Le Monde diplomatique
 The Nation
Richard Bulliet
Rami G. Khouri
Peter Kwong
Patrick Seale
Immanuel Wallerstein
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Arab Oil and Renewable Energy| by Patrick Seale | Released: 31 Aug 2009 |
Prince Turki Al-Faisal is a leading Saudi prince who has earned a reputation for speaking out boldly on important matters. In his latest intervention, he has challenged U.S. President Barack Obama for saying that “America’s dependence on oil is one of the most serious threats that our nation has faced.”
The motto of “energy independence,” the Prince wrote in the American magazine Foreign Policy on August 24, ‘”is political posturing at its worst -- a concept that is unrealistic, misguided and ultimately harmful to energy-producing and --consuming countries alike. And it is often deployed as little more than a code for arguing that the United States has a dangerous reliance on my country of Saudi Arabia, which gets blamed for everything from global terrorism to high gasoline prices.”
Instead of preaching energy independence, the Prince urged America to acknowledge energy interdependence. “Like it or not,” he wrote, “the fates of the United States and Saudi Arabia are connected and will remain so for decades to come.”
Prince Turki served for many years as head of Saudi Intelligence before short spells as ambassador in London and Paris. He now heads the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, a major Saudi think-tank in Riyadh.
The Prince is right in saying that the industrial world will continue to depend on fossil fuels for many years to come. But he might equally have said that to ignore the rapid pace of technological change is to bury one’s head in the sand.
In major countries around the world, the race is on to find an alternative to oil and coal. Anxious to become the world’s leader in renewable energy, China is protecting its energy firms from foreign competition. It has built the world’s largest solar panel manufacturing industry – by exporting more than 95 per cent of its output to the United States and Europe. In China itself, Beijing’s aim is to generate 20,000 megawatts of solar energy by 2020.
This year, it also outstripped the United States as the world’s largest market for wind energy. It is building six wind farms with a capacity of 10,000 to 20,000 megawatts each.
India, in turn, has announced plans to invest $19 billion on the production of solar energy over the next 30 years. A report sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in early August set goals of 20,000 megawatts by 2020 and 200,000 megawatts by 2050.
France, too, is giving increased attention to solar energy, setting relatively modest targets of 1,400 megawatts of solar energy by 2015 and 5,400 megawatts by 2020.
Competition in this field is ferocious. The Obama administration announced this month that it would give $2.3 billion in tax credits to manufacturers of clean energy equipment. At the same time, the U.S. government has awarded more than $2 billion in grants to manufacturers of advanced batteries and other components of electric cars. The money comes from Obama’s economic stimulus package. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have all received substantial grants.
The goals are clear: to cut dependence on imported oil; to reduce carbon emissions; to create jobs; and to allow the United States to compete in the field of renewable energy with emerging giants like China and India.
Earlier this month, General Motors revealed that its hybrid car, the Chevrolet Volt -- due to go into production late next year -- would break all records for fuel efficiency. It is powered by a battery pack with a 40-mile range, but it will also have a small petrol engine, which will extend the car’s range by recharging the battery while the car is in motion.
In combined city and highway driving, it is estimated that the Volt’s consumption would be better than 100 miles per gallon. In city driving alone, it could average 230 miles per gallon. Japan’s Nissan is planning to launch an all-electric car -- the Leaf -- in the United States by 2012.
An even more ambitious project, which has caught the attention of European scientists and politicians, is to harness the sun of the Sahara desert to provide electricity for Europe. The idea is to build giant solar power stations in the deserts of North Africa, linked by high-tension transmission lines to Europe. The solar power stations would be composed of batteries of mirrors, aligned over several kilometres, able to direct sunlight to a special fluid which, when heated to 400 degree centigrade, could heat water and create steam to power turbines to produce electricity.
The German government has given strong support to the project -- known as Desertec -- the brain child of the German branch of the Club of Rome, a non-governmental organisation specialising in sustainable development. Several major German firms, including Siemens, Deutsche Bank and the reinsurance company Munich Re joined forces to set up a consortium this summer to develop the project and make feasibility studies.
Arab oil is not in any immediate danger of being pushed aside in favour of renewable energy, but there are plans in many countries to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
The obvious lesson to be drawn is that Arab states should not waste a single cent of their oil revenues. Instead, they should turn their attention to planning for the future when demand for oil might well be in sharp decline.
Patrick Seale is a leading British writer on the Middle East, and the author of The Struggle for Syria; also, Asad of Syria: The Struggle for the Middle East; and Abu Nidal: A Gun for Hire.
Copyright © 2009 Patrick Seale – distributed by Agence Global
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Released: 31 August 2009
Word Count: 876
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