Shavuot, the Jewish festival that celebrates receiving the Torah on Mt. Sinai, has always been associated with having a dairy meal. The origins of the custom go back to antiquity, and there are several explanations for it. Some hold that milk symbolizes the purity and sweetness of the Torah; as milk is to babies, so the Torah is to the Jewish soul.

Others give a vivid picture of the gathering of the Jewish nation at the foot of Mt. Sinai, waiting for Moses to descend with the Tablets of the Law. Aware of their ignorance as to the laws of kashrut, and wishing to achieve as high a spiritual level as possible, the Jews refrained from eating meat all the 50 days from the Exodus to Shavuot.

But I’m afraid that there is no commandment to eat delicious, decadent, sweet treets like cheesecake (see our recipe) or the trifle described below. Oh, well. My advice is: elevate eating with a blessing, and enjoy.

Easy Trifle for Shavuot

yield: 12 servings

Ingredients:

For syrup:

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

3 tablespoons brandy

For filling:

250 grams – 1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 – 1/4 cup sugar, divided in half

700 grams – 3 cups soft cream cheese

200 grams – 1 package ladyfingers cookies, or other light cookie

For garnish:

1 cup mixed forest berries: currants, mulberries, raspberries, etc.

1 small basket strawberries or 1 thinly sliced nectarine, or 1/2 banana or other soft fruit

Boil together all the ingredients for syrup except the brandy. Simmer 5 minutes. Take off the heat and add the brandy. Set aside.

Whip the cream with half the sugar until light.

In a separate bowl, whip the cream cheese with the second half of the sugar for at least 7 minutes, until it’s light.

Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese, mixing gently but thoroughly.

Dip the ladyfinger cookies into the syrup on both sides – a light dip, not to soak the cookies. Line the walls and bottom of your tray or serving bowl with the cookies, breaking some if needed to cover gaps in the container.

Pour about half the whipped mixture into the serving bowl, smoothing it lightly. Lay down another layer of ladyfingers dipped in syrup. Pour the remainder of the whipped mixture in and smooth again, lightly.

Garnish with fresh berries and fruit to your taste.

Enjoy!

More Shavuot recipes on Green Prophet:

• Organic Whole Wheat Bread
• Spinach and Mushroom Quiche

Photo of trifle by Miriam Kresh.

Looking for something new to worry about? Phosphorus hops onto the list of rapidly diminishing natural resources: a dangerous dwindling of something that probably never crossed your mind. Production will likely peak in our lifetime, and be fully depleted by 2100. So what’s the big deal? Phosphorus is the bedrock of food production.

This solid chemical element, most commonly found in inorganic phosphate rocks, was discovered in the late 1600’s by a German alchemist who experimented with his pee. Hennig Brand earned that cringe-worthy credit:  on the Periodic Table of Elements, his discovery is named P15.

The element is frisky.  It glows in the dark and can spontaneously oxidize. It was a key ingredient in matchstick production throughout the 1800s until it was linked to accidental poisonings, suicides and murders. It was banned from match making by the end of that century, but it didn’t go away. It couldn’t, because phosphorus is essential for life.

Phosphorous doesn’t occur freely in nature. It’s found instead in the form of phosphates, particularly calcium phosphates, and it seeps into soils via rock erosion.

Phosphorus also enters the food cycle through animal excrement. Manure is direct-deposited onto fields by livestock, or purposely gathered and spread by farmers. Enriched soils help fertilize crops which are then consumed by humans and animals alike.  Historically, the element returned to the soil via the eat/poop process, a natural continuum.

Bone ash was another source of manufactured phosphorus, but when the electric arc furnace was developed in 1890, extracting phosphorous from mined rock became economically scalable.  It quickly became the only commercial source, an industry fully dependent upon non-renewable phosphate rock.

A closed phosphorous biogeochemical loop, ‘til we broke it.

Food industrialization caused a biological custody battle: one branch took the animals and the other got the crops.  Specialization affords benefits: but it also changes the recycling of basic elements.

Recall that German alchemist?  He demonstrated that the phosphorus we eat comes out in the bathroom.  Modern sanitation whisks it far away from arable lands.  The phosphates become sewerage treatment side products, ending up in our waterways (a topic for a different article). We now segregate pastures from crop fields.  With less access to manure, farmers turn to costly manufactured soil enhancers. Phosphate fertilizer use surged in the 20^th century.

