Events

Jun. 08, 2022

Buildings account for nearly 50% of the overall energy used in OECD countries. 40% are Operational Energy (OE), the energy used to heat, cool and light buildings, and operate their mechanical, electrical and electronic systems. Another 10%, called Embodied Energy (EE), are invested in the materials, from extraction of raw materials and their processing into building materials, their transportation and the construction of the buildings.

Among other attempts to lower this vast amount of energy, efforts have been invested in the upgrade and use of natural low EE materials, some of them used in the past (e.g., clays, adobe, rammed earth, light straw-clay), others developed in recent years (e.g., hempcrete and mycelium). When appropriately used, such materials can also lower the OE of the buildings, by absorbing and releasing heat and humidity, thus creating a healthier indoor environment.

This seminar, jointly organized by the Technical University of Crete (TUC), Greece, and the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), Israel, will present and review critically research and pilot projects, breakthroughs and the potential embedded in such materials, alongside their limitations and constraints, many of them shared by the two countries.

Jun. 30, 2022

An online meeting, in Cooperation​ with Mohammed VI Polytechnic​ University.

Sponsored by BGU Center for Energy and Sustainability​ 

Program:

• 11:00 – 11:10
  • ​Welcome & opening address
  • Limor Aharonson Daniel, Professor and BGU VP Global Engagement:“Frameworks for collaborative research”
  • Abdessamad Faik, Professor at UM6P and R&D Director at Innovate for Industry
• 11:10 – 12:10
  Desert research at BGU.
  Noam Weisbrod, Professor and BIDR director
• 11:20 - 11:30
  General overview on the research activities at African Research Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (ASARI) (water, energy, agriculture of arid zones)
  Lamfeddal Kouisni, Professor and Director at ASARI
• 11:30 - 11:35
  Questions and Answers
• 11:35 - 11:45
  Green and energy research in Chemistry
  Maya Bar-Sadan,Professor and head of the Dept. of Chemistry
• 11:45 - 11:55
  Catalyst innovation to sustainable ammonia production.
  Said Laassiri, Professor at Chemical & Biochemical Sciences (CBS) Department.
• 11:55 - 12:00
  Questions and Answers
• 12:00 - 12:10
  Renewable energy research at BGU
  Raz Jelinek, Professor and VP and Dean for Research & Development
• 12:10 - 12:20
  General overview on the research activities at Innovation Lab for Operations (Engineering Innovations including PV systems)
  Hafid Griguer, Director at ILO
• 12:20 - 12:25
  Questions and Answers
• 12:25 - 13:30
  Coffee / Lunch break
• 13:30 - 13:40
  Research at Solar Energy Center and BGU's Center for Energy and Sustainability
  Iris Visoly-Fisher, Professor and Head of Department of Solar Energy and Environmental Physics
• 13:40 - 13:50
  General overview on the research activities at technology development cell (TechCell) and Applied Chemistry and Engineering Research Center of Excellence (ACER) (Industrial pilots, PV, luminescent materials)
  Youssef Belmabkhout, Professor and Director at TechCell and ACER
• 13:50 - 13:55
  Questions and Answers
• 13:55 - 14:05
  Artificial photosynthesis
  Eran Edri, Professor at Dept. of Chem. Eng.
• 14:05 - 14:15
  The production and storage of sustainable energy and green molecules.
  Abdessamad Faik, Professor at UM6P and R&D Director at innovate for industry
• 14:15 - 14:20
  Questions and Answers
• 14:20 - 14:50
  Round table & Perspectives
  
  

​October 19-20, 2022

Thirty researchers from all six faculties of the university got together for a two-day Workshop in mid-October 2022 at Kibbutz Tzuba in the Judean mountains. The Workshop's purpose was to explore potential collaborations to tackle groundbreaking research questions on energy and sustainability. 

The successful outcome of this intense Workshop was  the development of five conceptual pre-proposals. Researchers from different disciplines and faculties, many of them with no previous acquaintance or collaboration, formed five research groups which have crystalized around the following themes: green hydrogen fabrication , storage and application ; turning oceanic plastic waste into sustainable hydrogen  and building materials; low-technology drinking water treatment for developing countries: combined fluid dynamics assisted photo-catalyst  system ; structural health monitoring using sensors powered by energy harvested from building movement; and dynamic/interactive building envelopes towards zero-energy healthy buildings.

During the two-day workshop the groups of researchers prepared conceptual research proposals presented to and discussed by all. As a next step, each group prepared a full preliminary research proposal, competing for seed money towards proof-of-concept development of their ideas using data analysis. Furthermore, since one of the groups was particularly large, including twenty researchers covering various aspects of hydrogen fabrication, storage and application in Israel, it split into sub-groups to work in parallel, each focusing on specific aspects of hydrogen studies in energy storage.

The Center's aim is to promote excellent research on energy and sustainability, targeting competitive international and national sources, use such funding to expand research facilities, support excellent research students, and boost BGU and Israel's worldwide impact in the field of energy and sustainability.