‘Green Naftali’ is an innovative environmental project at Tel Aviv University’s Naftali building that combines interdisciplinary research, circular economy concepts and advanced environmental thinking. The project is intended to make the Naftali Building, home of the Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences at Tel-Aviv University, energy-neutral with zero carbon footprint, water neutral and waste neutral.
On October 17, at 15:00 Israel time, 8:00 EST, and 12:00 UK time, the Boris Mints Institute at Tel-Aviv University will inaugurate the first component of the project, the Matanel Garden, which is a vertical wall and a horizontal garden on the ground. The garden, which was built due to the generous donation of the Matanel Foundation, includes the Green Wall, a 250 square-meter vertical garden that reduces the building’s energy consumption and a horizontal garden, which will serve as a learning and research center. Biological pest control technologies, water recycling and renewable energy will be applied to the garden.
The Matanel Garden will include several research elements, including a monitoring system that will track energy and water inputs and outputs, thus assessing the efficiency of the various technologies used in the project, the building’s energy consumption and carbon footprint.
At the Garden’s opening, Tel Aviv University President, Prof. Ariel Porat and Prof. Itai Sened, Dean of the Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences and Head of BMI, will extend greetings and a representative of the Matanel Foundation will address the gathering after the unveiling of the Garden’s plaque. Prof. Hadas Mamane, Head of the Environmental Engineering Program, Faculty of Engineering, will speak on the overall research plan for the Green Naftali project.
The Boris Mints Institute is a part of the School of Social and Policy Studies at Tel Aviv University in Ramat Aviv and was founded by Dr. Boris Mints in 2015 to encourage research, planning and innovative thinking in order to promote a significant positive change in the world. The Institute focuses on delivering detailed strategic blueprints for implementation to decision-makers worldwide, based on research conducted by the finest researchers and students in five research labs: Inequality, Renewable Energy, Sustainable Development, Water and Conflict Resolution. The Boris Mints Institute also awards the annual Boris Mints Prize – a $100,000 award to academics helping to solve strategic global challenges.
For more information and to register for the event, please click here.
This article was written in cooperation with the Boris Mints Institute.