Diminished supplies threaten the world’s ability to provide enough food. We need a universal strategy to ensure that farmers have sufficient access to meet production demands. It’s time for policy action on global phosphorus security.

About 90% of all high-grade phosphorus reserves are found in five countries: China, South Africa, the United States, Jordan and Morocco.

The Moroccan royal family controls approximately 85% of that total. Lesser reserves are located in Israel, Egypt, Iraq and Tunisia.

Morocco’s Western Sahara mines are in an area of mounting human rights concerns, and exports are partially restricted due to United Nations sanctions. Next up, in terms of supply, is China, but their exports were recently stymied by a self-imposed national tariff. That tariff was lifted, but it illustrates how this critical commodity could easily be affected by trade wars.

Industrial farmers lay down about 18 million metric tons of mined phosphorus each year. Our ever-increasing meat consumption and new crop production to feed a growing biofuels industry spiked demand in 2008, and phosphate rock prices jumped by 800%. Despite the global economic crisis, prices never returned to pre-2008 levels and are, in fact, increasing.  It’s the “beachfront property” of the food industry: they aren’t making any more of it, so value soars.

Help Wanted: International Phosphorus Regulation

It took two decades following the discovery of ozone depletion before the Montreal Protocol was enacted. It’s time to take similar action to develop sustainable policies for renewable phosphorus fertilizers.

Currently, the market governs this resource, but open markets don’t protect against inequitable and unsustainable consumption. International partnerships must evolve to support efficient use and equitable access by all players in the global food game.

Researchers are forming alliances such as the Global Phosphorous Research Initiative, championed by Paul Crutzen, winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on ozone. There’s also the Dutch Nutrient Platform.

Sustainable options for phosphorus replacement are limited.

There’s a growing movement amongst small farmers towards integrated systems of animal and plant production. Practices such as crop rotation and sequential grazing allow soils to replenish. Biodiversity fights disease and minimizes pest infestation. Waste generated from sustainable farming stays within the farm’s ecosystem; phosphorous rejoins the biogeochemical conga line.

In the late 1800’s, Rudolf Steiner, organic farming guru, gave birth to “biodynamic agriculture”, emphasizing balanced interaction between animals, plants and soil. It’s a symbiotic relationship between all three; a philosophy founded on conservation. Replenish what’s removed from the environment.  Preserve water, soil, nutrients and air so they are available in perpetuity.

Farmers can attune to natural cycles.  Seasonal flooding has cultivated farmland for thousands of years, returning lost nutrients: consider the Nile. Biochar is effective. Human waste can be converted to phosphate fertilizers such as struvite.

Public awareness must be raised.  Popularize “meat-free” days to reduce global impact on the phosphorous cycle. Urge support of small, local farms. These measures have proven successful on a modest scale, but how do they go mainstream?

Last February, the 3rd Sustainable Phosphorus Summit held in Sydney, Australia attracted key stakeholders from different parts of the food production and consumption chain.  Focus was on phosphorus availability and accessibility, global food security, environmental protection, and supporting agricultural livelihoods. Delegates were challenged to develop a roadmap for prioritizing research and policy action.  The goal was to inform decision-makers as to the best forward path.

Immediate news coverage spoke of national phosphorus recovery targets. Cap and trade schemes were floated, akin to carbon emissions, and subsidy programs were assessed. Not quite sure where it all ended up: the media trail goes cold.

Clearly the issues are becoming more defined. Solutions will depend on solid relationships between policy, public awareness and scientific research.  This problem needs a champion.

Image of wavellite mineral sample, an element used in the extraction of phosphorus from Shutterstock

The World Wildlife Fund and the Cleantech Group recently published a report saying that Israel is the second best place in the world to develop green technologies, second only to Denmark. Israel has long been a major exporter of such innovations, a leading developer of water-saving technology, such as its agricultural inventions, and solar power. Now Israel is starting to bolster its own energy infrastructure, utilizing that world renowned expertise at home.

The recently unveiled Heliofocus Dish pictured above is a prime example. A secondary large scale solar project, Project Halutziot (“Pioneering”), will soon construct a 55 Mega Watt power plant as part of a joint venture with the settlement Bnei Nezarim, established by families evacuated from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

Prime Minister Netanyahu declared this project in the western Negev is “a project of national importance” and promoted it within the National Infrastructure Committee. In March 2012 alone Israel’s Public Utility Authority issued licenses for nine large solar fields.

