Category Archives: Sustainable Development

Home Solar Made Easy: Plug and Play Balcony Solar Systems

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One of the most promising solar electric options is gaining support around the world. These plug-in solar systems are often called “balcony” solar systems. They are small photovoltaic systems that have built in control systems and an inverter that takes the power up to grid voltage (110-120V in the US). Installation is simple, place or mount panel in the sun and then plug in to an electric outlet. These systems provide low cost solar that is personal and can be unplugged and moved to a new apartment or home. A renter can invest in solar! Permission from the landlord may … Continue reading →

Rethinking Desalination through Digital Twins: From Energy-Intensive Processes to Intelligent Water Systems

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The increasing global water scarcity driven by climate change, population growth, and industrial expansion has positioned desalination, particularly seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO), as a strategic solution for ensuring water security. However, desalination processes remain energy-intensive, operationally complex, and sensitive to variations in feedwater quality and membrane performance. In this context, the emergence of the Digital Twin represents a paradigm shift in the management and optimization of desalination systems. What is Digital Twin? A digital twin is generally defined as a dynamic virtual replica of a physical system that integrates real-time data, physics-based models, and advanced analytics to simulate, predict, and … Continue reading →

كورونا – درس مطلوب فهم بعده البيئي

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العالم يحتفل بيوم الأرض العالمي للعام 2020م في ظروف إستثنائية بالغة التعقيد تعيش واقعها الصعب البشرية بسبب جائحة الوباء كورونا وما رافقها من منعطفات خطيرة أكدت على مؤشرات العلاقة غير الموزونة مع النظام البيئي لكوكب الأرض وبعدها الكارثي على الأمن الصحي والبيئي للإنسانية، وبعثت المنعطفات الكارثية رسائل تدعو البشرية للإستفاقة من غفوتها وتبدأ في إعادة حساباتها ومراجعة مواقفها وعنادها التي كانت حتى مرحلة قريبة ترفض التراجع عن خططها الاقتصادية والصناعية المدمرة لكوكب الأرض. جائحة الوباء كورونا سجلت رسائل مهمة في منظومة الأمن الإنساني المرتبطة بمتطلبات الأمن البيئي والاقتصادي والغذائي للبشرية، وتلك الرسائل تؤكد على الضرورة الإستراتيجية في مراجعة مناهج الاستغلال … Continue reading →

Impact of COVID-19 on Slums and Informal Settlements

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An estimated one billion people across the globe live in slums or informal settlements. As much of the world is already braced and battling with coronavirus crisis, there are others perplexed as to how this one billion people can possibly deal with the current pandemic. The general recommendations to global population are to wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds, if sick to self-isolate, and when out and about to practice social distancing of keeping 2 meters away from other persons. Three simple directives or are they? How feasible are these recommendations for people living in informal … Continue reading →

The Impact of School Closure on Marginalized Children

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We are seeing schools close as a protective measure of reducing the potential exposure to the coronavirus across the globe. This is due to the fact that schools could be a major source of transmission from one child to another child within a classroom, from one classroom to the whole school, to within the families and the greater community. And all at a very speedy rate of transmission of Covid-19. The action of closing schools is an acceptable move in the more developed sectors of the global community as children tend to all have access to the internet, and in … Continue reading →

Water-Food-Energy-Ecosystems Nexus in MENA: Role of Startups and Entrepreneurship

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The MENA region stands at the intersection of some of the most acute resource challenges globally. Water scarcity, energy dependency, food insecurity, and ecosystem degradation are not isolated crises; they are deeply interconnected, reinforcing one another in complex and often unpredictable ways. The Water–Energy–Food–Ecosystems (WEFE) Nexus has emerged as a conceptual and operational framework to address these interdependencies, promoting integrated resource management and cross-sectoral coordination. Yet, despite its conceptual maturity and policy recognition, the WEFE Nexus in MENA remains largely under-implemented. The missing link is not knowledge, nor policy ambition, it is execution. Increasingly, startups and entrepreneurship are emerging as … Continue reading →

Decentralized Brackish Water Desalination as a Catalyst for Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture

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Water scarcity has emerged as one of the most pressing challenges facing the Mediterranean basin, a region characterized by sharp climatic gradients, demographic pressures, and structural inequalities in resource distribution. Agriculture alone accounts for between 64% and 79% of freshwater withdrawals in many Mediterranean countries, particularly in the southern and eastern shores, where irrigation is essential for food security and rural livelihoods [1]. Climate change is intensifying these pressures through increased frequency of droughts, rising temperatures, and declining precipitation, thereby exacerbating groundwater depletion and salinization [2]. In this context, decentralized brackish water desalination is gaining recognition as a promising pathway … Continue reading →

Your Air Conditioner Could Save a Bird’s Life

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Birds are not decorative extras in the urban frame. They are part of the living mechanism that keeps cities functioning — regulating insects, spreading seeds, supporting pollination, and holding together the fragile web of biodiversity that still survives between roads, towers, and heat‑soaked concrete. Today, as extreme heat becomes a defining reality for cities around the world, this balance is under growing threat. Rising temperatures and prolonged heatwaves are making urban environments harsher not only for people, but for wildlife struggling to survive in spaces built almost entirely for human comfort. When birds begin to disappear, the whole urban ecosystem … Continue reading →

The Role of Circular Economy in Achieving Business Sustainability

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Patagonia, an American company, has launched a program called “Worn Wear” to promote its sustainable approach. The initiative encourages customers to repair or reuse their clothing instead of buying new pieces, by providing spare parts for clothes that need repair. Additionally, the company offers a special program for customers through its website, where they can send in their used Patagonia clothing and exchange it for points that can be used to purchase new items. The company also provides important tips for caring for and repairing clothes, as well as offering some used products for sale. Of course, there are several … Continue reading →

Diversifying Water Resources as a Strategic Risk Management Approach: Case of Algeria’s Integrated Water Supply System

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Water scarcity has emerged as one of the most critical global challenges of the twenty-first century, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions where natural water availability is inherently limited and increasingly threatened by climate change. In such contexts, relying on a single water source is no longer sustainable. Scientific consensus increasingly supports the idea that no single solution can solve water scarcity; instead, diversification of water supply sources represents a robust and adaptive risk management strategy. This approach is particularly relevant for countries like Algeria, where water stress is structural, yet where significant investments have been made to mobilize a … Continue reading →

Wastewater Treatment as a Lever for Energy Transition and Water Security

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Abstract Wastewater treatment is evolving from a pollutant removal process to a resource recovery system. In the context of increasing water scarcity and global energy transition, wastewater represents a strategic source of reusable water, nutrients, and energy. This study analyzes the role of wastewater treatment technologies as a driver of energy transition and water security. Based on a critical review of scientific and institutional literature, conventional and advanced treatment systems are compared. Results indicate that anaerobic digestion and nature-based solutions significantly improve energy recovery and reduce carbon emissions. Wastewater treatment plants can thus evolve into energy-positive infrastructures within the water–energy … Continue reading →

Aquaculture Using Desalination Brine: Transforming a Waste Stream into Sustainable Food Production

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The rapid expansion of desalination capacity in arid and semi‑arid regions has generated an urgent need to find sustainable uses for the concentrated brine by‑product produced by seawater and brackish water desalination plants. Traditionally, brine has been treated as a waste stream, often discharged into the sea or terrestrial environments with little or no value recovery. Because most desalination technologies, especially reverse osmosis, produce brine with salinities significantly higher than natural seawater, improper disposal of this stream can lead to negative environmental impacts, including increased salinity in coastal zones, benthic ecosystem disruption, and changes in water column chemistry. However, over … Continue reading →