This paper is locally known as “The Green Truth” because the front and back pages are green in deference to the national color. It is a bit of fun. There are, however, some green truths that Saudi Arabia needs to start taking seriously.

There is no point denying the country wastes energy on the grand scale. Waste has become endemic in the culture because it is affordable. Buildings are left blazing with lights on 24 hours a day. So too is air conditioning. There is no attempt to use it responsibly; temperatures can be so ridiculously low that it is not unknown for people to have to put on a pullover or jacket in the office to keep warm. It is estimated it now accounts for 80 percent of total electricity usage. As for fuel consumption, it is no accident that the Kingdom is one of the world’s biggest markets for gas guzzlers. With gasoline as low as 45 halala a liter (45 US cents a gallon), drivers do not even have to think about the cost of running a car.

There is appalling waste too in food, packaging, water and so many other fields. We see wheat and milk, for example, being produced at incredible cost to the country. It takes 600 liters of Saudi water to produce a liter of Saudi milk; more than two thirds of the water sprayed onto the wheat evaporates before it reaches the roots. We see, too, cars being cleaned sometimes twice a day. We see decorative trees being planted along roads that require regular watering. Why not go for plants used to desert conditions?

It cannot go on. Saudi Arabia, already one of the world’s worst emitters of carbon dioxide on a per capita basis, has plenty of money thanks to oil but it does not have plenty of other natural resources. The way things are going it simply cannot afford to stay on the same wasteful track of recent years.

It is estimated that, if the country continues to grow, economically and population-wise, at its present rate, then by 2028, with all the extra homes, shops and office blocks needed, Saudi Arabia will use half the energy it produces simply to keep itself cool. Total domestic energy needs will account for the equivalent of 8.3 million barrels of oil a day.

Belatedly, eyes are turning to nuclear and solar power. The latter is a goldfield there for the taking. The Kingdom enjoys more sunshine hours than anywhere else on the planet.

An area the size of Jeddah given over to concentrated solar power systems could power the entire Middle East.

Solar power should have happened years ago. The good news is that officials now subscribe to the green ethic. There is much talk about developing solar power plants — and with good reason: Saudi Arabia has the potential to power the world. And, once installed, it is free, bar the running costs.

It makes financial sense, long term, to go down this root. But we know that pumping oil to be used to fuel power stations is easy. It too, once the investment has been made, is effectively free, except for the running costs.

The question, therefore, that will lurk in many minds is whether the talk about green energy is just talk.