A few weeks ago I predicted a surge of renewable energy companies from the Persian Gulf. But as I fly to Israel today, I'm predicting that the first wave of Middle Eastern energy techs will come from Israel instead.

I've already highlighted the disparity between Israeli international patents and those filed by hostile countries in the region. Israel ranks up in the top 15, while Saudi Arabia, the next Middle Eastern country on the list, rounds out the top 45.

Israel's abundance of NASDAQ listings includes practical companies spun off from military satellite projects and also purely financial ventures hatched by suits, not uniforms. What all of them have in common is a thirst for energy to drive Israel's tech-heavy economy.

2003 statistics on per capita energy use from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development show Israeli citizens consumed about 3,200 kilograms of oil equivalent (koe). Neighboring Jordan and its citizens racked up only 1,022 koe per person, while the regional average came in at around 1,630 koe. Now compare those figures to the U.S., where per capita consumption is nearly 8,000 koe.

Israel in 2003 consumed less than the developed country average of 4,623 koe, but far more than the developing-country average of 910. Since 2003, China's energy consumption growth has outstripped that country's GDP as the economy races on to the 2008 Olympics, and as a result China has inked deals with every country it sees with even a drop of fossil fuel on and under their territory.

Israel cannot do the same.

Without recognition from most of OPEC's top producers, Israel has turned to the world market, rather than bilateral agreements, to secure its oil. Though Israel maintained the right to bid on oil from the Sinai Peninsula after handing that territory over to Egypt in 1979, Egypt is no Saudi Arabia.

So Israel has to be as smart about energy consumption as it is about everything else. Since 1980, per capita consumption has nearly doubled. This is not a sustainable uptrend for any country, let alone Israel.

As I attend the first Conference on Sustainable Energy as a Catalyst for Regional Development next week in the Red Sea town of Eilat, I will meet Israel's future energy entrepreneurs. With the strong encouragement of the Ministry of Industry, these companies have the potential to take their pet projects global.

I'm talking about algae-based fuel grown in the desert . . . solar arrays that would work efficiently in any climate . . . and even advanced oil-shale processing technology (one Israeli company claims it can produce oil from this rock for just $20 per barrel!).

All of these ideas are just as marketable as Israel's current technological offerings, if not more so.

Israel's need could easily spell profits for investors who get the inside angle on these homegrown technologies before they go worldwide.

I'll be right there to watch it all happen.