Shifting to renewable energy sources may soon provide the alternative to developmental and environmental dilemmas. Sherine Nasr reports A scrutiny at the growing consumption of traditional energy sources worldwide, the levels of acclaimed reserves, and costs of extracting deeper fields of oil could justifiably give readers the shivers. Some 84 million barrels of oil are reportedly consumed daily, but for every two barrels consumed, only one is extracted. Meanwhile, some two billion people still live without access to electricity or energy. Experts anticipate that this figure will triple over the next few decades to reach nine billion. This burgeoning world population, however, may not be the sole challenge to the earth's fast-depleting energy resources. Reports predict that there will also soon not be enough fossil fuel available to cover the planet's needs of economic, industrial and social development. "There is no doubt that providing alternative energy sources at a reasonable cost will be the bottleneck for development in the coming decades," said Sigmar Gabriel, the German federal minister of environment, nature conservation and nuclear safety who recently visited Egypt. The German official was accompanied by a delegation representing 45 leading German companies who scouted the opportunities for setting up partnerships with local counterparts. The German companies operate in the sectors of energy, renewable energy, energy conservation, environment and waste management. Chairman of Oriental Weavers and head of the People Assembly's Energy Committee Farid Khamis took the initiative of allocating one million euros as seed capital to establish the Egyptian Foundation for Renewable Energy (RE). "The aim of the foundation is to make available the financial resources needed to invest in studies which will develop RE projects. This will be in collaboration with leading national and international research centres in the field," Khamis said. Germany has been cooperating with Egypt in the field of RE for decades, and has already taken major strides in this domain. In Germany, at least 175,000 people work in the RE market while over 1.5 million people operate in the environmental technologies domain. "We have the sun and the wind, while Germany has the know-how. Cooperation between both countries can be most fruitful," said Maged George, the Egyptian state minister of environment. According to George, there are currently 15 projects being undertaken in the field of RE in Egypt, at a cost of 875 million euros. The studies for 27 more projects have been completed and are "about to take off". The minister nevertheless conceded that while the government may have the "vision" to adopt the needed highly advanced technologies, it does not have the means to transform them into reality yet. "The private sector has a major role to play in this field. Preserving the environment is no longer a luxury. It is an investment, and there is a huge potential for companies which venture into this field," said George. He said that the government is providing greater facilities in order to encourage the private sector develop more environmentally friendly sources of energy. "This has, become an obligation in fact," George added. His German counterpart said that, "if we continue to produce energy in the same way that we did 50 years ago, then we're facing a real problem". He asserted that depleting traditional resources is not the only challenge. "The climate change has also become a major concern for environmentalists. We have more refugees as a result of climate change, than we have because of civil wars," said Gabriel. Egypt was among the first countries to sign the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Article 2 of the protocol stipulates that the parties which signed it should research, promote, develop and increase the use of new and renewable forms of energy, as well as of advanced and innovative environmentally sound technologies. Egypt is perhaps one of the earliest developing countries to have developed a strategy for RE. In 1986, it established the New and Renewable Energy Authority as a focal point for expanding efforts to introduce renewable energy technologies nationwide. This was planned on a commercial scale, to operate in tandem with related energy conservation programmes. In the early 1980s, while formulating a strategy for the Egyptian energy sector, the planning for RE was regarded to be an integral component of the nation's energy planning process. The strategy currently aims to satisfy, by the year 2021/2022, some three per cent of the peak energy load through RE sources. One asset which Egypt can definitely capitalise on is its sizeable wind energy potential, particularly in coastal areas on the Red Sea coast and in the south western regions of the country. The first wind farm with a capacity of 400kw was installed in Ras Ghareb on the Red Sea coast in 1988, to serve one of the oil companies. In 1992, the second wind farm was installed in Hurghada. Some 45 per cent of its components were locally manufactured. The farm has been connected to the national grid since 1998.
