If knowledge generates power, then the Clean Energy Business Council (CEBC) based in Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City intends to make the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) invincible with a new map of every known renewable energy plant in the region.
Similar to the list of active environmental organizations in Palestine shared earlier this week, this evolving tool reveals the extent to which each country in the Levant, Maghreb and Gulf have surged ahead with energy developments over the past few years, and the CEBC hopes this will inspire greater investor confidence.
Based in Masdar City, one of the most ambitious sustainable development projects not just in the Gulf, but in the world, CEBC is a non-profit organization that represents private companies pursuing clean energy programs, including wind, solar, waste to energy, biomass, energy efficiency, clean tech and even carbon capture services.
Whilst clean energy has a broad definition in this organization, there are some forms of energy that the CEBC is not willing to represent.
“Currently our members are focused around clean energy technologies other than nuclear. Nuclear forms a large part of the energy agenda in the region so is integral to the dialogue on energy solutions,” according to the company literature.
They’ve recently published this new interactive map made with Google technology. It is the first of its kind and the group hopes it will convince would-be investors that clean energy in the MENA region is not as terrifying as was once thought.
“By making this data available to the public, we hope to push further the development of the renewable-energy industry,” CEBC CEO Aaron Bielenberg told Business Week.
“The previous general lack of awareness made policy makers and capital providers feel the industry was smaller and hence riskier than it actually is.”
Whilst there has been significant growth and many Arab world countries have pledged to pursue aggressive clean energy goals, MEED Insight warns that the Arab Spring has forced many developers to hit the pause button while the political knots untie themselves.
Still, the CEBC map is more impressive than we imagined, although it would be better if we could all set aside our political and religious differences and acknowledge Israel’s progress in this department as well. It is one of the world leaders in clean tech, after all.
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
