Renewable energy market analysis: GCC 2019


Book Description

This report explores the prospects for renewables to diversify national economies and the combined GCC energy mix, while helping the region meet climate goals and contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.




Renewable energy market analysis: Southeast Europe


Book Description

This report analyses the regional energy landscape, potential and costs, policy and investment needs, and expected socio-economic impact from a shift to renewables.




Low Carbon Energy in the Middle East and North Africa


Book Description

This book explores the evolving roles of energy stakeholders and geopolitical considerations, leveraging on the dizzying array of planned and actual projects for solar, wind, hydropower, waste-to-energy, and nuclear power in the region. Over the next few decades, favorable economics for low carbon energy sources combined with stagnant oil demand growth will facilitate a shift away from today’s fossil fuel-based energy system. Will the countries of the Middle East and North Africa be losers or leaders in this energy transition? Will state–society relations undergo a change as a result? It suggests that ultimately, politics more so than economics or environmental pressure will determine the speed, scope, and effects of low carbon energy uptake in the region. This book is of interest to academics working in the fields of International Relations, International Political Economy, Comparative Political Economy, Energy Economics, and International Business. Consultants, practitioners, policy-makers, and risk analysts will also find the insights helpful.




Gulf Conference on Sustainable Built Environment


Book Description

This volume brings together outstanding contributions to the Gulf Conference on Sustainable Built Environment, held at the Marina Hotel Kuwait, near Kuwait City. The Proceedings collects 29 papers on a range of engineering and materials challenges, and best practices, addressing development of new sustainable building materials, performance improvement of structures and tall buildings, developing monitoring and analysis techniques and frameworks for existing infrastructure under environmental effects, development of long-term sustainability plans for building stock, and development of energy efficient buildings in the gulf region. The Conference was organized by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, and Kuwait University.




Key Themes in Energy Management


Book Description

This book provides a comprehensive global coverage of energy management as it relates mostly to developing countries. In an era of unprecedented global population growth, the demand for energy has reached staggering levels. The United Nations reported an enormous 200% increase in population between 1950 and 2020, with projections indicating a further rise to 10.9 billion by 2100. As a direct consequence, global primary energy usage has surged from 3701 Mtoe in 1965 to 13511 Mtoe in 2017, putting immense strain on existing energy sources. If current growth rates persist, these sources could be depleted within a mere 130 years. To address this impending crisis, governments worldwide have implemented regulations and incentives to promote energy conservation. While numerous studies and publications have emerged within the field of energy management, there remains a significant research gap, particularly concerning the energy challenges faced by developing countries. Existing edited books on energy-related topics often narrowly focus on specific aspects, hindering readers from gaining a holistic understanding of energy management challenges and potential solutions. This book fills this void. Recognizing the pivotal role these nations play in achieving sustainable development goals, this book provides a wide-ranging perspective on the trends, challenges, and potential solutions to energy crises in these regions. It not only acknowledges the challenges faced by developing countries but also offers viable strategies to address them. The editor, leveraging his successful leadership experience in global academic endeavors, including publishing a book on Occupational Safety & Health practices during the COVID-19 era and coordination of multinational research projects, is well positioned to bring together exceptional chapters from various countries. His extensive network ensures the inclusion of diverse perspectives, enriching the book's content and offering invaluable insights to readers. Designed for a broad readership, including energy industry organizations, professionals, researchers, government bodies, policymakers, and students, this book delves into a wide array of energy management issues. By facilitating a comprehensive understanding of the subject, it equips readers with the knowledge and tools necessary to navigate the complex landscape of energy management in the modern world.




