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HANNOVER, Germany, June 14, 2006 (Refocus
Weekly)
The world’s deserts could serve as an
“overabundant source of clean energy through solar thermal power
plants,” according to the president of the Club of Rome.
“With the accelerating energy demands of China, India, Brazil and
elsewhere, a huge demand for energy will be unleashed which simply
cannot be met by gas and oil,” says Jordanian prince El Hassan bin
Talal. “Reserves of these fuels are limited, while its accessibility
is threatened by social and political risks” and the risks to
climate demand reduction in the use of fossil fuels.
“We need a concerted effort to increase energy-efficiency, and we
must move our dependency to renewable energy sources,” he said in
his welcoming address to the ‘World Energy Dialogue’ in Germany. “It
is ironic that people around the world impose on themselves low-carbo-hydrate
fat-free diets for their health but the environment also needs a
low-carbon emissions-free diet to recuperate its supporting
capacity.”
“In our part of the world, we look around us and we see deserts
drenched in sunlight,” he said. “Can the sun-belt, in tandem with
the technology belt, make solar energy the fuel of our civilization
and the basis for a secure, affordable and attainable energy
system?”
Every day, deserts in North Africa and the Middle East / North
Africa (MENA) receive 2,000 times more energy than is needed by the
global population, and technologies can convert “at least 10% of
solar light into useful energy such as electricity,” he explained.
“It is astounding that a desert area as small as the total area of
Hamburg and Berlin would be sufficient to generate enough
electricity for all of Germany; it is also reassuring that the
sun-belt and the technology belt, when coupled together, can turn
deserts into clean and inexhaustible powerhouses for the world.”
“Clean power for Europe and fresh water for MENA; wouldn’t that be a
win-win situation and a solution for us all?,” he asked. “Or would
we have to wait until the utility companies solve the technical
problem of how to run a sunbeam through a meter?”
The U.S. Apollo space program was launched four decades ago to
fulfill a dream, but “today we have a bigger dream, to restore the
balance between man and his home planet, Earth,” he said. “I
challenge you to put technology (the work of man) and deserts (the
work of God), to the service of mankind and nature,” and he proposed
that Europe, Middle East and North Africa launch a EUMENA Apollo
Desert Program.
“The export of clean and affordable power from the excellent solar
fields in MENA to the huge power markets in Europe would support
global climate stabilisation, the technological and economic
development in MENA, and could establish an economic and political
partnership for sustainability between the two regions, Europe and
MENA,” he explained. “The project also proposes desalination for
MENA as a sustainable and unlimited source of fresh water to
facilitate the establishment of a ‘Community of Water & Energy in
the Arc of Crisis.’
During its 2003 meeting in Amman, the Club of Rome formed the
Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) to exploit
the potential of solar energy in the MENA region. The project will
develop a master plan for the “rapid and large-scale introduction of
solar energy as a clean energy source with permanently sinking
costs, unlimited and inexhaustible reserves and significant benefits
for the MENA countries.”
The Club of Rome produced the report, ‘The Limits to Growth,’ which
sold 12 million copies and warned that unlimited economic growth
would lead to destruction of the biosphere and exhaust energy
resources.
“As president of the Club of Rome, I would like to say that it is
with some sadness that the ‘Limits to Growth’ study produced in 1972
should be so dire in its predictions and so accurate even to the
present day,” said the Jordanian prince. “In the past three decades,
this sombre warning has been ignored.”
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