‘Solar’ could save H2O in MENA

Switch to renewable energy

NEW YORK, May 15, (RTRS): Thirsty Middle Eastern and North African countries could tap into their solar-energy potential to cope with fresh water scarcity, according to resource experts.

Water could be saved by switching to renewable solar energy from fossil fuel electricity generation that uses up water, said the World Resources Institute (WRI).

The findings show moving to clean energy has benefits aside from cutting planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, said Tianyi Luo, a senior WRI manager.

“A lot of times, the water savings, that kind of benefits from renewable projects are overlooked,” Luo told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan ranked among the top countries, measured by lack of freshwater and solar energy potential, that could benefit from such a switch, the WRI said.

“These countries have high-average resources for both solar and wind that could be put to very productive uses, and it could potentially assist them in their water-related challenges,” said Jordan Macknick, energy and water analyst at the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Fresh and sea water is often used in the process of cooling fossil-fuel power plants, ubiquitous in the Middle East and North Africa, according to the World Bank.

Put another way, powering one 60watt incandescent light bulb for 12 hours over one a year can consume 3,000 to 6,000 gallons of water, according to the US-based Virginia Water Resources Research Center.

Solar panels, meanwhile, require little or no water to install and maintain.

Yemen, an impoverished nation in the grip of civil war, topped the WRI ranking in terms of water scarcity and how much potential electricity solar farms could produce.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, ranked third.

Despite its wealth of oil, the kingdom recently stepped up its involvement in expanding solar energy with an announcement in March of investments to create the world’s biggest solar power project.

The project is expected to have the capacity to produce up to 200 gigawatts by 2030.

Europe’s bottled water producers set a goal on Tuesday of raising collection rates of plastic bottles to 90 percent by 2025 from 60 percent to improve recycling and cut pollution.

“Our packaging today is part of the unacceptable phenomenon of littering alongside other discarded items,” the European Federation of Bottled Waters said in a statement.

The Federation, which represents national associations and several major companies, said the new industry goal was to collect 90 percent of all PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles by 2025, as an average across the European Union.

Almost 60 percent of PET bottles are now collected for recycling, although with big national variations. The Federation did not say exactly how the goal would be achieved, nor did it give costs.

‘Join us on climate action’:

Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger urged US President Donald Trump to join action to support renewable energy, at a summit on climate change in the Austrian capital Vienna Tuesday.

“To those of you who resist because you can’t imagine success without fossil fuels, we ask you to join us, every one, also you President Trump — join us,” said Schwarzenegger, prompting applause from the audience gathered for the Austrian World Summit.

The summit is organised by Schwarzenegger’s R20 climate NGO and has brought together business and political leaders, including UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, as well as climate change experts and activists.

In June 2017 Trump withdrew from the global Paris Climate Agreement aimed at capping global warming at “well under” two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), and his administration has made efforts to boost fossil fuel technologies.

“You said when you become president you want to have so many victories, that the American people would get sick and tired of winning. Well if that’s really what you want, then join us because then you will have a lot of victories,” Schwarzenegger went on.

Schwarzenegger called for drastic action on pollution, saying it killed nine million people every year. He pointed to the importance of promoting renewable energy, praising countries and businesses which had already made strides in this direction.

Earlier Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz addressed the summit, but was interrupted by a protester who took to the stage to highlight what she called the Austrian government’s “empty words” on climate change.

Kurz allowed the protestor to make a statement before taking back the microphone to make his own speech. (AFP)