Among those projects is a 150-acre site at Ketura that will eventually meet a third of the peak daytime electricity used in Eilat. According to Yosef Abramowitz, co-founder of Arava Power, a solar power company at the Ketura kibbutz in southern Israel, conditions in the nation’s expansive Negev desert are perfect for harvesting solar energy. Ketura, for example, gets up to 14 hours of sunlight in the summer and on average has only 15 cloudy days a year.

Gershon Baskin, of Israel’s Green Movement Political Party, recently recommended that the Jewish nation turn to its bounty of solar energy to compensate for deteriorating gas supplies from neighboring Egypt. But there’s been no word from Prime Minister Netanyahu so far about wide scale government subsides for renewable energy being on the horizon.

::Haaretz

Image via David Shankbone

When it first emerged that plans for an underwater hotel in Dubai had been revived, Arwa wrote “Dubai has more gimmicks and tacky accolades than a Las Vegas souvenir store so the last thing it needs is more plastic tat. It’s just not good and most of these outlandish projects pay very little attention to the environmental impact of their development.”

Comprised of an above water disc connected to an underwater disc by five legs, a vertical shaft, lift and stairway, the Water Discus hotel “willl allow guests to admire the depths of the ocean while making the most of the warm climate,” according to Deep Ocean Technology, the project’s designer.

This new development follows on the heels of the Hydropolis project that was sunk in 2009 when a financial crisis caused an exodus of expatriates and their investment dollars. But now it seems that Dubai is beginning to recover and has learned absolutely nothing about the impact of too much intervention on the Gulf’s fragile ecosystem. Step in for more renders of this crazy underwater hotel and let us know, should it be built?

“If any changes in environmental or economic conditions occur, the Water Discus modules can be transferred to a different place,” according to Deep Ocean Technology. “This offers a unique opportunity to live underwater on a permanent basis with unlimited options to change locations. The mobility makes changes in interior design of a hotel much easier, as any disc can be detached and replaced with a new one,” they add.

DOT claims that Water Disqus hotels can be constructed anywhere in the world and that they will be custom designed in accordance with the local environment – including the shape of the coastal line and depth of water around the coral reef. They make no claims, as far as we can tell, to have consulted marine specialists about the impact such a development would have on various coral reefs or the creatures that call then home.

“A single Water Discus is an independent structure with a usable area of approximately 1000 m2 fully equipped to ensure a high level of safety and comfort. It can serve as an individual module – a component of a bigger complex,” writes DOT. These can then be expanded to create larger complexes, which – as far as we are concerned – would be absolutely disastrous.

And what about natural disasters, you might ask? DOT seems to have taken into consideration the possibility that these hotels might be  developed in areas prone to tsunamis and insist that they will be completely safe in such an event. “The structure sits up on five sturdy legs fixed to the seabed, and the upper disc is suspended above the water surface. These two technical solutions will ensure that Water Discus remains safe even in the event of a fairly high tsunami, which can normally flood the nearest coastal areas.”

And what about claustrophobia? For some people, being stuck in an underwater space might be as uncomfortable as crawling through a cave, but DOT suggests that the view of the sky prevents this from happening. Although they don’t seem to have conducted any environmental impact assessments, they have gone through rigorous safety evaluations.

“The design, construction and technical condition of the complex are under permanent supervision of an international classification organisation with experience in the field of building and operation of boats, ships, offshore structures and professional diving systems,” according to the company.” The hotel meets safety standards of local and international organizations and promises a deluxe sensory experience like no other.

For the sake of our already over-stressed marine systems, we hope like hey that this project never sees the light of day.

Images courtesy Deep Ocean Technology

More on Dubai’s Underwater Madness:

Hydropolis Underwater Hotel in Dubai Still Sunk

Underwater Hotel Plans Revived in Dubai

After a very slow start in solar energy production, Israel is finally beginning to join her Arab neighbors fast-forwarding into a solar future, like the Saudis’ $109 Billion Solar Plan to Power a Third of Saudi Arabia.

Arava Power Company, Israel’s only solar developer to make any headway against the entrenched bureaucratic resistance, now has financing and power agreements for eight solar power projects totaling 58.5 MW, valued at (a comparatively high by U.S. standards) $204 million.

In March, the company was given the go ahead by the country’s Public Utility Authority (PUA) to install a 40 MW project, once it got funding from the Obama administration in February.

