PERSIAN GULF NOT SEEING ITS SUN

Sun 'could supply Gulf's day-time energy needs'
January 20, 2009 (AFP)

“Oil-rich Gulf Arab states enjoy year-round sunshine but they remain slow in adopting environmental technologies to let them harvest their abundant solar power…

“Conergy is building a two megawatt roof-top solar power system in a Saudi university in the Red Sea city of Jeddah…Although the environment-friendly system is not enough to power the campus, it is the largest so far in the region…

“Abu Dhabi's renewable energy company, Masdar, is building a 10 mw solar farm…to power the construction of its carbon neutral development, the Masdar City.

“The 22-billion-dollar city which is planned to spread over 6.5 square kilometres (2.5 square miles) is expected to house 55,000 people when ready in 2015, and will run totally on renewable energy."

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“But apart from those two projects, the drive to introduce solar power in the Gulf region remains negligible. Even at household level, solar water heaters which are popular in Mediterranean countries, are rarely seen in the Gulf.
“…the low use of such units in Gulf countries, despite the potential to recover their cost within four years, is because it has not been made mandatory by the governments…

The United Arab Emirates tops the World Wide Fund chart of countries' per capita ecological footprint, while Kuwait comes third.

“…government incentives have helped enormously in promoting households' switch to cleaner energy in Germany…”

“Despite their huge wealth of oil and gas, Gulf countries are bound to join the bandwagon of environmental countries…[but] the huge drop in oil prices due to the global economic crisis might reduce the momentum in switching to renewables as conventional power becomes cheaper…”