Archive | 2012 | August | 01

Energy and Water Ministry launches project to raise consciousness of electricity consumption

In an attempt to raise public awareness about national energy consumption as the summer heat drains Israel’s power production capability, the Energy and Water Ministry launched a unique venture to put the country’s energy usage in front of every Tel Avivi’s eyes Wednesday night.

A graph made up of 270,000 LED bulbs on 4.5km of tracking has been installed on Tel Aviv’s Reading power plant’s smoke stack. The installation rises 100 meters over Tel Aviv’s port, is six meters wide and consumes a mere nine kWh, the power used to run four electric kettles. It plots the country’s energy consumption in real-time.

“Presenting a graph of the energy demand aims to light up the eyes and enlighten the nation regarding the power shortage,” National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau said.

The project, designed by artist and lighting designer Gil Teichman, displays and illustrates electricity demand versus production capacity in real-time.

Israel is in the midst of a severe power shortage. Power supplies took a major blow with the halting of natural gas supplies from Egypt earlier this year, and the IEC warned that this summer its power-generating abilities would be a mere one percent above the expected demand.

Source: Times of Israel

Arik Zeevi, Israel’s last judoka, aims for his second Olympic medal

Zeevi is the last of the country’s judokas to compete in London. The 35-year-old, a four-time European champion and bronze medalist in Athens ’04, aims to end his profesional career with a second Olympic medal.

Remember: Event times are listed as they appear in London — please make the right adjustments (Israelis add 2 hours; US East Coast residents subtract 5).

Here’s the Thursday schedule:

• Judo: Arik Zeevi will compete in the under 100kg category; qualifying rounds start at 9:44am, semifinals 2-4pm, finals at 4:10-4:20pm.
• Tennis: Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich hope to play between 11:30am-8pm, as rain delays have changed the tennis tournament’s schedule.
• Swimming: Nimrod Shapira Bar Or will swim in the 100m butterfly qualifying heats, 11:10-11:44am.
• Sailing: Shahar Tzuberi and Lee Kurzits will take part in races 5 and 6, while Gideon Kliger and Eran Sela start their journey in races 1 and 2 with the 470 model. All will race between 12-6pm.
• Possible finals: Yaakov Tomarkin (swimming, 200m backstroke), 7:46pm. Gal Nevo (swimming, 200m medley), 8:15pm

Source: Times of Israel

Nothing can stop Claire Danes from traveling to Israel to shoot “Homeland” — not even a baby.

The actress is expecting her first child with her husband, Hugh Dancy, and is keeping busy by shooting the drama’s second season.

She revealed that her pregnancy won’t be written into the script, telling a Television Critics Association panel that “We’re about midway (through season two), we’re shooting episode six; this hasn’t run into any interference. (I was a) little concerned (about the physicality of the role but) it’s proven to be a non-issue. All is well and (Danes’ CIA agent character) Carrie remains fervently non-pregnant.”

She also revealed that she would go abroad to Israel with the cast if producers scheduled the trip that they announced in March.

Danes said, “I think people think of Israel as being incredibly dangerous and volatile – that was not my experience. He (the baby) will have to come with me – he, she, whoever he is.”

The Showtime hit is based off of the Israeli television series “Prisioners of War” ( “Hatufim”).

Source: Jspace.com

Playing at the New Ohio Theater, August 17th- August 27th

A new play presented by TheaterCan, an Israeli theatre company, exploring the creation of an Arab-Israeli Romeo & Juliet musical, will have its New York debut as part of the 16th Annual New York International Fringe Festival

When five men from completely different backgrounds come together to work on a new and extremely controversial show, the production threatens to turn into a spectacular and amusing disaster. As their rehearsal room becomes a demi-battlefield, filled with drama and suspense, the men struggle to keep the production alive. Will one passionate gay director, a heated Arab-Israeli conflict and a confirmed male pregnancy take the production to the next level, or manage to tear everything apart? “DOGS” is an original production exploring the creation of a play within a play. “The show is a biting comedy that was created following a workshop of Jewish and Arab male actors that aims to deal with the mutual alienation and rage that both sides have become accustomed to”, says Ido Bornstein, the playwright responsible for ”DOGS” and founding member of the TheaterCan Company. “The result is a comedy that sheds light on the Israeli-Arab conflict from a gender-based perspective while incorporating social commentary in a way that is unexpected and stimulating”

The TheaterCan collective, led by Artistic Director Shlomo Plessner, will arrive in New York for 2 weeks to perform two of their critically- acclaimed plays that have been accepted into the festival. “Honest” and “DOGS”. “Honest”, a play written by acclaimed English playwright DC Moore has undergone a brilliant adaptation by the TheatreCan group, while “DOGS” is an original play written by award-winning Israeli playwright Ido Bornstein.

