11 The national institute, which will be headed jointly by Prof. Doron Aurbach and Prof. Yoed Tsur of the Technion, will launch operations with the expansion of both universities’ energy research groups, the establishment of new energy labs, and the facilitation of multi-group andmulti-disciplinary research in line with the institute’s goals. In addition, and in recognition of Bar-Ilan’s successful history of academicindustry collaboration, Bar-Ilan will establish a prototype lab where ideas can be developed, tested, and translated into products with commercial potential. The leadership at Bar-Ilan will also include the prolific energy researchers Profs. Malachi Noked and Lior Elbaz of the Department of Chemistry. In its second stage, the institutewill create academia-industrygovernment interfaces for energy R&D, provide training for tomorrow’s workforce for Israel’s clean-energy industry, and help establish new clean-energy companies based on the institute’s research. The expected outcome of the institute’s activities is a revolutionary upgrade to Israel’s clean energy capabilities, and the attainment, within four decades, of David BenGurion’s dream of energy self-sufficiency. No less important, the institute is expected to provide all countries with effective solutions to our shared environmental crisis, thus advancing Bar-Ilan’s mission of making impact for tomorrow, today. Building Bridges Across Sand: The Israel –MoroccoEnergyCollaboration In what Israel’s then-Minister of Education Dr. Yifat ShashaBiton described as “a historical stepping stone for scientific collaboration between our region’s states,” the Israel-Morocco agreement for energy cooperationwas signed last September betweenMohammad VI Polytechnic University, which includes 20 research groups fromvariousMoroccan universities, and the Israel National Energy Research Consortium, which represents 33 research groups from seven Israeli academic institutions, including several from Bar-Ilan. Under the agreement, whichwas designed in large part by BarIlan Prof. Doron Aurbach, bilateral research will be carried out in such areas as rechargeable batteries, recycling, solar energy, and the hydrogen economy. Indeed, this past March, an Israeli delegationheadedbyAurbachand including researchers fromsix universities visitedMorocco for a three-dayworkshop. Together with their Moroccan counterparts, the researchers determined the optimal way to promote the formal collaboration between both countries’ energy communities. Moreover, beginning thisApril, 15doctoral students fromMorocco will arrive in Israel for up to six months’ work with university energy-research groups, including several at Bar-Ilan. The goal of their stay is to grant them the knowledge they need to help advance energy solutions in their home country. And they’ll need it: Last year, Morocco set a national goal of producing 52 percent of its electricity through renewable energy by 2030. Thanking his Moroccan counterparts for their participation in the agreement, Bar-Ilan President Prof. Arie Zaban noted that while energy is today a cause for war in Europe, “we in the Middle East are showing that it can also be a tool for peace.” Helping Companies Go Green: A Club for the Energy Industry They say that membership has its benefits—and for the six companies in Bar-Ilan’s first-of-its-kind club for the energy industry, those benefits’ value would be hard to overstate. “When ICL (Israel Chemical Ltd.) wanted to power its Ein Gedi production plant by means of green energy, they turned to us and said, ‘we need your help.’ Over the next few months,” explains club coordinator Dr. Hagit Aviv, “we organized a series of troubleshooting sessions between a group of Bar-Ilan hydrogen, battery, and solar-panel experts and ICL engineers. We put our expertise at their service, and in turn they’re helping create a cleaner country.” Currently featuring the six leading players in Israel’s energy industry—the Israel Electric Company, Doral Energy, the Bazan Group, Hon HaTeva, Ratio Energies, and ICL—the club offers members access to Bar-Ilan’s energy researchers for consultations on such issues as technology investments and transformations to clean energy, aswell as to Bar-Ilan students for help with their research. “Our goal is to get knowledge into the hands of all of Israel’s energy players, so they can apply it for the benefit of the state as a whole,” says Prof. Lior Elbaz. “Solving Israel’s energy problems can only happen through the efforts of an entire ecosystem, and we’re happy to work within that system to move it forward and maximize its potential.” The National Institute for Energy Research, housed in Bar-Ilan’s Center for Energy and Sustainability, will be led by three leading Bar-Ilan energy scientists: Profs. Doron Aurbach, Malachi Noked, and Lior Elbaz. Noked, the recipient of the prestigious Yigal Alon Fellowship for young scientists, heads a lab designing next-generation electrodes for batteries and rechargeable metal anodes. Elbaz is director of the Israeli Fuel Cells Consortium, which develops fuel cells for use by the Israeli Defense Forces in ground vehicles, boats, and submarines. The Brain Power Behind an Energy Revolution
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