Green energy revolution expected in Kingdom

Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman, assistant minister of petroleum and mineral resources for petroleum affairs, right, with an official of the Gulf Environment Forum on Monday. (AN photo by Marwan Al-Johani)

By AMJAD PARKAR | ARAB NEWS

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia and the Gulf signalled their intention to kick-start a renewable energy revolution in the region on Monday.

A panel of experts at the ongoing Gulf Environment Forum in Jeddah, chaired by Assistant Minister for Petroleum Affairs Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman, said measures were in place to improve the energy mix and finally reduce Middle East dependence on oil.

After a welcome speech from the prince, former French Prime Minister Edith Cresson took to the stage to claim that the global population was living in a “new world” where fossil fuels would not be enough to sustain demand for power over the next decade.

“Everybody is protecting their own interests, so it is becoming more difficult. Everybody knows that oil is the wealth of this area.

But I think that it is a great thing that people who are responsible for policy in this (region), are more aware,” she said.

Panel member and United Nations energy expert Veerle Vandeweerd, who is part of the UN Development Program, said an estimated 1.6 billion people had no access to power. She added that clean energy technologies were the way forward for the Gulf.

Chariman of the Gulf International Trading Group Khalid Al-Midfa said the region would need an extra 100 gigawatts of power to sufficiently meet its energy needs over the next 10 years. He added that $32.6 billion had been earmarked to achieve this.

Saudi Arabia is actually trying to clean up its act where pollution is concerned, according to an environmental expert at Saudi Aramco.

Khalid Abuleif said $300 million had been injected into research and development for projects directly linked to energy and the environment.

He added that Saudi Arabia was one of four countries signed up to the “Four Kingdoms” initiative, which aims to explore the environmental viability of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.

The Kingdom is expected to be one of the pioneers of CCS, Abuleif said. When asked whether Saudi Arabia was considering incentives for businesses to go green in the Kingdom, particularly oil traders, Prince Abdul Aziz suggested that carbon trading could be the way forward.

This would allow businesses to buy and sell carbon according to an agreed reduction in emissions in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.

The prince added that a stable oil economy would be the only way forward for the Kingdom and the rest of the world to move toward implementing more green energy projects.

“We cannot afford to be isolated from the rest of the world. The rest of the world cannot afford to be isolated from any oil producer.”

Comments

ABDUR-REHMAN JAMIL

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Educating the public on how to reduce waste in their daily lives should be the first step taken if the Kingdom is serious in turning green. Millions of gallons of water are wasted everyday just to maintain that shine on the merc, or to tidy up the patio. The alleys in between the houses are turned into valleys during Zuhr time, for the drivers do all the washing and tidying up during that time.

Petrol is another commodity that we have taken for granted here. Almost everyone here has an SUV for himself. What we witness in the Kingdom is that on average, there is only one person to every car on the road. Atleast in Riyadh. One car is for the husband (office), the second is for the kids (to get dropped off to school and the wife (go shopping with the driver), and the third is for when the whole family will go shopping in the malls!

The third and most common blessing (as it clearly is one) we take for granted is electricity. I am not sure if people do realize it, but the government actually subsidises electricity (along with water supply) so that it is not a burden on tehe end customer (being us). With every houes member having 4-5 gadgets on average to themselves (ipod, laptop, psp, 2 cell phones atleast!), the amount of electricity needed to keep their batteries charged is beyond imagination. Even if we are not physically present on our room we will leave the AC and lights on in fill swing.

The moral of the story is, unless the public is educated about these issues and their attitudes altered, seldom will these green accords worth millions of dollars make a difference to us.

YUSUF

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Green energy revolution is only a show piece in this part of world as you can see the usage of plastics in Kingdom, trash cans overflowing with non decaying materials. No action is taken by the government as well as the local Public. So what is the point in wasting money to show others about the green revolution. Before you say something act first.

AMJAD PARKAR

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Hi,

Totally agree with the sentiments of both comments above. Waste is being covered in some length today at the Gulf Environment Forum. So, keep a look out for reports on this.

In addition, I do think a strong focus on behavior change does need to be introduced. However, a common gripe among people of ANY country is that the government needs to be seen as taking a lead where tackling climate change is concerned, before the masses follow.

Hope this helps. Many thanks

AP

M.G.NAZAR PASHA

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It is a most welocme initiative to go green in the power generaion,though diffcult but not impossible.
The statement of Mr. Khal AL Midfa is right but he has said that based on the statistics that he might have got from hissources.But the system losses in the power network sceco(SEC)are huge and there has been no initiative from the SEC side to minimise the system losses.One Kw of energy saved = one KW of energy generated,this is the simple equation.
The public is too negligent when it comes to usage of electricity and the SEC is more negligent than the people in the energy conservation programme.
The best ideas that were given to SEC to minimise the system losses and improve power factor were ignored because of lack of knowledge in the managers in SEC.
As long there is leakage and wastful usage of electricity continues,the problem of it's demand will never come down.
I strongly suggest that the power network sceco should be divided in to small sections and handed over to the power solution companies through tenders for making a study,then proving their study as a solution and then implement it practically.The SEC can evaluate the results of each company and fix a bench mark on the accepted solution by the companies.By doing so,sceco can save a lot and the Goverment can be relieved of unwanted burden.
Thank you
Pasha
nazp1957@yahoo.com

BLAINE FROM GREEN FUEL PRODUCTS SAID:

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Great article! Looks like they are trying anyway.
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