(Related: Arava’s 40 MW Solar to Power a Third of Touristy Eliat’s Peak Power.)

But the only project to be approved prior to that was (again, Arava’s) small 5 MW installation that we covered in Bedouin Solar Power Activate! Even that tiny project faced months of bureaucratic battles.

Arava plans to ultimately build 400 MW of solar projects, which would quadruple Israel’s current solar capacity of 140 MW.

The reason for the sluggardly growth is its very unambitious clean energy legislation, which seems inexplicable in a land simply brimming with the sort of engineering genius in its “Silicon Wadi” that should have catapulted the country to Middle East dominance in clean energy.

(Related: Chamelic Invents Answer for Desert Solar & Dust! )

It was the Israeli engineers at Luz for example that virtually invented the entire solar thermal industry that has gone overseas. BrightSource Offers World’s Biggest Solar Storage Deal.

Despite all that talent, for example, Arava’s 58.5 MW solar project is to be built by Germany’s energy powerhouse Siemens. The financing is from French and Israeli banking interests, France’s Electricite de France, the Israeli branch of France’s EDF, the Israeli energy investment bank Noy Fund and financiers Migdal Insurance Company, its largest bank, Hapoalim, and Amitim, which funds diaspora projects.

The funding came once a provisional license from the Public Utilities Authority was granted and an agreement to buy the power was signed with the Israel Electric Company.

Although Israel has introduced a feed-in tariff, which includes  projects up to 5 MW, the rates offered are so low as to provide no incentive to solar developers. And it has introduced a 10 percent renewable target (by 2020), but there is really no policy mechanism to get there, and no punishment for failure to.

The right wing government that has dominated Israeli politics has retarded the growth of renewables energy in favor of chasing the vanishing mirage of fossil energy.

(Related: Has Israel Become a Petrostate?)
But natural gas is proving to be a volatile misstress. Electricity prices are set to jump 9 percent this year.

A few months ago,  the Public Utility Authority suddenly approved nine licenses in a month totaling 385 MW of utility scale PV, and another 50 small PV installations totaling 116 MW. With these, including the Arava licenses, now approved, things are starting to look up.

Read more on Israel solar:

Could Israel Join With its Arab Neighbors in Medgrid?
Egypt Now Contracting a Whopping 1,000 MW Wind Farm!
Solar Power to Pay off Greek Debt?

After heavy fog in Payerne, Switzerland threatened to derail the well-laid plans to commence the first sun-powered transcontinental flight this morning, Borschberg was finally able to lift off at 08h24 UCT+. And ground crews in Toulouse are on standby in the event that meteorological or mechanical issues require an emergency landing.

It is possible to track progress of this historic flight (lots of history being made today as the second day of Egypt’s first real, competitive elections come to a close) on the Solar Impulse website. Available are directional details, a map, and even live footage of the ground crew.

At present, the plane’s battery power is at 100%, its solar-generated capacity at 60% and its engine power at 45%. It’s cold outside and the Pyrenees mountains are up ahead.

Once Solar Impulse completes its 2,500 km journey and arrives in Rabat, which is loosely scheduled to happen in the next couple of days, the pilots will be hosted by MASEN.

They will take part in a tour of the 160MW plant further south, which comprises just a small part of Morocco’s plan to produce 2,000 MW of solar energy by 2020, resulting in carbon emissions savings of 3.7 million tons.

:: Avionnews

More on Solar-Power and Morroco:

World’s Longest Solar-Powered Flight to Land in Morocco

Morocco Airport Counts Solar Power Carbon Savings

Desertec Begins: 500MW Solar Power in 2012

Each unique piece is made of salvaged wood that would have been scrapped otherwise and fitted with Miyota’s state of the art timekeeping mechanism. They are splash-proof and svelte and contain nary a toxic, artificial chemical. Hit the jump to see a few images and to find out how to make one your own.

WEwood uses seven different kinds of wood as the source material for their bespoke natural watches, including Blackwood, Maple and Indian Rosewood. And their eco-ethos doesn’t end there.

When they opened a branch in Los Angeles, WEwood teamed up with American Forests – a tree-planting organization.

“With this happy pact, the goal is to help restore Mother Nature, one watch at a time, by planting a tree for every WeWOOD purchased,”  according to the company literature.

