One high-tech polymer start-up has developed a coating to solve the problem.
The huge and visionary Desertec Industrial Initiative (Dii)plan to ship vast amounts of solar to Europe has one glaring potential weakness. Dust. Deserts have all the sun that is needed to power vast cities, and recently, the 3rd Desertec deal was signed, but they also have dust. Lots of it. And little water to clean it.
Just one month's dust accumulation in desert conditions can reduce a panels output by 35%, and some even warn that water-intensive CSP is impossible for desert solar.
So developing dust-resistant solar will be the next Big Thing.
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Walnut floors and bookshelves gives “warmth”, but at a cost of live trees that take 50 years to grow The use of ornate wood products in building homes, furniture and ships has been part of humanity since time began. Even the Bible gives note to using wood for ornate construction projects with such examples as King […]
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Is augmented reality projections the new fireworks of the Middle East? We hope so To celebrate a wedding it is common for Middle East men to shoot guns into the air, with stray bullets eventually falling to the sky, killing wildlife and sometimes people. This still happens in Gaza and Jordan for instance, although authorities […]
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Time to scale down on Diamond Class sleeping suits? Image via Etihad United Arab Emirates-based airlines, Emirates and Etihad Airways warn of higher ticket prices as they seek to pass on costs of a European Union (EU) aviation carbon trading scheme to passengers. Dubai’s Emirates will spend almost $52 million US this year to purchase […]
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Post-Durban World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi is now a huge opportunity for clean energy developers in the Middle East region. Ever since the European Union adopted the Kyoto Accord and with it the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) which funds renewable development in the developing world to offset carbon emissions in Europe, the developing […]
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A gold Rolls Royce rolls shows unsustainable luxury of wealthy Gulf clients.
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Aircraft behemoth Boeing estimates at least 90,000 commercial planes fly daily: a massive fuel burn that translates into elephantine emissions of toxic air. There is opportunity for change in the Middle East. If you are not already afraid of the giant plume of methane gas now emitting greenhouses gases into the atmosphere, there’s another worry: […]
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Dr. Jane Goodall, Bill Clinton and Philippe Cousteau are all speaking in Abu Dhabi this week as part of the “Eye on Earth” Summit. Environmental issues effect us all, but this week’s “Eye on Earth” Summit in Abu Dhabi is attempting to ensure that environmental data is also available to us all. The summit hopes […]
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Are you a green travel guru? Do you want to see and be seen at the most important sustainable tourism event of the year? If so, pack your bag and head to World Green Tourism Abu Dhabi 5-7 December, 2011. Nothing advances sustainability more than a meeting of green minds, which is why the World […]
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Protecting food security in Abu Dhabi. A press release from the United Arab Emirate’s Ministry of Environment and Water states that in the past year, 8000,000 fruit and vegetables were tested for safe levels of pesticide residues. It seems that the scandal in Egypt over illicit pesticides resonates all over the Middle East.
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Lifestyle diseases associated with excess are undermining maternal and fetal health in Abu Dhabi. According to 2010 statistics by the Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD), 20 percent of Emirati women and 18 percent of expatriate women in the emirate have diabetes. In addition, 38 percent of Emirati women and 32% of expatriate women are obese. […]
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His mother passed away at birth. Now zookeepers at the Al Ain Zoo in Abu Dhabi are asking the public to give this baby gazelle a name. No Splashypants please! Remember Mr. Splashypants the whale that was named during an online Greenpeace campaign? Like it or not, that’s what voters chose for the whale now […]
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILlF34KJMJw[/youtube]Take a new tour through the Masdar Institute with this video. Modeling traditional Arabic cities and using old innovation like windcatchers, Masdar has become an expensive showcase for sustainable living in the Middle East. The above video gives a tour of some of the renewable energy initiatives there, like heliostats, and its pod cars. I […]
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This poor Lebanese stray dog might have a chance if neutered and then adopted out While some people might be against the neutering of stray animals like dogs and cats, this practice is much better than having them shot on sight as they are in Lebanon or allowed to starve to death, as occurred recently […]
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Power and water are inextricably linked in the rapidly growing Middle East. An exhibit hopes to green up both Desalination and water treatment have seen massive growth in the MENA region, which has now emerged as the largest market in the world. The region will have to build approximately three million cubic meters per day […]
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