The cast includes Lavi Zytner (Best Actor, Israeli Theater Awards 2008), Benjamin David Elder, Mahmoud Mora, Rami Kashi and Hai Maor.  Directed by Shlomo Plessner. Written by Ido Bornstein Choreography by Ronit Ziv. Original Music by Galit florentz.

TheaterCan is an Israeli dynamic troupe of acclaimed artists founded by Artistic Director Shlomo Plessner and Playwright Ido Bornstein, creators of ‘Sunrise’, ‘Lice’ and ‘Hunger’ (Best Fringe Play award, 2004, presented at the FIND Festival for International New Drama at the Berlin Schaubühne Theater). Many TheatreCan’s plays are written following workshops with the actors from diverse backgrounds. TheaterCan strives to merge the documentary art forms with poetic expression while presenting a fresh, funny and compassionate voice from Israel.

‘DOGS’ will premiere on Thursday, August 16th at 6:30pm with additional performances on Sunday, Aug.19th at 5:00pm, Tuesday Aug. 21st at 2:00pm ,Thursday, Aug. 23rd at 8:30pm and Friday Aug. 24th at 10:15pm at The New Ohio Theatre located at 154 Christopher Street New York, N.Y. Tickets are $15 online at: http://www.fringenyc.org/basic_page.php?ltr=D#DOGS:A.

For more information about the NY Fringe Festival visit: http://www.fringenyc.org/index.php

Israeli wastewater treatment solutions provider Aqwise today announced that it has raised $4.5 million in a financing round led by new strategic investor -Triveni Engineering & Industries, a publicly traded industrial group based in India, with a fast growing water division focused on high-end technology projects.

Aqwise increased its global activity and currently operates through local representatives and partnerships in more than 30 countries, with approximately 200 municipal and industrial installations worldwide. In India, Aqwise’s technology is implemented in a large-scale surface water purification project, treating daily over 150,000 cubic meters of water from the Yamuna River. This project alone is set to provide clean drinking water to over two million inhabitants of the city of Agra, home of the famous Taj Mahal.

Aqwise has won growing global recognition for its innovative technologies. For the fourth consecutive year, Aqwise was named as one of Deloitte’s Israeli Fast 50 Technology companies, and Deloitte’s Fast 500 Technology for the EMEA region. It also won recognition for the third consecutive year at The Guardian’s and The Cleantech Group’s “Global Cleantech 100” prestigious list.

Mr. Nikhil Sawhney, Director of Triveni Group said, “We are thrilled to join a global technological leader in the field of water and wastewater treatment. We view this investment as highly synergetic to our Water Business Group, and see immense potential for Aqwise’s cutting-edge biological processes in India, as well as in other developing markets”.

“This is a vote of confidence from a strategic investor in one of the world’s fastest-growing markets for water treatment”, says Elad Frenkel, Aqwise’s CEO, “After securing this type of investment, espsecially during the current global financial atmosphere, Aqwise is well-positioned to meet its next business and technological challenges. Aqwise is committed to stay in the forefront of innovative water technologies implementation and development”.

Source: Israel New Tech

Artist behind naked photoshoot will return to Dead Sea for mass float to raise awareness to ever increasing disappearance of natural treasure

Photographer Spencer Tunick is heading back to the Dead Sea for a mass float with the purpose of raising awareness to the disappearing Dead Sea. Tunick will take part in the event and may even photograph it.

The event to save the Dead Sea held by the “Save Our Sea” organization is being held for the third year running and will take place on September 14 from 9 am on the Ein Bokek coast.

Environmental activists and concerned citizens from around the world will gather at the Dead Sea where they will float on the water – an experience unique to the Dead Sea.

Tunick’s Dead Sea shoot from last year and the media storm that followed contributed to raising awareness to the deteriorating conditions of the unique natural treasure.

Following the reactions to the shoot, Tunick decided to join this year’s protest to raise awareness to the increasing disappearance of the Dead Sea.

This is the third mass float which will be held to remind people that the Dead Sea is not just a natural treasure but also serves as a source of remedies for patients from around the world who are in desperate need of its medicinal benefits.

The Save Our Sea group includes people who suffer from various skin conditions such as psoriasis and who count on the Dead Sea area climate and its curative attributes to treat skin conditions.

Source: Ynetnews.com

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