Community | July 08, 2008 | 4 comments

UAE seeks to ditch oil for alternative energy

source: http://article.wn.com/view/2008/07/07/UAE_seeks_to_establish_itself_as_the_regions_green_lea...

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stone246
The previously negative attitude of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to climate change shifted in 2007, as the UAE led several members of the organisation to take a positive lead in developing alternative energies, and began investment in technologies like carbon capture and carbon storage. "Abu Dhabi is now selling an environmentally-conscious image and wants to be a leader in alternative energy,"the UAE has made a significant shift in its thinking when it ceased to be frightened of the consequences of both climate change and climate change mitigation.Up till 2007the UAE had focused on its vulnerability to climate change mitigation as world markets moved to accommodate the new measures to combat climate change.

These would impact the UAE mainly through a highly variable oil price, and possible long-term shift away from use of hydro-carbons, both damaging to the present economy of the UAE.The UAE had also has largely ignored the future impact of climate change on its national security, from the potential threats of rising temperatures, falling water resources, and potentially elevated sea levels.The old style of thinking was still present as recently as December 2007 when the UAE's address to the UN conference on climate change in Bali was mostly full of progressive thinkingexcept for the section that argued that the interests of economies based principally on fossil fuels had not been sufficiently addressed in the negotiations, and demanded that no additional obligations should be placed on developing countries that would impede their development.

In the last six months, however, the impact of the UAE's interest in alternative technologies has come to the fore, exemplified by the launch of Abu Dhabi's Masdar project earlier this year. Masdar is made up of various projects on alternative energy and carbon management, and included building a "totally green city" of 50,000 residents and 1,500 businesses by 2016.
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4 comments // UAE seeks to ditch oil for alternative energy

  • doni83
    • 0
      doni83  

    • It doesn't make much sense to me for the middle east to be touting green energy. I mean, isn't oil the whole source of their immense wealth? Sure, the middle east themselves can go green, but I don't think they want us to, otherwise where would their money come from?

      Maybe pressure from the middle east is why more of the world hasn't already gone off of oil? Well, that and the fact that it's been so cheap up until now. Maybe expensive oil is a blessing in disguise that will finally give us all a push in the new direction of renewable energy sources, a place we should already be.

    • 3 years ago
  • pissedoffinarkansas
  • stone246
    • 0
      stone246  

    • That's what I don't get though, the oil cartels you know the ones supposedly swimming on a pool of black gold, are willing and ready to reduce their oil consumption and have accepted the reality of the declining oil reserves and climate change yet we are still insisting on drilling more and more. there's something wrong with that picture.

    • 3 years ago
  • MrBigShot21
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