Den grønne side af Israel

Der fokuseres i øjeblikket meget på Cleantech op til Klimakonference i december fra israelsk side. Israelerne kender til den danske model og ser Danmark som forgangsland indenfor vedvarende energi. Israel ligger på femte pladsen i top 10 af de lande, der har mest fokus på Cleantech, Danmark ligger på første pladsen.

Derfor har det også været naturligt for Shai Agassi fra Better Place at se mod, samt promovere, sit storstilet projektet om elbiler i Danmark. I samarbejde med DONG energy ønskes, det at sætte elbiler på markedet, hvor batteriet kan skiftes for at fremme køreglæden for alle, og ikke kun for folk, der kører korte distancer.




Ovennævnte eksempel er sikkert det første, der tænkes på når man tænker Cleantech i Israel. Men Israel har en længere historie indenfor vedvarende energi, der kommer til udtryk i deres forskning og R&D, men også at der findes over 100 virksomheder indenfor vedvarende energi, der generer millioner af dollar hvert år.

Israel var et af de første lande til at anvende solenergi til opvarmning. Den dag i dag udgører 14-22 procent af elektriciteten, der udbydes i Israel af energi fra solpaneler. Særligt kendte er virksomhederne Orbotech og Camtek. Et andet aspekt er udvindelse af geotermal power som Ormat er kendt for.




Der kigges også mod vindenergi i Israel, men mere på teknologien bag at få mest muligt ud af elektriciteten, der genereres af vindmøllerne. Elspec er et førende firma for at få mest muligt ud af motorerne i vindmøllerne, de har også Danmark i kiggerten, men det er et emne Vestas og Greentech selv forsker meget i.

Ud over solenergi som er udbredt i Israel er også vandteknologi. Hvert år i november afholdes WATEC som belyser forskellig teknologi til at rense, oplagering, og udvindning af vand indenfor adskillige sektorer. Israel var et af de første lande til at forske og udføre rensning af salt vand, dette forskes der stadigvæk i for at nedsætte omkostningerne. For første gang deltager en større dansk delegation i WATEC i år, det bliver spændende at følge om der kommer flere projekter mellem Danmark og Israel i fremtiden.

For mere information læs:
http://www.israelcleantech.com/default.asp
http://www.export.gov.il/Eng/SubIndex.asp?CategoryID=179

Better Place will spend $1.1b on Israeli electric car project

Dubi Ben-Gedalyahu - Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 4, 2009

Better Place will have to invest $1.1 billion over the next six years to buy the batteries and build the battery replacement centers and recharging points for its electric car venture in Israel alone, according to a report by Deutsche Bank on electric cars.

Over the past year, Deutsche Bank conducted an in-depth analysis of Better Place's business plans and economic model, which includes the capital investment (for purchasing the batteries), locking in energy costs with long-term contracts with utilities, and payment by customers through subscriber fees.

Deutsche Bank concludes that most of model's profitability comes from the arbitrage gap between the wholesale purchase price of the electricity and the price of fuel. The bank estimates that as the global price of oil rises, and as governments increase incentives for emissions-free vehicles, the arbitrage gap will widen, rendering Better Place's business model more attractive.

Deutsche Bank believes that Better Place's model could be feasible even without government aid, but mainly in specific areas around the world with high fuel prices and relatively long journeys. The bank figures are partly based on Better Place's own estimates.

The bank estimates that the company could achieve a 5% share of Israel's vehicle fleet by 2016, amounting to 110,000 electric vehicles.

This 110,000 figure is based on a net annual growth rate of 14,000-30,000 subscribers a year in 2012-16. Deutsche Bank believes that if this target is reached, and assuming average annual revenue of $4,250 per subscriber, Better Place could see $500 million revenue a year by the end of 2016.

Deutsche Bank estimates that the majority of Better Place's investment will be capital investment in buying the batteries. Deutsche Bank expects the cost of the batteries to gradually drop from $14,000 each today to $9.500 each in 2015. Assuming 110,000 cars by 2016, the investment could reach $1 billion. In addition, Better Place will have to invest $25 million to set up 50 battery replacement centers, and up to $57 million to set up 77,000 recharging points at $750 per point.

Israeli scientists find stroke drug could help cure cancer

By Ofri Ilani, Haaretz Correspondent

Israeli scientists have identified a substance that can kill cancerous cells without harming healthy ones, paving the way for more effective cancer treatment.

