Shaping the Future of Clean Energy & Water

About the Conference

On September 14, 2011 — the Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce and the Government of Israel’s Economic Mission to the Southern Region are hosting a clean energy conference – the 2^nd Annual Texas-Israel Cleanovation Conference 2011.  This conference will feature innovative Israeli companies and high profile US national & Texas-based companies.

Companies Attending: Waste Management, Ernst & Young, CenterPoint Energy, IDE, McGuireWoods, GE Digital Energy, IBM, Chevron Energy Technology Company, Ein Netafim, Clear Results Consulting,  Mapal Green Energy, Amida, Alvarion, Gnrgy, Enverid, Environmental Energy Resources, DST, Nimrod Industries, Chromagen, Austin Technology Incubator, San Antonio Water System, El Paso Water Utilities, National Algae Association, Beemtech, Green Mountain Energy, The Dow Chemical Company, Waterfall Security Solutions, CDM, Resources Renewable,USA, and more..

Texas and Israel Come Together for Clean Energy

Israel is known for its leading advances in water technologies, energy efficiency, and smart grid technologies while Texas is renowned for being a leader in clean energy production.  The Texas-Israel connection began this summer when the Mayor of San Antonio, Julian Castro took a delegation to Israel on a fact-finding tour which resulted in him signing a memorandum of understanding with the Ein Netafim Eilat water utility to fuel cooperation between the two cities for mutual improvements of their wastewater and recycled-water systems.

Another Texas initiative is Fort Worth’s innovation in water re-use and reclamation.  The city’s treatment plant processes wastewater for re-use in watering its golf courses.  Each unit of reclaimable water costs about 40 percent less than conventional potable water.  This cost effective innovation and the current 10-month drought in Texas has prompted a flurry of calls to Fort Worth’s plant asking for reclaimed water.  Israel also has a reputation in water re-use and reclamation.  Relative to its small size, the country has devoted more resources to the development of wastewater treatment and reclamation than any other country in the world.

Water is not the only area where Texas and Israel shine.  Texas has the distinct competitive advantage of being able to draw on its history of being a global leader in the energy industry through its incredible access to technology, education, and financial resources.  Texas is uniquely blessed with abundant sunshine, wind, and open land, attributes that are perfect for generating renewable energy.  The state leads the nation in wind power generation.  In April 2010, Texas produced enough energy from wind to provide power to 2.3 million homes for a month.  Texas also has extensive undeveloped solar resources, which represent tremendous opportunities. For instance, CPS Energy continues to study the benefits of solar power as a renewable energy option, and the company is committed to bringing up to 100 megawatts of solar energy to San Antonio.  CPS Chief Sustainability Officer, Cris Eugster will speak at the Texas-Israel Cleanovation Conference.

Israel’s goal is to become a world leader in alternative energy, with its government devoting its support to cutting-edge technologies.  The push for clean technologies is necessary from the standpoint of economic opportunities, scarce natural resources, and an arid climate. The number of entrepreneurs entering the clean energy sector in Israel has grown tremendously.  Some of these start-ups in smart grid, solar, wind, water, energy management and electric vehicles are traveling to Texas for the Texas-Israel Cleanovation Conference to identify potential funding and business opportunities.

Pythagoras Solar, an Israel-based venture-backed company developing transparent, energy efficient windows that also generate solar power, announced that it has been chosen by Willis Tower, formerly Sears Tower, the tallest building the Western Hemisphere, to collaborate on a pilot project to help deliver on the building’s renewable energy and energy efficiency improvement goals.

Innovations in natural and renewable energies are playing a crucial role in helping to improve our global environment.  Texas and Israel have much to share as it relates to clean energy innovation.  The Texas-Israel Cleanovation 2011 Conference will serve as the nexus for the best and the brightest to come together to trade ideas, identify potential opportunities, and shape the future of clean energy and water.

Fort Worth has also demonstrated innovation in water re-use/reclamation.  The city’s treatment plant processes wastewater for re-use in watering its golf courses.   Each unit of reclaimable water costs about 40 percent less than conventional potable water.   The current 10-month drought in Texas has prompted a flurry of calls to Fort Worth’s plant asking for reclaimed water. To read the full article click here.

The Texas-Israel Cleanovation 2011 Conference on September 14th includes a speaker’s panel focusing on “Water Re-use in Texas and Israel,” led by Jorge Arroyo, P.E. Texas Water Development Board.  You do not want to miss this timely discussion, especially now when water re-use is vital to us during this period of intense drought, coupled with our population growth and constraints on Texas’ water supply.

