The social acceptance of energy policies and renewable energy technologies is crucial in the era of the renewable energy transition. Yet, little is known about Israel’s transition in this regard. One thousand five hundred Israeli citizens were engaged through a survey to examine their perceptions of climate change and awareness regarding renewable energy technologies and national energy policy. Individual-level factors such as gender, age, and education were included in the survey to assess their possible influence on replies. The main findings were the following: (i) climate change impact is not felt as an immediate threat by the majority, and there is (ii) a lack of accurate knowledge about renewable energies; (iii) a lack of awareness regarding national energy and climate policy; and (iv) a lack of trust in citizens’ role in energy decision making. These findings are evaluated as a barrier to public engagement within the renewable energy development process in Israel.

Purpose: The study discusses COVID-19’s short-term impact on Israel’s renewable energy start-up sector from March to July 2020. Results and contributions: The interviewed companies were experiencing supply chain disruption, logistical issues, and restrictions in work access, all of which negatively impacted business operations. Moreover, companies reported revenue losses and difficulty in securing funding, interpreted here as financial distress. In some cases, companies cut back on staff. Insights from the literature on the global financial crisis (GFC) were used here to discuss patterns discerned from the interviews. Policy recommendations are presented at the end based on both the interpretation of data and a literature review. Methodology: This paper combined the qualitative research analysis of COVID-19’s impacts on energy start-up companies assessed by a questionnaire during interviews with a literature analysis on the previous GFC. Gap: This study aimed to clarify the issues experienced by the start-up companies in the renewable energy sector in Israel during the first months of the pandemic and contributes to the COVID-19 narrative in the energy sector, focusing on a topic that has not been thoroughly discussed at present. Relevance: The paper contains unique primary data on the short-term financial impact of COVID-19 on renewable energy start-up companies, and recommends policies to assist these companies and effectively respond to their financial needs in times of crisis. The paper points out that the absence of such a financial policy for start-up companies might pose risks to the companies’ growth and innovation, and have harmful consequences for the renewable energy sector, energy transition, and climate goals. The attention currently given to initial short-term measures should shift toward a more structural and long-term approach. Impact: The paper wants to capture the attention of policymakers and the research community in evaluating and adequately addressing the financial needs of the start-up sector, which is a crucial segment of the economy, and is indispensable for achieving long-term goals such as energy transition.

Water is becoming scarcer. The unmonitored control and the extensive use of fossil fuel in water-table pumping for irrigation exacerbate global warming and harm the environment. Along with the rapid population growth and the concomitant increase in the demand for food, optimal usage of water-table and energy is becoming a must and indispensable for sustainable agriculture. In this context, Smart Agriculture (SA) is emerging as a promising field that leverages ICT (Information and Communication Technology) to optimize resources’ usage while enhancing crops’ yields. In this paper, we present an integral SA solution that leverages cost-effectiveness . Commercial solutions are costly and thus become impossible to adopt by small and medium farmers. Our solution revolves around three main axes: 1. Smart Water Metering promotes optimal usage and conservation of water-table (a.k.a., groundwater) via real-time data collection and monitoring using a Cloud-based IoT (Internet of Things) system; 2. Renewable-Energy integration promotes energy-efficient agriculture by reducing reliance on fossil fuels in water-table pumping, and 3. Smart Irrigation to promote good crops quality and quantity without harming the soil and the water-table ecosystems. Our solution has been deployed and tested in a real-world Smart Farm testbed. The results have shown that the adoption of our SA system reduces the amount of water consumption (with a traditional irrigation system) up to 71.8%. Finally, our solution is open-source and can be easily adopted and adapted by other researchers to promote the setting of a dedicated Cloud-based platform for water-table usage, especially in arid and sub-Saharan countries.

The intensity and duration of hot weather and the number of extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, are increasing, leading to a growing need for space cooling energy demand. Together with the building stock’s low energy performance, this phenomenon may also increase households’ energy consumption. On the other hand, the low level of ownership of cooling equipment can cause low energy consumption, leading to a lack of indoor thermal comfort and several health-related problems, yet increasing the risk of energy poverty in summer. Understanding future temperature variations and the associated impacts on building cooling demand will allow mitigating future issues related to a warmer climate. In this respect, this paper analyses the effects of change in temperatures in the residential sector cooling demand in 2050 for a case study of nineteen cities across seven countries: Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Israel, Portugal, Slovakia, and Spain, by estimating cooling degree days and hours (CDD and CDH). CDD and CDH are calculated using both fixed and adaptive thermal comfort temperature thresholds for 2020 and 2050, understanding their strengths and weaknesses to assess the effects of warmer temperatures. Results suggest a noticeable average increase in CDD and CDH values, up to double, by using both thresholds for 2050, with a particular interest in northern countries where structural modifications in the building stock and occupants’ behavior should be anticipated. Furthermore, the use of the adaptive thermal comfort threshold shows that the projected temperature increases for 2050 might affect people’s capability to adapt their comfort band (i.e., indoor habitability) as temperatures would be higher than the maximum admissible values for people’s comfort and health.

The global energy demand is growing substantially. Clean and secure energy supply is a must for our civilization's sustainable development. Solar and wind energy is growing fast and can contribute significantly to meet the goals set by many countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A deep and wide investigation of the environmental impact of solar and wind energy is important before any solar or wind plants' construction is made. In this study, the literature is reviewed to summarize the environmental impact of solar and wind energy systems in terms of the following factors; land use, water consumption, impact on biodiversity, visual and noise effects, health issues, and impact on micro climate. Although the benefits of solar and wind energy are obvious and great, negative perception of these technologies can inhibit their wide penetration in some regions. This review paper includes a critical and an inclusive analysis of solar and wind energy’s environmental impact and may serve as an important tool to conduct a proper environmental impact assessment. This critical analysis may serve also as a tool for developers, policy, and decision-when planning future solar and wind farms.

