FEATURES GREEN SPECIAL REPORT
And according to US energy secretary Steven Chu, Saudi could emerge as a major exporter of solar energy, which might reach the current level of the kingdom’s oil exports. Speaking earlier this year in Riyadh, Chu said: “The kingdom’s drive to invest a portion of its oil revenue on scientific and technical research will enable it to strengthen diversification of energy sources and promote renewable energy programs.” Khaled Al-Nabulsi, a professor at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, added that studies have proved Saudi could become the largest exporter of solar energy in the world. The country has the capability to produce large amounts of solar energy due to its great expanse of open areas exposed to direct sunlight, he said. In Bahrain, the World Trade Building, which opened in 2008, was the world’s first sky scraper to use wind turbines in its design. The project has received a number of awards including the Arab Construction World for Sustainable Design Award. Plus, the Sabah Al Ahmed International Finance Centre in Kuwait is a 40-storey tower able to generate its own energy from a photovoltaics (PV) system and roof mounted wind turbines. PV is a method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity using semiconductors. Finally, in Qatar, the Energy City utilises the latest green building
The World Trade Building.
technology to house a modern business and residential facility occupied by a diverse mix of energyrelated companies, commercial tenants, customers and suppliers. Lindsey McDonald, a consultant at the information and communication technologies practice for the MiddleEast & North Africa at Frost & Sullivan, said: “The Musanada project in Abu Dhabi is a global example of how sustainability can be achieved. Generally, it’s gratifying to see that in the last year there have been more environmental initiatives in the region than previously. This is all the way from community environmental clean-ups to the launch of businesses focused on recycling not only paper, but electronic products and the like.” Musanada is an Abu Dhabi government initiative established in 2007 that develops and manages services to improve interaction
THE FIRST MIDDLE EAST-EUROPE SOLAR POWER GRID
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n an ambitious project known as the Desertec Industrial Initiative, a consortium of companies from Europe and North Africa plans to build a network of solar power plants in the Middle East and North Africa that would be connected by a super grid of high-voltage, direct-current transmission lines to Europe. The consortium is led by Germanybased Siemens and Munich Re, which
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hopes to obtain above-market prices for the energy they would export to Europe. Desertec plans to invest $550bn by 2050 in the project, which it says would produce $3trn worth of energy and supply 15 per cent of Europe’s electricity. The plants would use concentrated solar power, a technique whereby the sun’s rays are focused by curved mirrors to heat liquids that turn generating turbines.”
between state entities. The objective is to make Abu Dhabi one of the five top places in the world to live, work and do business. One major aspect of the project is providing support for creating sustainable buildings in the capital, from design, construction to facility management. However, McDonald added that progress in the region on going green has only been successful to a point. “The challenge and progress both lie in legislation and regulation. At present in the Middle East, while it is clear that there is a push towards the promotion of green practices, most countries do not have comprehensive legislation in this regard, and in those instances in which there is regulation, it is not always effectively enforced. “This is the main area in which progress can be made – when companies are compelled by law to take concrete action on behalf of the environment,” said McDonald. The development of some of the most ambitious sustainable projects in the Gulf comes as the definition of what is green widens. Previously, sustainability focused on shorter term solutions such as recycling, perhaps contributing to environmental efforts using monetary methods and so on. But companies are realising that there are far more ways in which a business can achieve sustainability.If the projects that have been built so far are anything to go by, the future of green initiatives in the region looks promising. ■