I want to take this opportunity to introduce people to the group COMET-ME (Community, Energy, and Technology development in the Middle East). On their website, the group states its mission as building
renewable energy systems for communities that are not connected to the electricity grid because of political reasons and build local capacity to install and maintain those systems. The provision of renewable energy to off-grid communities answers a social, economic and environmental need. This is by no means a luxury issue but rather a matter of life-support in a particularly harsh situation.
One of these communities is Palestinian Susya, a village Ta’ayush has been going to for years. Because of the installation of a solar panel and a wind turbine, the village has been able to store goats milk in a refrigerator that would spoil otherwise. This month, volunteers from Comet-ME and villagers from Susya flew kites in the village. A video can be seen here. I urge everyone to vote for the group in the BBC World Challenge. Your vote could help the group expand its work in providing power to Palestinians who are off the grid.
More information on the group can be found in this article by the New York Times and this one published in Ha’aretz.
Across the Borderline 