While the Middle East is one of the world’s greatest energy consumers, it is also one of the biggest investors in developing green energy sources and is navigating its way to sustainable growth
With its distinctive blade-like spires, the World Trade Centre in Manama is a striking building by any standards. Yet it is the three wind turbines suspended between its twin towers that have earned the building, and its UK-based architects Atkins, so many plaudits from designers and environmentalists.
But the pioneering innovation has not been easy. While the turbines can be seen spinning when dignitaries are visiting or when Bahrain hosts the Formula One championship each spring, for most of the year they remain static.
The off-the-shelf turbines incorporated into the structure proved harder than was expected to install and operate, and it was not until April 2008, 16 months after the main towers were completed, that they were turned on. And when activated, the turbines have generated harmonic vibrations that have reportedly disturbed people working in the towers.
The most innovative projects typically encounter the toughest engineering problems, and this is particularly true of green projects such as Bahrain’s new trade centre. Such schemes can also incur a high cost. Wind, solar and other alternative energy technologies have developed rapidly over the past decade, yet they are hard-pressed to challenge traditional oil or gas-fired power stations on economic grounds. It is far easier, and cheaper, to plug into the national grid than to put expensive solar panels on the roof.
Cheap fuel
This is particularly true in the Gulf, where oil and gas are plentiful. Saudi Arabia offers its gas to local industry for just $0.75 a million BTUs, less than a quarter of the price of the cheapest European gas. Electricity is equally cheap, in most places heavily subsidised by the state.
But it is exactly this that makes the World Trade Centre such an important and impressive structure. As the first skyscraper in the world to incorporate wind turbines, the project symbolises a radical new direction for Bahrain and its neighbouring Gulf states, often decried as some of the most environmentally unfriendly countries in the world.
The region is the natural home of the sports utility vehicle, and the second-biggest market after the US for Hummers, the biggest gas-guzzlers of all. But in the past five years, some of the heaviest investment in renewable-energy technology, green engineering and environmental science has been made in the Gulf.
This contrast is particularly acute in the UAE, which includes Dubai, the highest per capita user of water in the world, but also hosts Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar), one of the biggest investors in renewables. Besides funding a range of alternative-energy research programmes, Masdar is building a $20bn, zero-carbon city that will house 5,000 people and derive all its power from solar, hydrogen and geothermal energy.
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