Ketura In The News

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Life's (not just) a beach
Nathan Burstein, The Jerusalem Post
Feb. 1, 2007

Promoted by locals as the perfect combination of "sun, sea, sand and sex," Eilat exists for most Israelis only as a seaside resort. With its luxury hotels, informal eateries and general emphasis on beachside escapism, the city inhabits a special place in the national consciousness, seen as one of the few cities unburdened by the country's complicated ancient and more recent history.

But the Eilat area, contrary to what most Israelis believe, has both a history worth exploring and a list of tourist offerings perfectly suited for the winter, when cooler weather and shorter daylight hours make the beach and boardwalk somewhat less enticing than in the busy summer months.

Foremost among the region's winter attractions is Timna National Park, a 25-kilometer drive north from Eilat. Stretched across 60 square kilometers, the park features the remnants of ancient copper mining that took place at the site, with a multimedia presentation, "Mines of Time," ready for viewing in Hebrew and English at the park's Visitors Center. Timna, the presentation explains, was the site of some of the earliest mining in human history, with the first miners later eclipsed by the Egyptians, who mined the area for centuries and relied in part on the assistance of the Midians, the tribe from the Arabian Peninsula that plays a special role in the Bible. Evidence of various mining techniques remains visible through much of the park, with visitors' understanding of the site supplemented by explanatory placards based on the modern research and excavations in the area that began in the late 1950s.

While Timna offers replicas of the ancient Egyptian civilization that left its mark on the area, the park can perhaps be most enjoyably explored by bicycle, with Timna now offering organized biking tours for visitors to the site. (The park is open weekdays in the winter between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., closing Fridays at 1 p.m.) Biking within the park can be arranged by calling (08) 631-6756, with pricing dependent on the number and ages of group members. Bike and helmet rentals can be arranged in advance, with escorts available to provide information about the park and ensure the safety of riders on the park's many kilometers of bike trails.

The significance of the Eilat region as an ancient crossroads of peoples and civilizations can be viewed elsewhere in the park at one of Timna's more recent additions, a restoration of the Tabernacle, the moveable holy site the ancient Israelites are said to have carried with them as they fled Egypt on their way to the Promised Land. Though plastic dummies dressed as ancient Israelite priests give the site a bit of a kitschy feel - at least in the words of one visitor on the day I went - diagrams of the ancient Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and the life-size Ark of the Covenant nevertheless serve as thought-provoking illustrations of the story of Jewish desert wandering recalled in the Torah. Connections between that ancient story and the present moment can be further considered over lunch at Niguvim, a new restaurant within view of the new Ark that is also located next to Lake Timna, a small body of water drawn from local salt-water wells where visitors can ride paddle-boats. Those lingering over their lunches can see the role the area continues to play as a crossroads for wanderers, with several of those among the restaurant's wait-staff recent refugees from the ongoing genocide in Darfur.

While Timna Park closes to the public at night, many of the area's other winter attractions offer comfortable facilities for overnight stays and guided activities during the day. The same Israelis who disparaged the new Tabernacle had nothing but praise for Kibbutz Lotan, Kibbutz Ketura, Kibbutz Yahel and Kibbutz Eilot, each located just off the main highway leading north from Eilat. With pleasant staffs comprised in part by immigrants from English-speaking countries, the three kibbutzim represent a "completely special connection with Judaism" and the type of Zionism that no longer plays a role in the country's most populated areas, one Israeli-born skeptic commented. Kibbutzim Ketura and Yahel offer similar activities for visitors, with tours of the kibbutz grounds and farming areas, where guests can pick pomelo fruit, peppers and other seasonal crops and learn how the kibbutzim have succeeded despite the lack of fresh water in the area. (The salty water provided by local wells makes plants act "diabetic," one tour guide explained, with the resulting cherry tomatoes and other produce ultimately tasting sweeter than those grown with fresh water.)

Located across the highway - really just a two-lane road - from the Yitzhak Rabin border crossing with Jordan, Kibbutz Eilot is home to a number of man-made marshes, where birds migrating between Europe and Africa stop for layovers during their long journeys. Bright pink flamingoes serve as a main attraction in January, but a wide range of other species also stop at the salt-water marshes - also drawn from nearby wells - throughout the year.

For those flying back to central and northern Israel, a pleasant and convenient final stop before the airport is the Denis Kingdom restaurant, where visitors can sample a wonderful selection of dishes emphasizing the Denis fish (bream), a species grown in hatcheries just behind the restaurant. (Visitors interested in looking at what they're about to eat can tour the hatchery before their meal.) With its excellent breads, spreads and wines - and several well-prepared meat dishes for non-fish lovers - the recently renovated Denis Kingdom also offers pleasant views of the rugged red mountains behind the Jordanian port of Aqaba.

And for those looking for another first-rate meal on their way north, an additional highly worthwhile option is the Shaharut Inn (www.camel-riders.com), an isolated spot inspired by Beduin-style living where visitors can eat delicious salads, grilled meats and desserts before retiring, if they choose to stay the night, in pleasant, heated rooms with modern plumbing and amazing views of the starry night sky. The Shaharut Inn, which also arranges camel tours that can last for a matter of hours or up to two weeks, is located further away from the highway and from the more traditional tourist activities of the area, and offers a totally different kind of experience for those looking for a respite from the routine of life back at home. n

The writer was a guest of the Development Regional Council Eilot.

