In light of the acceleration of scientific developments and applications of renewable energy technologies in the world, and methods of adapting to climate change, how can we advance our Arab nation in the use and application of renewable energy technologies and methods of adapting to climate change?
This question is the focus of an interview conducted by Al Jazeera Net - via e-mail - with Yemeni Professor Abu Bakr Salem Bahaj, a scientist in energy and climate change and a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom.
Dr. Bahaj is the founder of the Sustainable Energy Research Program at the leading British university in this field for 25 years, Head of the Division of Energy and Climate Change, Head of the Research Group on Sustainable Energy and Senior Scientific Adviser to Southampton City Council.
Dr. Bahaj is the founder of the scientific research program in the field of sustainable energy at the university (communication sites)
What are renewable energy technologies and what is the solution to the problems of global warming?
In order to reduce carbon emissions from energy produced from fossil fuels, coal, natural gas and oil, the world is moving towards producing energy from alternative and renewable sources, whose systems are based on non-conventional sources.
Examples include wind energy, solar energy, energy generated from the sea (from waves and from tides), and geothermal energy extracted from the ground.
These sources play an important and major role in reducing emissions, especially in the electric power generation sector initially, and other sectors will follow.
Many countries have set special targets to reduce emissions, including eliminating greenhouse gases (carbon neutrality) by 2050. For example, the United Kingdom set this target in its legislation in 2008 prior to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change and limiting temperature rise from 1.5 degrees Celsius.
This interest in alternative and renewable energy sources is of paramount importance in stabilizing the global temperature.
Alternative energy sources play an important role in reducing emissions, especially in the electric power generation sector (Getty Images)
What is the status of renewable energy in the Arab region?
For the Arab world, it still depends on energy generated from fossil fuels.
This is likely to continue for at least the next two decades.
On the other hand, there are many large and important projects to generate electricity from solar energy, as is the case in Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and others.
However, there is a need to accelerate this progress to achieve emissions reduction goals, and to drive this acceleration, binding legislation that supports these goals with funding and incentives must be enacted.
One of the reasons hindering the advancement of the use of renewable energy technologies in the Arab world is that support for such projects still depends on importing technology and technical knowledge from abroad.
In my view, this will not provide the learning and technical know-how for the region to be self-reliant, advance, compete, create jobs and support the economy.
Also, the Arab region lacks manufacturing and assembly capabilities at the local level to meet the requirements and benefit from these mega projects.
In order for the Arab region to benefit from this rapid global trend towards renewable energy, it must determine which of these types of renewable energy can be easily adopted to allow the emergence of new innovations at the level of the region.
As the technology of solar and wind power generation on Earth has become very mature and advanced, it makes sense to adopt wind power generation technology.
We have recently published new ideas about converting wind energy into electrical energy and the good resources that are available around the Arabian Peninsula.
Unlike solar cell technology, the onshore wind energy conversion does not depend on solar radiation but on wind available throughout the day, as onshore wind energy provides the best opportunity for the region not only to generate clean electric energy on a large scale, but also to contribute to the establishment of a new sector in Industry in the region, because it is less advanced and mature than other means of energy generation such as solar energy.
Moreover, it can be imagined that the presence on the seashore will enable the desalination of sea water to cover many of the needs of drinking water from the energy generated by the wind.
Offshore wind power provides the region's best opportunity for large-scale clean electric power generation (Getty Images)
How can pollution be mitigated in overcrowded Arab cities?
The cities of the Arab region are characterized by a very hot climate, and many of their cities are highly humid. Therefore, the process of planning environmentally friendly cities in the Arab countries must take into account a number of points in their construction, namely:
Construct buildings to be more efficient from the beginning of the design and during the construction phase.
Existing buildings must undergo a process of renovation and improvement to suit the surrounding environment, such as good thermal insulation, using the appropriate thermal mass for insulation, and choosing the direction of the building to reduce the heat gain of sunlight falling on the building facades.
And if we take into account how we used to live in the past under the weather conditions of the Arab region before air conditioning, our history provides plenty of evidence that our buildings were built better for the environment.
For example, our ancestors built thick walls, used natural ventilation, circulated air through balconies, and made wind traps, corridors and courtyards (this is considered indoor ventilation).
Therefore, it is important to learn from our ancient architecture and apply it to our current and future buildings.
The use of modern technologies in the design of buildings, such as the installation of solar cells on the roofs of buildings to generate solar energy, and the use of cooling the earth through heat exchangers and the use of solar thermal energy instead of using electricity to heat water.
Many of our Arab cities are coastal cities, so it is possible to cool using sea water through heat exchangers.
Cooling networks should be used for conglomerates of buildings using heat exchangers enhanced with energy sources generated from land and sea water.
Arab cities are hot and humid and need to take into account environmental standards in construction and city planning (Getty Images)
How can the carbon emissions of cities be reduced?
Professor Abu Bakr Bahaj concludes his speech to Al Jazeera Net, saying if the Arab countries work together to remove the carbon impact from energy supply systems, I think that the mentioned solutions will reduce heat emissions and pollution, and most importantly, they will generate many jobs required in cities along with economic growth.
Also, reducing carbon emissions from transportation and communications is very important, and in this regard, the Arab countries need the following:
High-efficiency public transportation such as buses and trains that has a low carbon footprint, is affordable and suitable for all city dwellers.
Encouraging the use of electric vehicles while establishing appropriate infrastructure such as charging stations.
There should be strict regulations to control high emission vehicles as there is in the UK, and this can be done through rewards and penalties.
Public transportation must be provided with clean energy from renewable energy sources or green hydrogen, and owners of private cars and trucks must be encouraged to use electric vehicles while providing the necessary infrastructure for charging cars.