Click here for a PDF Copy of the Israel NEWTech Cleanovation Israeli Companies Directory.

The directory of innovative Israeli companies in renewable energy, water, and waste management highlights Israel’s robust sector for providing innovative solutions. Meetings at the Cleanovation Conference with any company can be arranged by emailing Arie Brish: cxo360 [at] hotmail [dot] com.

Companies in the directory include:

• A.G.M. Communication & Control Ltd.- Analyzers and control systems, Water resources management, Water security
• Amiad filtering systems – Drinking water, Waste water treatment, Desalination, Water resources management, irrigation and R&D
• Arad Technologies – Measuring and controlling energy meters
• Arrow Ecology – Solid waste treatment and Recycling, Renewable Energy
• Arrow Operations and Technologies Ltd. – Renewable energy, Waste water treatment.
• CheckLight Ltd. – Analyzers & control systems
• Desalitech – Desalination, Drinking water,  Industrial water treatment.
• Greenlet – Smart Grid, Energy Management, Energy  Efficiency, power monitoring & control.
• IDE Technologies – Sea and Brackish Water Desalination for the Municipal and Industrial Areas, Water Treatment, Industrial Evaporates (Zero Liquid Discharge), Drinking water
• Interdan – Renewable energy – Photo Voltaic Grid Connected & Off-Grid, Small Wind
• Lesico CleanTech – Desalination, Waste water treatment,  Water resources management
• Leviathan Energy – Renewable energy – Wind (several products), Waves, Hydro, Underwater Currents, Magnetic Couplings
• Mapal Green Energy Ltd. – Municipal and Industrial wastewater treatment
• Miya – Water efficiency, Water Management
• ProteRec – Renewable Energy – Biodiesel
• RWM – Desalination
• TaKaDu – Water Infrastructure Monitoring

The states of Israel and Texas have much to share when it comes to alternative energy sources such as solar and hydro power, as $1b in investment potential attests.

Featuring Chief Operating Officer and President Larry O’Donnell,  Undercover Boss will document Mr. O’Donnell cleaning portable toilets, sorting recyclables on a speeding conveyor belt, and picking up roadside trash.  Along the way, he learns about the daily challenges faced by employees and how he can make a difference for them.  It’s a glimpse into our company and how we responsibly manage your waste and protect the environment every day. Be sure to watch!

Waste Management, Inc., based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Through its subsidiaries, the Company provides collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services. It is also a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. The Company’s customers include residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers throughout North America.  For more information, please visit  www.wastemanagement.com.

It is thanks to the financial support of our sponsors, as well as the support of our membership that will make the Cleanovation Conference an international success.

Find out more: http://www.texasisrael-cleantech.org/cleanovation

AUSTIN, TX, December 8, 2009 ­ — The Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce its major Cleantech & Sustainable Energy Conference, entitled “Cleanovation” to be held February 22, 2010 at the Austin Hilton Hotel, Austin, TX.  Organized in conjunction with the Government of Israel Economic Office and the Austin Chamber of Commerce, this exclusive, one-day conference will provide technologists and business development executives with an opportunity to learn about highly advanced Cleantech technologies available in both Texas and Israel markets.

Timing of the conference has been intentionally scheduled just prior to two major Cleantech conferences to accommodate prospective attendees from Israel and elsewhere.  The first being the global Cleantech conference “Renewable Energy World” scheduled for February 23-25 at the Austin Convention Center, and the second, Cleantech Forum® XXVI scheduled for February 24-26, 2010 in San Francisco, CA.

Keynote speakers will include Israel’s Chief Scientist, and University of Texas graduate, Dr. Eli Opper, as well as Mark Armentrout, former board chairman of ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) and current President of the Texas Institute and Governor Rick Perry or a senior official from the Governor’s office

“Israel is producing  many of the most important innovations in the world in a variety of industries including Cleantech and Renewable Energy,” says Greg Yavner, President of the Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce.  “This conference will provide an important opportunity for US companies to meet the senior management teams from the most exciting Israeli companies in the field and they will be amazed at the ingenuity and depth of the solutions offered by these companies,” Yavner continues.

Supported by both Israeli venture capitalists and government agencies such as the Ministry of Industry Trade & Labor and BIRD Foundation, a joint U.S. and Israeli government fund targeted to fund R&D partnerships between Israeli and U.S. companies, this conference represents $1B in investment potential, and a special opportunity to meet the most exciting Israeli companies and innovators in a variety of areas including; water technologies, wind power, electricity management, solar power, smart-grid, and geothermal technologies.