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Analysis: Algae may produce biofuels

By LEAH KRAUSS
UPI Energy Correspondent
BINYAMINA, Israel, Aug. 28 (UPI)

The newest source of biofuel, an oil alternative, could be algae that feed off of polluting factory emissions, researchers say.
"Looking for economical ways to produce biofuel is, shall I say, popular these days," Amir Drory of Kibbutz Ketura, Israel-based Alga Technologies told United Press International.
Companies try making the oil alternative from "agricultural products, all kinds of creatures, or fermentation," Drory said.
AlgaTech, with Drory leading the project, and a partner, Cambridge, Mass.-based GreenFuel Technologies Corp., are taking a more unusual approach: algae.

The plant best known for creating a kind of green film on the surfaces of ponds or neglected swimming pools can produce fuel and hydrocarbons. There are a few ways to do this, Drory explained. Creating biodiesel directly involves a simple process of photosynthesis, where the algae use sunlight and carbon dioxide to produce sugars, fats and proteins. "If you are able to use a specific form of microalgae, it will produce components of biodiesel," Drory said.

In other words, don't stop cleaning your pool in hopes of becoming an energy baron. AlgaTech and Green Fuel are spending three years on the research project, which from AlgaTech's end mainly involves finding the perfect type of microalgae for the job.

GreenFuel's plan is to get the carbon dioxide needed for the process by setting up shop next to big CO2 producers like factories. This way, instead of releasing the harmful greenhouse gas into the air, it feeds the algae.

In the carbon dioxide's place, oxygen is released as a byproduct of the photosynthesis.
Because the factories could be in different climates, the strain of microalgae chosen, in addition to being cost-effective, must be able to thrive in many different types of conditions, Drory said. Biodiesel is the most likely form the algae-produced fuel will take, but the process could also produce ethanol through a fermentation process, Drory said.

He said that producing a fossil fuel with microalgae is also possible, since plants are carbon-based, but that this is the "last priority" of research. But whatever form the new fuel takes, the end product is likely to be "pretty much the same" as existing forms of biofuel, Drory said, noting that compatibility would make the fuel more marketable.

In a special report in its May 2006 issue, the magazine Popular Mechanics compared different types of alternative fuel against the amount of gasoline it would take to drive a Honda Civic cross-country. The report considered the raw materials involved, the total cost, and the gas mileage, and tried to control for car size and weight as much as possible.

The Civic running on gasoline used 90.9 gallons -- 4.5 barrels of crude -- and got 33 miles to the gallon. At a cost of $2.34 per gallon, the total fuel cost was $212.70.

The biodiesel cars, either a Volkswagen Golf or a New Beetle TDI, would take 68.2 gallons of B100 fuel to get cross country, which is equivalent to about 16, 5-gallon jugs of used vegetable oil. The magazine put the per-gallon cost at $3.40, and with a high economy of 44 miles per gallon, the trip's price tag was $231. "B20 would lower the cost of the trip to less than $183," the report said. Finally, the 2005 Taurus FFV was used to crunch E85 ethanol's numbers. It cost a full two times more than the Civic, at $425 for the trip. The difference came not from the price, which at $2.41 per gallon is not much more than pure gasoline, but from the poor gas mileage -- only 17 miles to the gallon.

As a result, the car would require 176 gallons of E85 to make the New York to California trip, or 53 bushels of corn and half a barrel of crude oil, the magazine said. "This (ethanol-gasoline) mix provides about 15 percent less mileage than straight gasoline, but burns cleanly and reduces pollution," the report said. The United States has several tax incentives and credits for retailers and blenders of biodiesel and ethanol.

Under the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, ethanol blenders and retailers are eligible for the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit. The credit is 51 cents per pure gallon of ethanol blended, or half a cent per percentage point of ethanol blended. For instance, the E85 fuel, which is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, would be eligible for a 43 cent-per-gallon tax credit, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy division.

Meanwhile, section 1344 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended the tax credit for biodiesel producers through 2008. The credits are $1 per gallon of agri-biodiesel and 50 cents per gallon of waste-grease biodiesel, the Department of Energy said.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL January 10th, 2006
The Charles Bronfman Prize will name Dr. Alon Tal as the recipient of its $100,000 humanitarian award in Jerusalem, Israel on January 10, 2006. Tal, 45, is the founder of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and the Israel Union for Environmental Defense.

Three years ago the Charles Bronfman Prize was created "to illuminate and reward the work of those young visionaries whose talent and achievements are revolutionizing Jewish life through their creativity, dedication to community service or through inspiring the emerging generation of leaders through the excellence of their achievements." Tal will receive the award in a Jerusalem ceremony in which Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski, and former Israeli Minister of Justice, Dan Meridor, are expected to participate.

At age 29, Tal founded Adam Teva V'din, the Israel Union for Environmental Defense, to fight for Israeli environmental rights. Considered Israel's most effective environmental organization, it has won countless legal actions, garnered more stringent regulations, tougher enforcement policies, and increased environmental initiatives. "Tal's actions have forever changed the face of environmental policy in Israel," said the founders.

In 1995, building on his academic expertise as a lecturer in environmental policy, Tal created the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, a multi-disciplinary program in which students from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan and other countries study side by side. "It's the most logical combination one can imagine," says Tal, "since environmental challenges recognize no borders and any solution to this region's problems can only come from an international cooperative approach." At the Arava Institute, located on Kibbutz Ketura, it is not uncommon to see a Moslem Palestinian student, wearing the traditional hijab woman's head covering, sharing a meal or comparing notes with a recently discharged young Israeli soldier. The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies is the premier teaching and research center in the Middle East, preparing future Arab and Jewish leaders to cooperatively solve the region's environmental challenges.

Alon Tal has inspired the students to carry on the work he has begun, and thus he has in fact inspired the emerging generation of leaders through the excellence of his achievements