EUMENA-DESERTEC & Marhaba – Africa

Joel Bomane — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:29:51 +0000

His Royal Highness Prince Hassan Bin Talal about a new global Mega Project:

“More than 40 years ago the Apollo Space Program was launched to fulfill the
old dream of taking man into outer space. Today, we have a bigger dream, to
restore balance between man and his home planet, Earth. With the political
will, EUMENA countries could now launch an Apollo-like “EUMENA-DESERTEC”
Program, to bring humankind back into balance with its environment, by
putting deserts and technology into service for energy, water and climate
security. This would be an important step towards creating a truly
sustainable civilization.”

Summary of the Desertec
Concept up to 2050

We want to act as “awareness raiser”, “catalyst” and “barrier remover” to
pave the way for DESERTEC developments. One of the most useful things we can
do is to work with national governments and political bodies like the EU and
similar bodies all over the world, to create the right framework of laws and
regulations, and to ensure that there is a good framework of incentives for
DESERTEC developments. Since the DESERTEC Concept can serve as key part of
any scenario for sustainable development in a world with 10 billion people,
it will be of interest to a wide range of stakeholders. An important
function of the DESERTEC Foundation will be to serve as a think tank and
forum for the exchange of ideas and for discussion of relevant issues.

Marhaba Africa!

CNN trailer about the vision of Dr. Gerhard Knies and the science network
TREC who developed the DESERTEC Concept for energy, climate and human
security.

DESERTEC RED PAPER

“In the coming decades, global developments will confront mankind with
unprecedented challenges: climate change, a population growth far beyond
Earth‘s present carrying capacity, the global striving for prosperity, and
increasing demands for energy and water, are the core problems we are faced
with. 200 years of global industrialization has resulted in an unparalleled
standard of living and an increased life expectancy for part of the world’s
population. However, all this has been and is still being achieved at a
price: alarming environmental destruction as well as climate change which
can no longer be ignored. These things will mean dramatic changes to life on
Earth in the future.”

Download it now:
English
-
French

Concept Summary The DESERTEC Concept describes the perspective of a
sustainable supply of electricity for Europe (EU), the Middle East (ME) and
North Africa (NA) up to the year 2050. It shows that a transition to
competitive, secure and compatible supply is possible using renewable energy
sources and efficiency gains, and fossil fuels as backup for balancing
power. A close cooperation between EU and MENA for market introduction of
renewable energy and interconnection of electricity grids by high-voltage
direct-current transmission are keys for economic and physical survival of
the whole region. However, the necessary measures will take at least two
decades to become effective.

Therefore, adequate policy and economic frameworks for their realization
must be introduced immediately. The role of sustainable energy to secure
freshwater supplies based on seawater desalination is also addressed. In
order to find a viable transition to an electricity supply that is
inexpensive, compatible with the environment and based on secure resources,
rigorous criteria must be applied to ensure that the results are compatible
with a comprehensive definition of sustainability. A central criterion for
power generation is its availability at any moment on demand.

Today, this is achieved by consuming stored fossil or nuclear energy sources
that can provide electricity whenever and wherever required. This is the
easiest way to provide power on demand. However, consuming the stored energy
reserves of the globe has a high price: they are quickly depleted and their
residues contaminate the planet. With the exception of hydropower, natural
flows of energy are not widely used for power generation today, because they
are not as easily stored and exploited as fossil or nuclear fuels.

Some of them can be stored with a reasonable technical effort for a limited
time-span, but others must be taken as provided by nature. The challenge of
future electricity supply is to find a mix of available technologies and
resources that is capable of satisfying not only the criterion of “power on
demand”, but all the other criteria for sustainability too. The DESERTEC
WhiteBook describes a scenario of electricity demand and supply
opportunities by renewable energy in the integrated EUMENA region up to the
middle of the century, and confirms the importance of international
cooperation to achieve economic and environmental sustainability. You can
download various summaries of the DESERTEC Concept and the studies by
clicking to following link:

DOWNLOAD THE WHITEBOOK

Follow DESERTEC on Twitter and
Facebook

TREC was founded with the goal of providing clean, cost efficient energy for
EU-MENA as soon as possible and based on economic cooperation between the
countries in the region. TREC sees the power from deserts as a supplement to
European sources of renewable energy and as a means of speeding up the
process of cutting European emissions of CO2 and increasing the security of
European energy supplies.

For people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) this would mean
plentiful supplies of clean electricity, jobs, earnings, an improved
infrastructure, potential for the desalination of sea water, and several
potential benefits (e.g. for agriculture) from the shade provided by solar
(fresnel) collectors. TREC has been involved in the conduct of three studies
which have evaluated the potential of renewables in MENA, the expected needs
for water and power in EU-MENA between now and 2050 and issues relating to
the construction of an electricity transmission grid connecting the EU and
MENA (EU-MENA-Connection).

Those three studies were commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for the
Environment, Nature Conversation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) with the German
Aerospace Center (DLR) taking the lead. These ‘MED-CSP’ and ‘TRANS-CSP’
studies were conducted between 2004 and 2006. The ‘AQUA-CSP’ study covering
aspects of solar desalination was completed towards the end of 2007.
Satellite-based studies by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have shown
that, by using less than 0.3% of the entire desert area of the MENA region,
enough electricity and desalinated seawater can be produced to meet the
growing needs of these countries and of Europe.

Power generation from wind energy is particularly attractive in Morocco and
in areas around the Red Sea. Solar and wind power can be transmitted
throughout the region via High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission
lines, and to Europe with transmission losses up to 15%. The new Union for
the Mediterranean, including many countries in MENA, is interested in this
kind of cooperation.

Greenpeace International recently issued its report
“Global Concentrating
Solar Power Outlook 2009″ which shows that the DESERTEC Concept “Clean Power
from Deserts” is feasable worldwide.

“We now are delighted to say “CSP has taken off”, is about to step out of
the shadow of other renewable technologies and can establish itself as the
third biggest player in the sustainable power generation industry.

CSP does not compete against other renewable energies; it is an additional
one that is now economically viable.”, said Sven Teske, Renewable Energy
Director from Greenpeace International and co-author of the report.

See Greenpeace Website

OBRA MAESTRA » Manned

EUMENA-DESERTEC & Marhaba – Africa