Flagship sponsors include IDE Technologies, the largest and most advanced desalination company in Israel, as well as Greenberg Traurig law firm, with several other organizations finalizing negotiations.  Early registrants include Shell, Waste Management, Austin Energy, Sevin Rosen Funds, Silicon Valley Bank, Nanoholdings LLC,  BIRD Foundation, Ercot,  Texas Emerging Technology Fund, Leviathan Energy, WindSL, Israel Cleantech Ventures, IDE, Haynes & Boone, GreenbergTraurig, Israel Cleantech Ventures, Aqua-Agro Fund, Miya and more.

Early response to this unique event has been very strong, so early registration is highly encouraged.  Visit www.texasisrael-Cleantech.org/cleanovation for more information and register today.

About Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce
Formed in April 2007, the Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce is a private, not-for-profit business organization whose aim is to boost the economies of Texas and Israel by helping members develop important business relationships and to explore new market opportunities.  Texas is Israel’s third largest American trading partner, with a growing volume of trade consisting of medical devices, communications/IT, nanotechnology, Cleantech, Homeland  Security/Defense products and systems, venture capital initiatives, computer-related hardware and software, biomedical products, electronic data transmission, telecom and cable television.  Visit www.texasisrael.org for more information.

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Media Contact:                                                     Company Contact:
Mary McKeown-Christie                                       Greg Yavner, President & CEO
Maven Marketing Solutions                                Texas Israel Chamber of Commerce
512.541.6520                                                            214-576-9639
mary@mavenmarketingsolutions.com gyavner@texasisrael.org

A group that lobbies and organizes for clean technology will move its headquarters from Boston to Austin to take advantage of what its founder says is Texas’ position to be a leader in developing technologies.

The Clean Technology & Sustainable Industries Organization’s move to Texas won’t mean new jobs at first, said Matthew Laudon, the nonprofit’s president and founding chairman. It has just a few workers, and not all will move south.

But the group’s work connecting technology developers and lobbying on their behalf could pay off for Texas economic development.

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Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (Nasdaq: CLNE) is adding more natural gas fueling stations.  The Pickens-backed business is acquiring the natural gas fueling station business of Exterran Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EXH), including natural gas station operations and maintenance contracts covering approximately 25 million gasoline gallon equivalents of natural gas fuel on an annual basis for four transit operators (eight fueling facilities).

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Israel’s Cleantech Pioneers
5/7/09
Business Week

By Roben Farzad

Yavne, a hazy industrial corridor in central Israel, seems at first glance an improbable haven for geothermal technology. Its largely barren environs offer no geysers or volcanoes, the essential raw materials for geothermal energy. Yet this small city of 32,000 is home to Ormat Technologies (ORA), a $2 billion multinational listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYX) that builds geothermal power plants around the world, from Colorado to Kenya.

At a kibbutz, or farming collective, 70 miles to the south in Israel’s Negev Desert, entrepreneur Amit Ziv recycles runoff water from a nearby spa to raise sea bass and barramundi, a white fish in demand at high-end restaurants. He then channels the water from his desert fish farm to grow olives, which he exports to, of all places, Spain. “Seagulls and pelicans must be thinking, ‘What the hell?’ ” remarks Shai Ben-Tal, one of the kibbutzniks.

One can’t help but think the same.

Anyone visiting Israel will quickly realize that its resourcefulness is a matter of necessity. The New Jersey-size nation of 7 million has no choice but to conserve: Marked by long stretches of desert and a dwindling freshwater supply, it is both bereft of natural bounty and flanked by neighbors bent on its annihilation. Simmering hostilities often rise to full-fledged military actions, most recently in December, when Israel responded to Palestinian rockets by invading the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s siege mentality is driving its six-decade quest to coax more from the soil, water, air, and sunlight than do most other nations on earth. In the throes of a three-year drought, for example, Israel leads the world by recycling 70% of its wastewater, three times the figure for No. 2 Spain. Now many of Israel’s so-called cleantech companies, including drip irrigation pioneer Netafim and solar power outfit BrightSource Industries, are exporting their wares around the world. They’re even setting up shop inside that other hotbed of innovation, the U.S. “The world is now realizing it has to deal with things that Israel has had to tackle for 50 years,” says Jacques Benkoski, a venture capitalist with Silicon Valley-based U.S. Venture Partners. “Doing more with less is becoming the standard.”

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