I have just received my invitation to an exciting meeting of the “Council for the Improvement of Jerusalem”. Maybe long-winded in name, but the event will be designed to save future resources.

What the presenters will be talking about is a housing project for the caiptal, where the 50-100 new apartments will recycle their waste. The bottom line is that energy demands of the homes will be met without external support. Significantly, one of the key speeches will be given by Tamar Goldman, whose father Arnold Goldman has been a pioneer in the solar energy industry.

The presentation is scheduled to take place just 2 weeks after Israel’s annual showcase event: Cleantech. As the organisers point out….

There are 320 companies in Israel that can be defined as specializing in the CleanTech field. In the last two years, over 300 million dollars have been invested in the CleanTech industry. In the last two years, over 13 investment bodies were established in the CleanTech industry.

For a country of only 7.5m people, that is a remarkable achievement.

And while Israel is often mentioned for its strengths in solar and biomass technology, necessity has forced the country to take a lead in water purification. As the summer heat intensifies, I read this week that from a base of zero in 2004, this year nearly 300 million cubic meters of water will be made fit for drinking by purification. That stat will more than double by the year 2020.

These are not empty words. Earlier this month Tigo Energy raised US$10 million in ew financing. Israeli cleantech is definitely on the map.