Energy poverty is the inability of people to have an adequate access to energy sources. It is complex and multi-dimensional problem. This paper examines both the prospects and constraints that exist in the integration of renewable energy systems that would aid in reducing poverty and promote sustainability in Palestine. Both energy and fuel poverty plague Palestine because of the many inadequate grid systems and a lack of electricity access that barely meets household standards. Palestine's complete reliance on fuel and electricity has perpetuated multiple challenges for its energy sector. The Palestinian energy supply faces considerable challenges that are due to its full reliance on Israel for 100% of its fossil fuel imports and for 90% of its electricity supply. This dependency has caused the energy sector to face political, cultural and socio-economic challenges, which then results in the sector being chronically vulnerability to political and economic change. The instability in Palestine prevents full utilization and development of renewable energy that has the potential to alleviate energy poverty. Many low-income families struggle with securing energy needs due to these hindrances along with inadequate heating/cooling, housing and increases in energy costs. This study suggests some recommendations which when considered would help reduce energy poverty in Palestine. The presented results show that poverty and energy poverty in Palestine go hand in hand. Focusing on country’s policy instruments is crucial to reduce the barriers towards the use of renewables and is the golden thread that will wave together economic growth, development and environmental sustainability.

Extreme energy poverty results from a mix of conditions including lack of access to a reliable and affordable grid-based energy source that meets basic domestic needs. In this paper, we focus on two communities that face multiple complications regarding modern energy and housing infrastructure: Roma neighborhoods in Romania and Bedouin villages in Israel. Our goal is threefold: to map within the two national contexts existing norms, policies and regulation with references to energy poverty; to identify and analyze the main characteristics and challenges associated with extreme energy poverty; finally, to highlight and discuss the nexus of infrastructure, planning and social inequality from the perspective of energy provision. Research methods included regulatory and policy analysis as well as interviews with policy and decision-makers in both countries. We found that, in both national contexts, laws and policies avoid a clear definition of energy poverty, instructions on how to measure it, and a systematic collection of relevant data. At the same time, there are no long-term policies to tackle energy poverty at a national scale. The study also found that policymakers perceive extreme energy vulnerability to be less urgent than other challenges for these excluded communities, and that long-lasting mistrust is a prominent characteristic of extreme energy conditions, as we define for the first time. Our additional contribution is conceptual: we show how informal housing conditions are combined with additional spheres of informalities, and how informal coping strategies with the challenge of energy poverty may be adopted by policymakers.

Evacuated tube solar air heaters (ETSH) are efficient, easy to maintain, and have low energy losses due to the vacuum between the absorber and the outer tubes. In this study, a new ETSH with various configurations was built and experimentally tested to determine the best configuration with the highest thermal performance. The ETSH equipped with two different high thermal conductivity metal fins and coils to enhance the heat transfer between the fluid and the copper tube heat exchanger. The efficiency and temperature difference were experimentally investigated at different flow rates. It was observed that the system with aluminum fins has the highest air temperature difference at the lowest flow rate and the highest efficiency at the highest flow rate. At the highest solar irradiation of 1000 W/m², the maximum obtained temperature difference was 88°C at a flow rate of 0.6m³/min, while the highest obtained efficiency was 37% at a flow rate of 1.25 m³/min. For the three systems, the temperature difference decreased and the efficiency increased with the increase in the flow rate.

Israel's Southern Arava region has experienced a boom in solar infrastructure development since 2011. Public acceptance of renewable energy installations is key to their successful implementation. The objective of this paper is to understand the level of acceptance of solar installations among Southern Arava communities and identify the factors that contributed to the widespread implementation of solar infrastructure in the region.

Surveys and semi-structured interviews were distributed to five local kibbutz communities and local solar developers to gauge their attitudes about renewable technology in general and their acceptance of solar installations in their community. The results point to strong acceptance of solar technology in this region. Several factors contributed to this high level of support including kibbutz co-ownership of solar assets, transparent communication between stakeholders, and the kibbutz decision-making structure.

The heuristic multi-level perspective framework (MLP) is applied here to explore the innovation process and determinants of adoption and diffusion of an individual project. Drawing on insights from this explanatory and integrative framework, we benefit from an in-depth examination into drivers and barriers to biogas technology. We retrospectively investigate a frame of the project “Integrated Waste Recycling Systems for Agricultural and Environmental Safety Purposes in Rural Communities in Jordan and Israel”. Precisely, our work focuses on the outcomes of the implementation of biogas units in three Bedouin villages in Southern Israel. The adoption and diffusion of technology incorporated learning processes and changing behaviours such as skill development, competencies, social practices and new social roles. Knowledge, and financial and policymaker support were critical drivers. Besides, the involvement of women and young community members was a crucial aspect of the adoption. By contrast, patriarchy and financial capability represented barriers.

We commented on the creation of social niches, and we recognised niche management actions along with the project progression. The introduction of social niches concept represents an extension to the traditional MLP vocabulary throughout a new paradigm of meanings. The social niche plays the role of the agency that embodies individuals’ level and bridges social practices to the regime. Moreover, we conclude that the biogas innovation process was the outcome of the coevolution of technological and social niches. Furthermore, we assert the importance of exploring the role of social niches and niche strategic management in the transition studies in poor contexts.