The findings by researchers at Tel Aviv University and Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, were published in the current issue of the international peer-reviewed journal Breast Cancer Research.

"We actually found the Achilles heel of the cancer cell," said Prof. Malka Cohen-Armon from Tel Aviv University, who headed the research team. "As soon as you can target cancerous cells without killing healthy ones, you can produce medications that would cause a lot less suffering to the patient. We can even give a much more aggressive treatment without worrying about harming healthy tissues."

The substance identified by the researchers, which delays cell proliferation in healthy and cancerous cells, is a component of a drug developed a decade ago to preserve nerve cells and prevent them from dying after a stroke.

But while the drug causes the rapid death of cancer cells, healthy cells activate a mechanism that overcomes the delay in proliferation within hours, and those cells continue to proliferate exactly like cells not exposed to the substance.

Cohen-Armon said the drug's effectiveness in treating cancer cells was discovered accidentally.

"I'm not even a cancer researcher," she said. "But two years ago an article we published on various functions in the cell got me interested in cancer cells."

She said the scientists involved in the discovery - who include doctoral student Asher Castiel and Professor Shai Izraeli's research group at the Sheba Cancer Research Center - haven't figured out why the drug affects the cells the way it does.

"We don't even fully understand why this is happening, but we see cancerous cells die and healthy cells overcome this obstacle," said Cohen-Armon. "They somehow find a way to proliferate even in the presence of the substance."

She said the drug was tested on several types of cancer, but so far only the breast cancer tests results have been published.

The experiment has been carried out on female mice, which were injected with human cancerous cells. The substance was gradually released over two weeks. The mice that weren't treated with the substance developed malignant tumors - but in those that got the treatment, the substance either prevented or significantly stalled the development of the cancerous cells.

The experiments did not find any changes in the behavior of the mice treated with the substance.

One of the obstacles to applying the discovery to all forms of cancer is that the medicine is registered as a patent of an American pharmaceutical company. Tel Aviv University's technology transfer company, Ramot, has secured a usage patent enabling it to develop the drug to treat only breast cancer.

The future development of the drug depends on the goodwill of the American company, or on another company developing a similar substance.

"We really want to develop this drug, but there are some completely non-scientific obstacles," Cohen-Armon said. "I hope the research doesn't fade away because of that."

Israel: Leader of business innovation

Dan Senor, co-author of 'Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle,' discusses with CNBC how Israel has managed to become a leader in business innovation and how Israel as one of the few countries have not been hit by the financial crisis.

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Israel+beyond+politics/Israel-Leader_business_innovation_28-Oct-2009.htm

Israelsk forsker får nobelpris

Nobelprisen i kemi gik i år til tre personer. To amerikanske professorer, Thomas A. Steitz og Venkatraman Ramakrishnan samt den israelsk forsker, Ada E. Yonath modtog hædersbevisningen for deres forskning i ribosomer.

Ribosomer er en af livets kernefunktioner, som det er lykkedes de tre forskere at kortlægge helt ned på atom-niveau. Det har de formået ved en metode kaldet krystalografi, en teknik der bruger røntgenstråling til at danne sig billeder af hvordan ribosomerne ser ud.

Med denne nye viden har forskerne fået en bedre forståelse af de processer som ribosomerne styrer. De er nemlig den ”maskine” der er med til at skabe nye proteiner som er en af hovedingrediensen i celleopbygningen.

På længere sigt vil denne nye viden om ribosomerne blive udnyttet til sygdomsbekæmpelse.

Elbil

P1 Business har i dag dedikeret deres udsendelse på at belyse elbilen. I programmet diskuteres de to forskellige slags elbiler der kommer på det danske markede. Better Places model med batteri stationer og ChoosEV som i samarbejde med Sixt vil leje elbiler der skal lades op ved standere.

Progammet kan genhøres lørdag den 10.10 kl. 13.03 på P1 Business og igen søndag den 11.10 kl. 6.03

Welcome to the new Economic Attaché

After 4 years stationed in The Hague and responsible for the Trade Office in Denmark Economic Attaché Roey Fisher is going back to Israel.

His predecessor is Mr. Yaron Schrotter. He is already very busy in the new job working on Medica in Germany and WATEC in Israel in November and Bright Green in December for COP15.