Page 29 - Jewish News_February 2020

ISRAEL & THE JEWISH WORLD February 2020 29A

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porting infrastructure to provide water, Cape Air. In September, Eviation was that can take carbon from
food or energy. acquired by Clermont Aerospace of CO2 and turn it into pro-
He decided to create his own. Singapore. tein and other biologi-
In 2017, he and Jonathan Haran According to the International cal molecules, and then
founded The Sustainable Group. Their Civil Aviation Organization, 4.3 billion coaxed them to switch
flagship project is Village in a Box, a people traveled by air in 2018. That’s from their normal food –
holistic residential renewable energy- a major cause of pollution. Let’s hope sugar – to CO2.
based infrastructure system to provide the era of electric planes is about to The discovery could
off-grid communities with environ- commence. lead to cleaner energy
mentally friendly affordable housing Color matters to fish, sources to replace fossil
and clean sustainable solutions for wa- and that’s important fuels, a basis for future
ter, food, energy and waste treatment. Climate change is decimating coral REE’s prototype vehicle chassis (photo by Yuval Chen) methods to increase food
A proof-of-concept Village in a reefs all over the world, and that’s bad The company emerged from production with less land, and produce
Box, with 200 homes, is now under de- news for fish life. Twenty-five percent stealth mode in the summer, and is al- alternative proteins from renewable
velopment in the Negev desert town of of fish make their home in these vital ready collaborating with Mitsubishi; sources.
Mitzpeh Ramon. living structures. Toyota’s truck subsidiary Hino Mo- Honey without bees
“I fell in love with the idea because Now, however, Israeli scientists tors; auto-parts manufacturers Musashi With the population of bees in decline,
it represents a big hope for humanity,” have figured out a way to print color- Seimitsu, Linamar and Tenneco; and honey could become a rare commod-
Haran told us. “Our aim is to build a ful new corals using a 3D printer and semiconductor leader NXP. ity. Now students from the Technion -
better future without hurting the envi- sustainable bioplastics. Water out of thin air Israel Institute of Technology have found
ronment.” The new artificial reefs, designed Producing clean water out of thin air a way to make honey without bees.
An electric plane to accurately mimic natural coral, were is a bit like a magic trick, but that’s The bee-free honey is produced
At the Paris Air Show in June, Israeli created by researchers from Ben Gu- exactly what Israeli startup Watergen by a bacterium which learns to make
company Eviation Aircraft unveiled its rion University of the Negev, and at- specializes in. The company’s atmo- honey following reprogramming in a
electric plane, a revolutionary emis- tached to a natural reef in the Red Sea, spheric water-generator pulls water lab. In recognition for their work, the
sion-free plane that could usher in a near Eilat. from the air every day, and purifies it students won a gold medal at the recent
Surprisingly, the fish for safe drinking. iGEM (International Genetically Engi-
seemed to like some This year, the company donated its neered Machine) competition held in
of the colored artificial technology to a school in Columbia, Boston.
designs more than the and to Uzbekistan, Lake Chad, South Taking care of others
natural ones. Africa and Sierra Leone. Helping after the hurricane
Reinventing our cars Watergen also has developed a in Puerto Rico
Self-driving cars may built-in system that produces purified At ISRAEL21c we love stories about
be just around the cor- drinking water in your car. The tech- Israelis flying out to help other coun-
ner, but there is one area nology, which pulls outside air into the tries in the wake of disasters, and this
of car development that car and filters out all pollutants, has a year we had a chance to experience this
Israel’s Eviation Aircraft is developing electric propulsion has barely changed in lot of people excited. The company is firsthand when we flew out to Puerto
(photo by Roi Rochlin) over 100 years, accord- now working with Ford. Rico and met some of the locals whose
new era of quieter, cleaner and more ing to Daniel Barel, CEO of Israeli A bacteria that could slow lives have been transformed by Israeli
cost-effective flying. automotive startup REE – the way our climate change humanitarian aid NGO IsraAID.
Called Alice, the streamlined plane cars are manufactured and designed. Israeli scientists have developed a new It was a high point for all of us. We
seats nine passengers and is planned No longer. Barel’s company plans bacteria that can eat carbon dioxide heard so many moving stories about
to cruise at a speed of 260 knots for a to fundamentally change how vehicles (CO2), creating what could be a pow- how IsraAID helped people all over the
range of up to 650 miles. are built. REE has invented a modular erful potential weapon in the battle tiny island after Hurricane Maria, the
The plane, designed to reduce op- platform that looks a bit like a hover- against climate change. worst natural disaster to hit the Carib-
erating costs stemming from fuel and board, which houses the car’s major The new bacteria was engineered bean island.
oil, is undergoing flight tests and could components – including brakes, ther- over a decade by scientists from the Puerto Rico wasn’t the only coun-
be available for commercial use as soon mal systems, motor and drivetrain – Weizmann Institute of Science. They try where IsraAID provided help this
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as 2022. Its first customer reportedly is right next to the wheels. first modified the bacteria with genes continued on next page

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