In Pursuit of Sustainable Energy Sources : Challenges and Solutions

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In Pursuit of Sustainable Energy Sources : Challenges and Solutions

Karim Elgendy, Founder and Coordinator of Carboun, was recently commissioned by Frederich Ebert Foundation (Frederich Ebert Stiftung) to produce a set of visual guides to renewable energy in the Arab World to coincide with the 23rd Conference of Parties (COP23). The infographic below is the third of three visual guides. It represents an analysis of the challenges facing renewable energy growth in the Arab World. The three guides, which were researched and designed by Karim Elgendy for the Frederich Ebert Foundation, were based on raw data provided by International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Regional Center for Renewable energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE), Lazard, World Energy Council, and Bloomberg. Copyrights for this infographic are reserved for the Frederich Ebert Foundation and the author. No reproduction or republishing of any infographic or part thereof without prior written consent from Frederich Ebert Foundation and the author. Guide 1 covers the state of the region and Guide 2 covers Regional Aspirations. They can also be reached via the infographics page.

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In Pursuit of Sustainable Energy Sources : Regional Aspirations

RE-infographics-banner

In Pursuit of Sustainable Energy Sources : Regional Aspirations

Karim Elgendy, Founder and Coordinator of Carboun, was recently commissioned by Frederich Ebert Foundation (Frederich Ebert Stiftung) to produce a set of visual guides to renewable energy in the Arab World to coincide with the 23rd Conference of Parties (COP23). The infographic below is the second of three visual guides. It represents a review of plans and aspirations to grow renewable energy capacities in the Arab World and the scale of planned increase in renewable energy capacity. The three guides, which were researched and designed by Karim Elgendy for the Frederich Ebert Foundation, were based on raw data provided by International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Regional Center for Renewable energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE), Lazard, World Energy Council, and Bloomberg. Copyrights for this infographic are reserved for the Frederich Ebert Foundation and the author. No reproduction or republishing of any infographic or part thereof without prior written consent from Frederich Ebert Foundation and the author. Guide 1 covers the state of the region and Guide 3 covers Challenges and Solutions. They can also be reached via the infographics page.

Continue reading In Pursuit of Sustainable Energy Sources : Regional Aspirations

In Pursuit of Sustainable Energy Sources : The State of the Region

RE-infographics-banner

In Pursuit of Sustainable Energy Sources : The State of the Region

Karim Elgendy, Founder and Coordinator of Carboun, was recently commissioned by Frederich Ebert Foundation (Frederich Ebert Stiftung) to produce a set of visual guides to renewable energy in the Arab World to coincide with the 23rd Conference of Parties (COP23). The infographic below is the first of three visual guides. It represents an analysis of the state of renewable energy in the Arab World region in its regional context. The three guides, which were researched and designed by Karim Elgendy for the Frederich Ebert Foundation, were based on raw data provided by International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Regional Center for Renewable energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE), Lazard, World Energy Council, and Bloomberg. Copyrights for this infographic are reserved for the Frederich Ebert Foundation and the author. No reproduction or republishing of any infographic or part thereof without prior written consent from Frederich Ebert Foundation and the author. Guide 2 covers Regional Aspirations and Guide 3 covers Challenges and Solutions. They can also be reached via the infographics page.

Continue reading In Pursuit of Sustainable Energy Sources : The State of the Region

Empowering Egypt: Strategies

Rokia Raslan

Wind Turbines in Egypt - Copyrights: Igor Srdanovic

Wind Turbines in Egypt – Copyrights: Igor Srdanovic

In aiming to analyse the underlying issues that contributed to the rolling power blackouts of 2012 in Egypt, the first part of this two-part article focussed on attempting to offer an answer to the question of why did the  blackouts occur. Following on from this,  this second part attempts to answer the next crucial question of how do we solve this problem. While the previous Egyptian Government has focused on promoting behavioural change strategies as their primary approach for bridging the energy gap, a number of alternative strategies such as infrastructure upgrade, demand side management, increasing energy efficient of buildings, and diversification of energy sources were available. In an aim to explore this diverse range of policy options, the following will highlight and discuss the potential impact of a number of these possible solution pathways.

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Empowering Egypt: Challenges

Rokia Raslan

Power Infrastructure in Egypt. Copyrights: Rémih

The past summer has seen something that many Egyptians had long forgotten: rolling power blackouts. Reports have cited that these month-long power cuts have affected everyday life for Egyptians in many ways. The outages stranded passengers on the Cairo Metro, raised concerns about night time safety and contributed to water supply interruption. Over a period of over a month the frequency of power cuts increased dramatically and were mapped by the crowd-mapping website, Kahrabtak. Power outages in some areas lasted 18 hours a day, hitting poorer residential districts especially hard and prompting protests in Fayoum, Gharbiya and Giza among others.

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Carbon Footprint of Electricity in the Middle East

Guy El Khoury

Despite the increasing global interest in renewable energy sources, electricity generation remains largely dependent on fossil fuels with approximately 70% of the world’s electricity currently being generated using coal, natural gas, and petroleum products. Coal, the most carbon intensive of the fossil fuels, accounts for the largest share of electricity generated globally, with 40% of all electricity generated.

Such reliance on fossil fuels is coupled with a relatively low conversion efficiency from fossil fuels to electricity, which averages 35%. The remaining 65% of the energy contained in fuels used is in effect wasted, lost as heat in power plant turbines and generators.

In this context, it is not surprising to learn that electricity generation stands as the top contributor to global Carbon emissions. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), electricity generation currently accounts for approximately 50% of global carbon emissions.

In the Middle East and North Africa region, electricity and heat production are responsible for 41% of total carbon emissions according to IEA data from 2009. And while not representing a consumption sector, electricity generation ranked well higher than any individual sector, including transportation, which comes second and accounts for 25% of the region’s total carbon emissions.  Yet carbon emissions from electricity generation is not equal across the region. In fact, the top 5 contributors to carbon emissions from electricity generation – namely Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Kuwait, and Iraq – together represent 70% of the region’s electricity generation carbon emissions, according to 2009 data by the IEA, a share that represents approximately 30% of the region’s total carbon emissions.

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Institutional and Legal Challenges to 24/7 electricity in Lebanon

Marie Tyl

The institutional and legal setups of the Lebanese power sector define the decision making mechanisms, and identify the role of different stakeholders from the national electric utility, Electricite du Liban (EDL), to the Council of Ministers. In their current form, such laws and regulations do not grant EDL the tools and capabilities that would enable it to operate at the required standards and  deliver reliable 24/7 electricity. Nor do they entice the utility to optimize its performance. Most importantly, the current setup largely exposes the power sector to political influence and their short-sighted calculations, which leads to the inefficient management of human resources, among other adverse results. Continue reading Institutional and Legal Challenges to 24/7 electricity in Lebanon