which allegedly will be the world's largest solar generating plant. Zenith Solar invented a new technology of concentrated solar power which is supposedly five times more efficient than standard technology, but at the approximate cost of traditional fossil fuels. Solar energy in Israel comprises 3 percent of the primary national energy consumption, making Israel the world leader in the use of solar energy per capita. Solar water heaters are on the roofs of all new houses and most apartment buildings. I never run out of hot water as I used to when I lived in the States.
Although Israel is mostly desert and has a water crisis, Israelis have turned this country into a green and blooming nation with the development of desalination programs, drip irrigation, waste-water reuse projects, and agricultural and water technologies and inventions. Supposedly the regular water in Israel ranks as one of the best in world quality. I cannot attest to that because I drink bottled water out of habit.
Israel is literally “green” because it is the only nation in the world which has more trees now than it did 100 years ago. Planting a tree in Israel has become an obsession, as over 75 percent of Israelis have actually done so. And, the Jewish National Fund has been planting trees in Israel since 1901!!!! When my father, A”H, died last year, friends bought a grove of trees to be planted in an Israeli forest in his memory. Unfortunately, the Arabs have found a new way to terrorize Israel. They set forest fires.
Israel has one of the highest rates in recyclable bottle returns in the world. In Israel, 77 percent of recyclable plastic bottles are returned, as compared to recycling rates of 29 percent in the U.S. and 48 percent in Europe. It is probably because every street corner has a plastic bottle recycling cage. If the street is long, these cages are close to most apartment buildings. The environment is a big topic with Israelis.
California might have carpool lanes and gasoline emission standards, but Israelis fight traffic, limited parking, and air pollution by riding bikes. For example, the cities of Tel Aviv and Herzliya are constructing a bike path linking the two cities. In Tel Aviv, the rental of bikes is a common practice. There are over 80 docking stations with bicycles positioned throughout the city. Two thousand bikes are rented every day. A person collects a bike in one part of the city and drops it off on the other side of town. A person does whatever he/she wants to do and while doing it, a second person rides the bike that was docked by the first person. Special trucks go around the city to balance the inventory of bicycles from full stations to empty stations so that bike rentals are available for everyone.
Although I am not an environmentalist, as I cannot seem to do without plastic silverware and plates, or plastic water bottles, I am fascinated by the various ways Israelis are dealing with the problems of energy consumption, water shortages, and pollution. The nation as a whole works together to improve the world we live in.
L'hitraot. Shachar