“In just the first three months, WEwood planted 5,000 trees with American Forests, and sets challenging targets for 2012 and beyond. Keeping forests healthy and happy keeps us healthy and happy, we like to keep our reminder on our wrist.”

Usually, products like these are much harder to come by in the Middle East and North Africa. There are a few cottage industries in Cairo, Luxor, Siwa and beyond that sell sustainable goods, but rarely with such a wholesome Florentine flair and finish. So it’s very exciting to find an Egyptian dealer.

That being said, quality like this doesn’t come cheap, so these watches are definitely aimed at a relatively affluent market. Whilst they’re not as grossly priced as a Rolex, they’re certainly not affordable for the average Cairene tomato vendor.

But don’t get us wrong. Genuinely sustainable products are more expensive because greater effort goes into their production, they aren’t mass manufactured and almost obsessive attention is paid to every detail. Frankly, anything that’s too cheap was probably made in China.

To purchase your own WEwood watch, send an email to: WeWOODEgypt@gmail.com

More Sustainable Goodness From Egypt:

Egypt May Survive Climate Change Thanks to AUC Students

KarmSolar Prize May Avail Off-Grid Solar Pump to Rural Egypt

Eco-Friendly Bakery Gives Historic Presidential Voters Free Pastries 

TBS has branches in Maadi, City View, Zamalek, Korba, Mohandessin, Nile Tower, Diplomats 3 and at the American University of Cairo and each one is putting their full weight behind Egypt’s historic moment.

It doesn’t matter where each vote goes; it only matters that Egyptians participate in the historic moment that they brought about through last year’s revolution and the ensuing battle to keep military powers in check. It has been a long and bloody road and many challenges lie ahead, but the two day elections so far have gone without any serious hitches.

There are 50 million eligible voters in Egypt. If every one of them casts a vote and claims their free baked goods, TBS will go bankrupt and the World Bank will have to bail them out. Ok, so maybe that’s unlikely to happen, but the store with sugary delights “so fresh it’s baked in front of you” does want to encourage the Egyptian people to actively engage in one of their proudest moments.

Voting in the first genuine presidential election in Egypt is as memorable to TBS as the first nobel prize awarded to Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz, who fearlessly criticized the status quo that has crippled the country for decades. And it is as proud as the moment women led a street demonstration in the 1919 revolution that eventually culminated in Egypt’s independence from Britain.

The “I Got Ink” campaign continues through the end of tomorrow, until the last man or woman has cast their vote on the second day of Egypt’s presidential elections.

So if you haven’t already dyed your finger, do it tomorrow, and get yourself a nice treat as a reward.

More Eco-Friendly Establishments in Egypt:

Interview With Egyptian Eco-Designer Nadia Nour

Ana Seco Teaches Her Grandmother’s Eco-Fashion Techniques

Egypt May Survive Climate Change Thanks to AUC Students

This is according to the 2012 Arab Youth Survey. Launched in 2008, the annual survey is conducted by research professionals from Penn Scheon Berland (PSB) who travel to villages and cities in order to interview 2,500 young Arab men and women in person. Here is a list of the top 10 concerns that emerged during these discussions.

1. Fair Pay and Home Ownership: The survey found that young men and women are worried about having the resources to own their own home and to receive a fair wage. This is a valid concern. While we were in Tunisia, one of two new countries added to the survey’s scope, we met educated journalists who were living in hovels because their wages are so poor.
2. High Cost of Living: It comes as no surprise that Arab youth are finding it difficult to establish a decent quality of life when the cost of living is steadily increasing. Who can forget that the Arab Spring uprisings were largely spurred by the high cost of food or that energy and water prices are growing prohibitively high.
3. Lack of Democracy and Civil Unrest are Biggest Obstacles: Egypt is a sterling example of how corruption and civil unrest have interrupted the smooth operation of daily life, and young people told researchers that these two things are the greatest perceived obstacles to achieving their goals.
4. The Arab Spring is a Positive Development: This is interesting. Even though the nooks and crannies of the Arab Spring uprisings have not been worked out, most youth perceive it to be a positive development. (On a side note, check out this fascinating new novel Kapow! that traces the uprisings in visually-groundbreaking format.)
5. Increased Trust in Government but Corruption Abounds: While Arab youth are tentatively more willing to put trust in their government, they also very concerned about continued corruption. Let’s hope that the government organizations, civil society organizations and the private sector who avail themselves of these insights are paying attention.
6. The Arab Spring Won’t Spread: This will be a sigh of relief for governments in the Arab world! Most people believe that the uprisings have come to an end and that they are very unlikely to spread. But if they do well up again, Morocco, Jordan and Algeria are the countries most likely to be affected next.
7. Modern Society Challenges Traditional Values: While most young people appreciate the value of their longstanding traditions, the survey found that many also believe that they need to evolve with changing times. This need not be a cause for alarm, but some nations (like Saudi) are likely to crack down on any perceived threats to the old order.
8. Aspire to be like the UAE: The United Arab Emirates has a longstanding policy of social inclusion and are leading the charge to enact massive environmental changes, so it comes as no surprise that this is the nation to which young men and women throughout the Gulf, Levant and North Africa look for inspiration. The survey found that most people – if they could – would live in one of the seven Emirates ahead of any other Arab country.
9. France is the Most Admired Foreign Country: This is intriguing. Of all foreign countries, France, which recently elected a socialist President, is the one that most young people in the Arab world admire. Rising powers China and India, which couldn’t be more different than France in terms of its environmental, political and social identity, fall close behind.
10. TV-watching is Diminishing and News Consumption is on the Rise: This is an enormous relief. Television-watching zombies are being replaced by news-hungry civilians who increasingly look to the internet for their daily bits of information.

