
-
Trump meets new Syria leader after lifting sanctions
-
Equity markets swing as China-US trade euphoria fades
-
Burberry warns 1,700 jobs at risk after annual loss
-
Trump to meet new Syrian leader after offering sanctions relief
-
'Children are innocent': Myanmar families in grief after school air strike
-
Colombia joins Belt and Road initiative as China courts Latin America
-
Australian champion cyclist Dennis gets suspended sentence after wife's road death
-
Protection racket? Asian semiconductor giants fear looming tariffs
-
S. Korea Starbucks in a froth over presidential candidates names
-
NATO hatches deal on higher spending to keep Trump happy
-
Eurovision stage a dynamic 3D 'playground': producer
-
Cruise unleashes 'Mission: Impossible' juggernaut at Cannes
-
Suaalii in race to be fit for Lions Tests after fracturing jaw
-
Pacers oust top-seeded Cavs, Nuggets on brink
-
Sony girds for US tariffs after record annual net profit
-
China, US slash sweeping tariffs in trade war climbdown
-
Human Rights Watch warns of migrant worker deaths in 2034 World Cup host Saudi Arabia
-
Sony logs 18% annual net profit jump, forecast cautious
-
China, US to lift sweeping tariffs in trade war climbdown
-
Asian markets swing as China-US trade euphoria fades
-
Australian seaweed farm tackles burps to help climate
-
Judgment day in EU chief's Covid vaccine texts case
-
Trump set to meet Syrian leader ahead of Qatar visit
-
Misinformation clouds Sean Combs's sex trafficking trial
-
'Panic and paralysis': US firms fret despite China tariff reprieve
-
Menendez brothers resentenced, parole now possible
-
'Humiliated': Combs's ex Cassie gives searing testimony of abuse
-
Latin America mourns world's 'poorest president' Mujica, dead at 89
-
Masters champion McIlroy to headline Australian Open
-
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners plc Announces Capital Markets Event
-
Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals PLC Announces Pediatric Amendment to Clinical Protocol
-
Sean Combs's ex Cassie says he coerced her into 'disgusting' sex ordeals
-
McIlroy, Scheffler and Schauffele together for rainy PGA battle
-
Uruguay's Mujica, world's 'poorest president,' dies aged 89
-
Lift-off at Eurovision as first qualifiers revealed
-
Forest striker Awoniyi placed in induced coma after surgery: reports
-
'Kramer vs Kramer' director Robert Benton dies: representative
-
Tatum suffered ruptured right Achilles in playoff defeat: Celtics
-
US stocks mostly rise on better inflation data while dollar retreats
-
Winning farewell for Orlando Pirates' Spanish coach Riveiro
-
Lift-off at Eurovision as first semi-final takes flight
-
UN relief chief urges action 'to prevent genocide' in Gaza
-
Baseball pariahs Rose, Jackson eligible for Hall of Fame after league ruling
-
Scheffler excited for 1-2-3 group with McIlroy, Schauffele
-
Sean Combs's ex Cassie says he forced her into 'disgusting' sex ordeals
-
Uruguay's 'poorest president' Mujica dies aged 89
-
Senior UN official urges action 'to prevent genocide' in Gaza
-
'Kramer vs Kramer' director Robert Benton dies: report
-
Sinner moves through gears to reach Italian Open quarters
-
Massages, chefs and trainers: Airbnb adds in-home services

Tired of power cuts, blockaded Gaza turns to solar
Palestinians living in the Israeli-blockaded enclave of Gaza have long endured an unstable and costly electricity supply, so Yasser al-Hajj found a different way: solar power.
Looking at the rows of photo-voltaic panels at his beachfront fish farm and seafood restaurant, The Sailor, he said the investment he made six years ago had more than paid off.
"Electricity is the backbone of the project," Hajj said, standing under a blazing Mediterranean sun. "We rely on it to provide oxygen for the fish, as well as to draw and pump water from the sea."
The dozens of solar panels that shade the fish ponds below have brought savings that are now paying to refurbish the business, he said, as labourers loaded sand onto a horse-drawn cart.
Hajj said he used to pay 150,000 shekels ($42,000) per month for electricity, "a huge burden," before solar power slashed his monthly bill to 50,000 shekels.
For most of Gaza's 2.3 million residents, living under Hamas Islamist rule and a 15-year-old Israeli blockade, power cuts are a daily fact of life that impact everything from homes to hospital wards.
While some Gazans pay for a generator to kick in when the mains are cut -- for around half of each day, according to United Nations data -- ever more people are turning to renewables.
From the rooftops of Gaza City, solar panels now stretch out into the horizon.
Green energy advocates say it is a vision for a global future as the world faces the perils of climate change and rising energy costs.
- Swap to green power -
Gaza bakery owner Bishara Shehadeh began the switch to solar this summer, by placing hundreds of gleaming panels on his rooftop.
"We have surplus electricity in the day," he said. "We sell it to the electricity company in exchange for providing us with current during the night."
Solar energy lights up the bright bulbs illuminating the bustling bakery, but the ovens still run on diesel.
"We are working on importing ovens, depending on electrical power, from Israel, to save the cost of diesel," said Shehadeh.
Both the bakery and the fish farm have relied partially on foreign donors to kick-start their switch to solar, although their owners are also investing their own cash.
But in a poverty-stricken territory where nearly 80 percent of residents rely on humanitarian assistance, according to the UN, not everyone can afford to install renewable energy.
Around a fifth of Gazans have installed solar power in their homes, according to an estimate published in April by the "Energy, Sustainability and Society" journal.
Financing options are available for Gazans with some capital, like Shehadeh, who got a four-year loan to fund his bakery project.
- Import restrictions -
At a store selling solar power kits, MegaPower, engineer Shehab Hussein said prices start at around $1,000 and can be paid in instalments.
Clients included a sewing factory and a drinks producer, which see the mostly Chinese-made technology as "a worthwhile investment", he said.
Raya al-Dadah, who heads the University of Birmingham's Sustainable Energy Technology Laboratory, said her family in Gaza has been using simple solar panels that heat water for more than 15 years.
"The pipe is super rusty, the glass is broken... and I just had a shower and the water is super hot," she said during a visit to the territory.
But Dadah encountered obstacles when she tried to import a more sophisticated solar system for a community project in Gaza, where imports are tightly restricted by Israel and Egypt.
"Bringing them to the Gaza Strip has proved to be impossible," she said.
The advanced set-up includes more efficient panels and equipment that tracks the sun's path.
Such technology is being used by Israeli firms such as SolarGik, whose smart control systems factor in weather conditions and can harness up to 20 percent more energy than standard panels, chief executive Gil Kroyzer told AFP.
Across the frontier in Gaza, in the absence of such high-tech equipment, Dadah relies on the standard panels to power a women's centre and surrounding homes in the strip's northern Jabalia area.
Despite the challenges, Dadah said solar energy remains a "brilliant" option for Gaza, with its copious sunlight: "It is really a very promising energy source, and it's available everywhere".
F.Pedersen--AMWN