{"id":2804,"date":"2012-06-18T20:53:41","date_gmt":"2012-06-18T20:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?p=2804"},"modified":"2012-06-20T15:29:07","modified_gmt":"2012-06-20T15:29:07","slug":"postcard-from-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2012\/06\/18\/postcard-from-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"Postcard From Mark Brownstein In Tel Aviv, Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Source: Trekkie Gal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A lumber yard in the middle of Tel Aviv is an unlikely place to discover innovative new technology to transform ocean waves into energy, but there I was watching a demonstration of wave-to-energy technology in a makeshift wave tank constructed by Shmuel Ovadia.\u00a0 Ovadia is a talented engineer passionate about harnessing the power of the ocean when he is not otherwise engaged in running his successful high-end lumber business.\u00a0 See for yourself at:\u00a0 http:\/\/www.sde.co.il\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I suppose I shouldn\u2019t have been surprised.\u00a0 I am on the first day of a seven trip for U.S. energy leaders sponsored by Project Interchange<\/a>, an educational institute of the American Jewish Committee, and by the time I arrived at Ovadia\u2019s lumber yard in the late afternoon, I had already seen tremendous creativity in the unlikeliest places.\u00a0 Our morning was spent walking down Tel Aviv\u2019s Rothschild Boulevard, Israel\u2019s equivalent of Silicon Valley, dropping by several of the technology incubators that are a large part of the reason why Israel is known as the \u201cstart-up nation.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here, 20-somethings only a few years out of Israel\u2019s army \u2013 where technology and project management skills are acquired and honed \u2013 are developing innovative software at a furious pace.\u00a0 The aging, somewhat decrepit buildings dating back to Israel\u2019s socialist early years, are brimming with entrepreneurial drive and youthful spirit.\u00a0 Most interesting to me was a visit to the IDC Elevator<\/a>, where Shmuel Chafets, Director of Business Development for Giza Venture Capital, described a recent investment in a start-up that is applying sophisticated software and smart grid technology to improve the efficiency of water delivery systems, which \u2013 among other things \u2013 anticipates leaks before<\/em> they happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Israel, a nation increasingly reliant on energy-intensive desalination, saving water is also saving energy, a lesson at the heart of our report two years ago on the Energy-Water Nexus in Texas<\/a>.\u00a0 This visit got me wondering whether this same technology might be helpful in EDF\u2019s efforts to partner with gas utilities to reduce methane leaks along their distribution systems<\/a>.\u00a0 Surely such smart grid ingenuity can be used to help fight the causes of global warming and not just the fresh water scarcity that is one of its many symptoms?<\/p>\n

While software companies in Israel do well in attracting venture capital from the United States, Europe and, more recently, Southeast Asia, guys like Shmuel Ovadia struggle to attract capital to their bright ideas.\u00a0 Even venture capitalists like to see commercial scale prototypes before investing major dollars, and good-old fashioned mechanical technologies are a whole lot more physically difficult and expensive to get to commercial scale than software solutions.\u00a0 So it takes a special type of investor to risk the serious capital it takes to bring a hardware solution to market.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is a challenge, but not impossible, as our visit to Better Place\u2019s Tel Aviv showroom demonstrated.\u00a0 Here<\/a>, we were treated to a test drive of the Renault Fluence ZE, an all-electric four passenger sedan, that has a range of approximately 100 miles and a battery that can either be recharged at home or our work or swapped out in a 5-minute visit to a Better Place \u2018refueling\u2019 station.\u00a0 When you buy the car (and had we been Israelis, sales people were there ready to take our order), you buy a contract for miles to go with it.\u00a0 Included in that contract are up to two charging stations, the electricity they supply, and access to any of Better Place\u2019s battery swapping stations now being constructed throughout Israel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In short, the Better Place\u2019s Renault Fluence is like the cell phone I have carried with me to Israel.\u00a0 It is my phone, but I purchase the international sym card and the corresponding minutes of voice and data from Orange, a local carrier, which is easily slipped into the phone and recharged with new minutes as needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tomorrow we head down south to the Negev to see what is brewing in the world of solar energy.\u00a0 I can only imagine what surprises await us.\u00a0 I’ll keep you posted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lumber yard in the middle of Tel Aviv is an unlikely place to discover innovative new technology to transform ocean waves into energy, but there I was watching a demonstration of wave-to-energy technology in a makeshift wave tank constructed by Shmuel Ovadia.\u00a0 Ovadia is a talented engineer passionate about harnessing the power of the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[693],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-2804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-natural-gas"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPostcard From Mark Brownstein In Tel Aviv, Israel - Energy Exchange<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2012\/06\/18\/postcard-from-israel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Postcard From Mark Brownstein In Tel Aviv, Israel - Energy Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A lumber yard in the middle of Tel Aviv is an unlikely place to discover innovative new technology to transform ocean waves into energy, but there I was watching a demonstration of wave-to-energy technology in a makeshift wave tank constructed by Shmuel Ovadia.\u00a0 Ovadia is a talented engineer passionate about harnessing the power of the ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2012\/06\/18\/postcard-from-israel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Energy Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-18T20:53:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-06-20T15:29:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2012\/06\/3009313440_390f62e889-300x211.