The Energy Sector and Energy Geopolitics in the MENA Region at a Crossroad


Book Description

This open access book offers a holistic and interdisciplinary analysis of the energy sector in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and its ongoing transformation. Taking into account global decarbonization policies, it offers a comprehensive overview of the transition’s effects in the region highlighting socioeconomic, geopolitical and cultural aspects. The book is divided into four parts, the first of which illustrates the historical, cultural and socioeconomic heterogeneity of the MENA region. The second part assesses the region's energy sector, with a special focus on the energy mix and consumption evolution at the national level. The third part addresses the geopolitics and geoeconomics of the energy sector in MENA countries, including foreign interference, conflicts, investments and partnerships both related to hydrocarbons and energy transition. Lastly, the fourth part provides overall conclusions and key takeaways on all major aspects addressed by the book, highlighting various paths and strategies for decarbonization in the region.




The Gulf Cooperation Council at Forty


Book Description

All of the GCC countries—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates—are undergoing historic socio-economic transitions. They are facing enormous strains on public finances and challenging economic outlooks, due to fluctuating oil prices, demographic pressures, high unemployment rates, and a lack of economic diversification. These countries also are likely to feel the rising impact of climate change, and global policies to deal with it, over the coming decades. In addition, seemingly unstoppable shifts in the long-standing international order, notably the rise of China and uncertainties about U.S. leadership, have potentially serious implications for the Middle East and beyond. This by noted scholars and experts considers the key trends shaping Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries--Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirate-- ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic, to climate change, economic disruptions, demographics and other domestic concerns, and shifts in the global order. The book’s chapters address such questions as: How will global megatrends impact the GCC? How can GCC states adjust and diversify their economies to meet the dual challenges of fluctuating oil prices and climate change? How can these states adjust their labor markets to absorb and support women and youth? How will inter GCC disagreements impact the region moving forward? And how will GCC relations with international actors shift in the coming years? This timely book, with its comprehensive analyses and policy recommendations, will be of interest to a wide range of readers interested in the GCC region, including policymakers, academics, and researchers at think tanks and nongovernmental organizations.




When Can Oil Economies Be Deemed Sustainable?


Book Description

This open access book questions the stereotype depicting all Gulf (GCC) economies as not sustainable, and starts a critical discussion of what these economies and polities should do to guarantee themselves a relatively stable future. Volatile international oil markets and the acceleration of the energy transition has challenged the notion that oil revenues are sufficient to sustain oil economies in the near to medium term. But what is the meaning of economic sustainability? The book discusses the multiple dimensions of the concept: economic diversification, continuing value of resources, taxation and fiscal development, labor market sustainability, sustainable income distribution, environmental sustainability, political order (democracy or authoritarianism) and sustainability, regional integration. The overarching message in this book is that we should move on from the simplistic branding of the Gulf economies as unsustainable and tackle the details of which adaptations they might need to undertake.




Political Power and Environmental Sustainability in Gulf Monarchies


Book Description

This book offers a new perspective about the Gulf Arab states entering a post-oil era by looking at the political factors behind the green transformation. It discusses the recent ‘environmental enthusiasm’ in the oil- and gas-rich Gulf monarchies by asking how political power can be constituted through advocating environmental sustainability. While hydrocarbon-wealthy Gulf monarchies have been viewed as the globe’s ‘hydrocarbon powerhouse’ with an immense ecological footprint, efforts towards sustainability and environmental protection measures are increasingly monitored. Climate Change, environmental, degradation and the global pressure towards a low-carbon development are threatening the very basis of economic and political power of the oil- and gas-exporting Gulf monarchies. So far, discussions about this fundamental transformation have barely elaborated how it affects and reorganizes political power games in the region. This book attempts to overcome the dominant focus of techno economic drivers of change and uncovers how environmental sustainability impacts state-society and state-elite relationships as well as shaping regional and even global geopolitics.




Smart Grid and Internet of Things


Book Description

This volume, SGIoT 2020, constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 4th EAI International Conference on Smart Grid and Internet of Things, SGIoT 2020, held in TaiChung, Taiwan, in December 2020. The IoT-driven smart grid is currently a hot area of research boosted by the global need to improve electricity access, economic growth of emerging countries, and the worldwide power plant capacity additions. The 40 papers presented were reviewed and selected from 159 submissions and present broad range of topics in wireless sensor, vehicular ad hoc networks, security, blockchain, and deep learning.