Energy Sustainability and Future Alternatives in UAE - Research Paper Example

ENERGY SUSTAINABILTY AND FUTURE ALTERNATIVES IN UAE SOLAR ENERGY IN UAE Name Institution Course Date Introduction Energy is at the top-most list of mainly significant monetary, ecological and developmental concerns facing the globe at the moment. Clean, resourceful, inexpensive as well as dependable power services are essential for worldwide affluence. To be precise, developing countries require developing access to dependable and contemporary power services if they are to lessen scarcity as well as improve health conditions of their citizens, while at the same time increasing production, facilitating aggressiveness as well as promoting financial growth. Present energy systems are not sufficient to fulfill the requirements of world’s poor and are hindering the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). For example, schools and health clinics cannot function properly without reliable energy services. Uncontaminated water and sanitation cannot be accessed without efficient pumping capability. There is no guarantee on food security, especially on vulnerable populations. About 3 billion people worldwide depend on conventional biomass for food preparation and heating, while more than 1.5 billion people do not have electrical energy within their reach. Another 1 billion people have access to undependable electrical energy systems (McCallum, 2010). An excellent power system that enhances dependable access to contemporary types of power would reinforce the chances for undeveloped and developing countries to break away from the most horrible effects of poverty. Such a structure is in addition significant attaining wider growth intentions. Financial development is correlated to improved access to contemporary power services, particularly in low and middle-class nations moving through the period of accelerated industrial growth. According to a study conducted by World Bank, nations with poor-performing power structures could lose up to 1-2 percent of development potential per annum due to electric energy outages, over-investment in power back-up generators, energy financial assistances and losses, as well as incompetent use of limited energy resources (Suurs, 2009). Modern patterns of energy production and utilization are untenable and pose a threat to the atmosphere on both domestic and international levels. Emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are main contributors to the erratic consequences of environmental change, and to metropolitan air effluence as well as acidification of soil and water. Minimizing the intensity of carbon energy (greenhouse gas emissions (GHG)) is a primary goal in attaining lasting climate objectives. As long the key energy mix is inclined towards fossil fuels, it will be hard to realize climate goals with current obtainable fossil-fuel based power expertise. As long as we expect the global economy to double in the next two decades, the globe’s energy consumption will also rise substantially if power supply, conversion as well as utilization keep on being unsustainable. Sustainable energy systems will thus be significant for minimizing the jeopardy of permanent, disastrous environmental alteration (Reiche, 2010). This paper intends to research on the energy sustainability and future alternatives in UAE and will narrow down to the solar energy as the future source of energy in UAE. We will look at the possibility of developing solar energy as an alternative to the current fossil fuel energy in the region. The paper will also hint on the challenges the may hinder the development of solar energy in UAE and possible solutions. Key goals for ensuring universal energy access and reducing global energy intensity First, the global community should guarantee worldwide access to contemporary power services by 2030. The international society ought to aspire at providing reliable energy to the 2-3 billion people who cannot access the services, to a fundamental minimum threshold of contemporary power services for both utilization and industrious uses. These contemporary power services should be accessible and ought to be dependable and reasonably priced, sustainable and where practicable, from low GHG-emitting power sources. The objective of offering universal access is supposed to be to generate enhanced circumstances for financial take-off, contribute to achieving the MDGs, as well as facilitating the poor to escape poverty (Suurs, Hekkert, Kieboom, and Smits, 2010). Secondly, the global community ought to aim at reducing worldwide power intensity by 40 percent by 2030. Industrialized as well as developing nations should put together and reinforce their capability to execute efficient policies, market-based systems, production models, venture tools as well as regulations in relation to energy consumption. Attaining this goal will require the global community to bring together technological principles for fundamental power-using products and apparatus, to speed up the transfer of expertise and excellent performances, in addition to catalyzing better private wealth flows into investments in power effectiveness. The effective implementation of these actions would trim down international power intensity by about 2.5 percent per year – roughly double the momentous rate (Radhi, 2009). Accomplishing these two goals is fundamental to attaining the Millennium Development Goals, enhancing the excellence and sustainability of macroeconomic development, as well as aiding to trim down carbon emissions over the next 20 years. Contemporary power services are more resourceful than biomass, and the hastening of power access will as well play a role to a speedy cutback in net power intensity. Improved power effectiveness permits accessible and novel infrastructure to arrive to more people by emancipation of capital possessions to devote in improved access to contemporary power services. With improved technology, it is expected that there will be increased energy consumption and thus will add to GHG discharges by about 1.3 percent above the existing levels. The effect of this amplified power use can be minimized by means of power effectiveness and a changeover to a stronger dependence on cleaner sources of power as well as sustainable power (Radhi, 2009). Justification for need for sustainable energy in