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Brownstein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@MarkSBrownstein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Brownstein\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/18\\\/postcard-from-israel\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/18\\\/postcard-from-israel\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mark Brownstein\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/da32b35f88d76761f9999da3c096ec38\"},\"headline\":\"Postcard From Mark Brownstein In Tel Aviv, Israel\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-18T20:53:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-06-20T15:29:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/18\\\/postcard-from-israel\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":701,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/18\\\/postcard-from-israel\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/38\\\/files\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/3009313440_390f62e889-300x211.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Natural Gas\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/18\\\/postcard-from-israel\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/18\\\/postcard-from-israel\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/18\\\/postcard-from-israel\\\/\",\"name\":\"Postcard From Mark Brownstein In Tel Aviv, Israel - Energy Exchange\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/18\\\/postcard-from-israel\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/18\\\/postcard-from-israel\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/38\\\/files\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/3009313440_390f62e889-300x211.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-18T20:53:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-06-20T15:29:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/da32b35f88d76761f9999da3c096ec38\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/18\\\/postcard-from-israel\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/18\\\/postcard-from-israel\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/18\\\/postcard-from-israel\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/38\\\/files\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/3009313440_390f62e889-300x211.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/38\\\/files\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/3009313440_390f62e889-300x211.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/18\\\/postcard-from-israel\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Postcard From Mark Brownstein In Tel Aviv, Israel\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/\",\"name\":\"Energy Exchange\",\"description\":\"Accelerating the clean energy revolution\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/da32b35f88d76761f9999da3c096ec38\",\"name\":\"Mark Brownstein\",\"description\":\"Senior Vice President, Energy Program Mark Brownstein is Senior Vice President of Energy at Environmental Defense Fund, and a member of EDF\u2019s executive team.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.edf.org\\\/people\\\/mark-brownstein\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/MarkSBrownstein\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/author\\\/mbrownstein\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Postcard From Mark Brownstein In Tel Aviv, Israel - Energy Exchange","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2012\/06\/18\/postcard-from-israel\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Postcard From Mark Brownstein In Tel Aviv, Israel - Energy Exchange","og_description":"A lumber yard in the middle of Tel Aviv is an unlikely place to discover innovative new technology to transform ocean waves into energy, but there I was watching a demonstration of wave-to-energy technology in a makeshift wave tank constructed by Shmuel Ovadia.\u00a0 Ovadia is a talented engineer passionate about harnessing the power of the ...","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2012\/06\/18\/postcard-from-israel\/","og_site_name":"Energy Exchange","article_published_time":"2012-06-18T20:53:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-06-20T15:29:07+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2012\/06\/3009313440_390f62e889-300x211.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Mark Brownstein","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@MarkSBrownstein","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Brownstein","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2012\/06\/18\/postcard-from-israel\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2012\/06\/18\/postcard-from-israel\/"},"author":{"name":"Mark Brownstein","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#\/schema\/person\/da32b35f88d76761f9999da3c096ec38"},"headline":"Postcard From Mark Brownstein In Tel Aviv, Israel","datePublished":"2012-06-18T20:53:41+00:00","dateModified":"2012-06-20T15:29:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2012\/06\/18\/postcard-from-israel\/"},"wordCount":701,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2012\/06\/18\/postcard-from-israel\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2012\/06\/3009313440_390f62e889-300x211.jpg","articleSection":["Natural Gas"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2012\/06\/18\/postcard-from-israel\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2012\/06\/18\/postcard-from-israel\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2012\/06\/18\/postcard-from-israel\/","name":"Postcard From Mark Brownstein In Tel Aviv, Israel - Energy Exchange","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2012\/06\/18\/postcard-from-israel\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2012\/06\/18\/postcard-from-israel\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2012\/06\/3009313440_390f62e889-300x211.jpg","datePublished":"2012-06-18T20:53:41+00:00","dateModified":"2012-06-20T15:29:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#\/schema\/person\/da32b35f88d76761f9999da3c096ec38"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2012\/06\/18\/postcard-from-israel\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2012\/06\/18\/postcard-from-israel\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2012\/06\/18\/postcard-from-israel\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2012\/06\/3009313440_390f62e889-300x211.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2012\/06\/3009313440_390f62e889-300x211.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2012\/06\/18\/postcard-from-israel\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Postcard From Mark Brownstein In Tel Aviv, Israel"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/","name":"Energy Exchange","description":"Accelerating the clean energy revolution","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#\/schema\/person\/da32b35f88d76761f9999da3c096ec38","name":"Mark Brownstein","description":"Senior Vice President, Energy Program Mark Brownstein is Senior Vice President of Energy at Environmental Defense Fund, and a member of EDF\u2019s executive team.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.edf.org\/people\/mark-brownstein","https:\/\/x.com\/MarkSBrownstein"],"url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/author\/mbrownstein\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2804\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2804"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}