Knesset aims to be world’s greenest parliament

Israel’s parliament plans on becoming the “greenest in the world” by generating its own electricity and through other environmentally friendly initiatives.

Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein made the announcement Wednesday at the launch of the two-year project aimed at saving energy and minimizing the building’s ecological footprint.

In a statement, parliament said plans include building a 4,500-square-meter (yard) solar panel field to produce electricity, automatically shutting computers at the end of the day, measuring the amount of water used for irrigation and consumption as well as various other energy conservation drives. It said the initiatives will cost NIS 7 million (about US$2 million).

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.