UAE/ Gulf region For many years, the momentous oil reserves of the Gulf region have turned the region into one of the most significant energy suppliers in the world. In a similar manner, enormous natural gas reserves suggest a probable future Gulf responsibility as a main regional as well as global supplier of gas. It is nevertheless, the speedily increasing local consumption of the Gulf States which is drawing progressively more on the region’s future energy prediction, affecting confidence in the security of Gulf oil and gas exports as well as its domestic long-term energy supply. Slowly but surely, the Gulf region is turning from being the main supply centre for global markets, to a chief demand growth market for energy. Due to this fact, it is likely that the oil and natural gas reservoirs will be depleted sooner than expected. The implications of unabated domestic demand growth, together with the continued primary reliance on regional oil and gas resources, could severely affect the economic future of the Gulf in a negative manner (Radhi, 2009). At the level of exports: the increasing draw on domestic oil and gas production for local use will progressively weaken the region’s energy exports if no actions are taken to diversify domestic supply sources and at the same time also managing local demand. The losses in profits resulting from increasing local use of regional fossil fuel resources would be significant, in view of the region’s low domestic market prices for energy, at a fraction of export prices. At the same time, a more rapid depletion of local oil and gas reserves – due to increase in current production as well as future production in response to increasing Gulf demand – threatens to deprive future gulf generations of the region’s most valuable natural resource. Both insinuations promise extensive, harmful consequences for the region’s long-term socio-economic steadiness (Metcalfe, 1992). Due to these factors, it is thus imperative for UAE and Gulf region at large to think of other cleaner and sustainable sources of energy. It is the high time that UAE and Gulf thinks of how they can develop other sustainable sources of energy so as to secure the future generation’s wellbeing. Thus, producing power with less hydrocarbon inputs by means of renewable sources of energy should be considered as strategic economic development (NMC, 2009). Analysis of renewable energy developments in UAE or Gulf region: a regional perspective The Gulf region’s geography suggests mainly solarpower, but to a lesser extent wind and geothermal power could also be pursued. Sustainable energy sources provide the Gulf region with a potential window of future supply security, together with constructive effects along the economic value chain icluding import dependencis required by other alternative energies such as nuclear, as welll as different environmental advantages. The foremost initiatives within the region such as Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City and Saudi Arabia’s plans for the world’s first solar-powered industrial desalination plant have shown the feasibility of the pertinent expertise and have further formed a new value chain, in addition to high-tech jobs for the domestic labour market (Bradford, 2006). In general, sustainable power provides offers several economic as well as strategicc benefits to the Gulf region. Renewable power generation capacity can be built relatively quickly as compared to the multi-year process of attaining and building nuclear facilities. Renewable power make use of existing geographical advantages, for instance, solar power can take advantage of Gulf’s sun-hours, which are comparably longer than those of many Western countries. Demand can be covered at both base- and peak-load by renewables, providing a level of flexibility that only fossil would otherwise afford. Furthermore, peak production from solar power coincides conviniently with peak demand times, during those hours of intense summer sun when the use of air conditioning across the UAE as well as other parts of Gulf peaks. Thus renewable power has a broader range linked to sustainable development; security of energy supply, sensible cost as well as saving the environment (Colatat, Vidican, and Lester, 2009). Examing the current state of affairs and future perspectives for energy demand reveals that sustainable or renewable energies and energy efficiency in the region are two of the most promising development paths in terms of electricity generation and domestic consumptions. In regard to solar energy, accessibility of the resource is evident. The regular yearly solar radiation falling on the Arabian Peninsula is about 2200kWh(th)/m2 as well as the enormous area of unoccupied land provide enormous possibility for exploiting the solar energy. The area enjoys 40 percent more sun than Spain Bradford, 2006). The UAE context UAE is a kingdom that is extremely well-established in the tribal cultural patterns. Due to this fact, the givernment is a strongly paternalistic and supreme decision maker, and decisions are made mainly at the highest levels of the government. This feature differntites the UAE’s supremacy model from other developing as well as developed countries. Abu Dhabi is the largets emirate geographically, and its waters contain the mainstream of the UAE’s oil and gas deposits. While the oil and gas industry supported the fast development of the UAE, also driven by Peak Oil concerns, economic diversification has been shown tobe critical for future regional growth (UNDP, 2009; Bradford, 2006). Moreover, most of the more recent reports have indicated that the Arabian Gulf countries, UAE in particular, have the highest level of per capita CO2 emissions as well as water consumption in the world (WWF, 2008; UNDP, 2009). Within this context, high solar insolation and unpopulated desert areas, together with high energy demand, make solar energy a potential niche for diversifying energy generation. Concentrating on solar energy as a strategic growth would strengthen the position of countries in the Arabian Gulf in the energy sector, and at the same time address sustainability as well as climate change issues. However, at the moment, conventional energy is highly subsidized, thus lowering the viability of solar energy for both potential users and investors (IKED, 2009). First movers Currently, the government