Visit ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey 2012 to learn more about the methodology employed to achieve these findings and to consider their implications more fully. The youth are the future. We should take their concerns seriously.

::Arab Youth Survey

More on Young Arabs:
Arab School Scoops a Coveted Israeli Green Globe Award
eZra3 Remote Farming is Like Farmville but Real
The Bedouins Convert Ill-Begotten Tunisian Mansion into a Skate Park

Image credit: Young Arab Man, Shutterstock

Qatar is the latest of the oil-rich Middle East/North African (MENA) nations to make bold solar plans to trap a world-record insolation to supply energy for its rapidly growing economy – one that bolted an incredible 20 percent last year.

This week a senior official of Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC) announced the replacement of over 10 percent of its conventional forms of energy used to produce electricity and water with solar power by 2018.

With an incredible daily supply of 16 hours of solar insolation, Qatar has the chance to build a solar-based electricity supply which is far more efficient than any other part of the world.

“Countries that have opted and developed solar energy have benefited a lot. Presently we are planning to replace 10 percent of total energy used for electricity generation and water desalination with solar power by 2018″, General Manager of QEWC Fahad Hamad Al Mohannadi told a news conference attended by the Federation of Arab News Agencies.

He added that the future is full of challenges as we will require more and more energy in the years to come; so with the passage of time as a result of scientific advancement and availability of cost effective technologies, solar power will provide a viable alternative source of energy.

QEWC is serious about local solar power production. It has just signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate with Qatar-based Qatar Solar Technologies (QSTec) to advance solar power in the region.

Last December QSTec was awarded the New Economy Magazine’s Clean Tech and New Energy Award for Best Joint Venture (Middle East/Africa). Its $1 billion polysilicon manufacturing plant, located in Ras Laffan Industrial City, will initially produce 8,000 metric tonnes of polysilicon in 2013.

Polysilicon is the raw material for solar panel production, and it is refined from sand in a complex high tech processing facility. The company acquired the advanced second generation technology for solar grade polysilicon production from Centrotherm Photovoltaics of Germany.

QSTec has signed a memorandum of understanding to assist QEWC in helping it meet the goal to supply 10 percent of the kingdom’s energy demand from solar, although it is not clear from the press release just how the two will make solar panels from the polysilicon, since neither are in the solar panel manufacturing business.

But German solar energy module manufacturer SolarWorld holds a one third stake in QSTec and no doubt expects to source polysilicon for its German solar module manufacturing from the deal.

But like Saudi Arabia, which recently startled the world with an unprecedented and extraordinarily ambitious solar goal, Qatar seems to hope to handle the production and manufacturing side of the goal at home. Saudi Arabia too has begun the refining of polysilicon from its abundant sands.

For both countries, polysilicon manufacturing is a brand new industry. The resolve with which these two sand-and-sun-rich middle eastern countries have embraced the new industry bodes very well for a clean energy future.

Read more on solar Middle East:

Interview: SolarReserve For the MENA Region?
Saudis Could Export Solar for the Next Twenty Centuries
Solar to Light Our Nights Gets Hotter

Image: douglas knight /Shutterstock