of Abu Dhabi is the driving force behind developing a technological innovation system (TIS) around the solar energy, in response to concerns pertaining Peak Oil, high CO2 emissions per capita as well as calls for economic diversification. The main government initiative that focuses on establishing an entirely new economic sector, mainly based on solar technologies, is the Masdar Initiative, launched in 2006. The project is projected to cost approximately $US22 billion and is driven by Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, a branch of the Mubadala Investment Company (Baldwin, 2012). Masdar Initiative plays the role of a first mover in setting up the innovation system and in making the initial steps towards creating linkages between the innovation system and the domestic economy (Sophie, 2006). Masdar drives the process of transformation, attracts foreign investors and companies, forms demand by investing in pilot projects, and focuses on investing in R&D as well as in developing the solar industry value chain. Moreover, by exploring applications of technologies like photovoltaic (PV), CSP, geothermal, and carbon capture as well as storage technologies in the UAE, Masdar focuses on supporting technological diversity (Jacobsson and Bergek, 2004). Even though the UAE has no reliable strategy frameworks for renewable technologies along with sustainable energies, it has come up with financial growth programs devoted to instituting novel financial sectors aimed at providing substitute power as well as renewable technologies. For example, two promising ventures are expected to be finished in the near future; first a $350 millions solar power plant and second, a $2 billions hydrogen-fuelled power plant (ScienceDaily.com, 2010). These projects will play a part to the growth of sustainable energy as well as secure UAE’s future altenatives, together with financial, environment and industrial well-being. They will not only play a role towards employment creation, ,but also lessen considerably the quantity of GHG emissions (Hekkert, Suurs, Negro, Kulhmann, and Smits, 2007). Demonstration projects The milestone technology project in Abu Dhabi is the 10MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant intended to power the initial stage of Masdar City development. Presently, this is the largest solar photovoltaic plant in the Middle East. Furthermore, a 10kW beam-down pilot has been constructed in association with Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2009, presently run by Masdar Institute, and a 100MW solar concentrated power plant (Shams 1) is under construction to supply the national electricity grid. Shams 1 will turn out to be the world’s biggest concentrator photovoltaic power station in addition to being the earliest of its kind in the Gulf region. These pilot projects make possible the early discovery of technological drivers and barriers in the local environment, to be addressed in later stages. Thus, they are expected to have significant effects on the Knowledge Development, Knowledge Diffusion, as well as Market Formation functions, in the institutional learning and technological adaptation to domestic environmental conditions (Masdar city, 2010). Power utility and institutional challenges Power utilities play a significant role in the emerging TIS. The local utility is the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA), owned by the Abu Dhabi government. Even though renewable energy is not advocated in UAE as the substitute for fossil fuels (rather as a complementary energy source), and even though utilities are familiar with energy generation, transportation and distribution, integration of renewable energy technology into the grid poses challenges to both utilities and solar energy generators. Moreover, due to high power demands caused by fast economic growth, utilities are more anxious of short-term targets for increasing generation capacities (Jacobsson, and Johnson, 2000). Another key challenge for solar power consumption emanates from the low electricity tolls in Abu Dhabi since the government keeps prices of electricity artificially low by offering subsidies. This places electricity from solar energy at a high cost disadvantage in comparison to conventional energy sources. Moreover, the experience with developing solar project has been institutionally challenging for the fact that policies have not yet been put into practice to support a broader market expansion. Lastly, domestic and global companies are not willing to enter the solar market in the UAE, irrespective of the high potential, due to lack of suitable long-term incentive schemes (Bergek, 2002). Possible solutions The government to come up with strategies to institute long-lasting incentive schemes so as to attract both domestic and international companies into the solar market. The government should also simplify the processes of signing of agreements to pay utilities a subsidy (the green power payments) that would cover the difference between the cost of electricity generation from the conventional sources and that of solar energy. Moreover, these types of negotiations between investors and the government should be made easier so as not to discourage both domestic and international companies that may be willing to invest in solar energy. Thus, the strong active role of government in the UAE or any other country is a significant catalyst for the solar industry. There is also need for forming networks of communications as well as collaborations for knowledge transfer and exchange of ideas so as to generate the suitable dynamics (Carlsson, Jacobsson, Holmen, and Rickene, 2002). Conclusion While the main aim of this paper was to analyze and understand the different mechanism of the technological innovation system, as well as the challenges and opportunities for developing a solar industry in UAE, future research is required to comprehend the domestic innovation development in a more fundamental manner. Particularly, more study is required to examine the knowledge production structure in the UAE, the consumerist culture in the region as well as the type of guiding principles that are likely to generate the preferred results in the transformation process to a knowledge-based financial system. References: Baldwin, D. (October 20, 2012). 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