The title of this article was inspired by a famous Arabic song that starts with “The Earth Speaks Arabic”. The sun speaks out loudly to the entire world asking "who is benefiting from my energy and why my energy is wasted". Some energy specialists estimate the sun's generated energy reaching the Earth's surface to be way higher than what human can use from all energy sources combined, such as coal, petroleum, natural gas, uranium, etc. Cadly, as of today, the amount of solar energy in the current global energy map is negligible. Of course, this varies from one country to another and from one region to another, where we find, for example, more solar energy is used in the US and European compared to almost none in the Arab world, with the exception of some of the future solar plans and projects lately announced in Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar. Energy experts in Saudi Arabia are pleased with the recent announcements on future solar projects that will introduce renewable energy, especially solar energy, in the Kingdom to offset its domestic exponential electricity demand and avail more oil for export. These are: — The long-term national plan to generate more than 30 percent of the domestic electricity consumption from renewable energy, particularly solar energy by 2032. — The 2012 announced solar energy generation project to be built in Makkah.If completed, Mecca will be the first Saudi city to use an alternative energy source. I urge all authorities to expedite this project because of its importance and also to duplicate it in other major cities such as Madina, Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam. — The first solar water desalination plant constructed by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) in the city of Al-Khafji on the Arabian Gulf. This plant is expected to be operational by 2013 yearend, generating 30,000 cubic meters of drinking water per day, with plans to expand the station and construct several bigger plants along the east and west costs by 2020. — The first Saudi solar panel factory built by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology that would provide these panels for all solar energy projects. — The first Solar Electricity Generation Plant announced in 2011 by the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) to be constructed on the island of Fursan in the Red Sea. I urge SEC to expedite this project and to duplicate it thoroughout the Kingdom, specially in the remote villages in Tuhama Mountains known to be with low power consumption. — The development of the first national renewable energy Atlas by King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE) to be used by researchers and service providers. — The establishment of good number of renewable energy research chairs and centers in some of the Kingdom's universities. All of these appreciated initiatives helped the Kingdom to be ranked number 12 among 40 countries in the field of renewable energy future investment. Despite these future plans and big investments, there are a lot to be done by the Kingdom to expedite in realizing the benefits of these projects and advancing its rank to be among the top 5 renewable energy countries including, but not limited to the following: — Accelerate the execution of these projects under the national solar energy strategy with close accountability and comprehensive governing policies. — Focus on remote areas that are attributed to high conventional electric energy projects' cost and low consumption. — Promote competition in this area by offering business incentives that would encourage local and foreign investments in the field of solar and renewable energy. — Link this strategy to King Abdullah University Scholarship Program to provide energy graduates with support for this future and growing industry. — Establish energy engineering, systems and economic disciplines in the local universities and support their energy research programs. — Develop incentives to encourage large construction projects to have 15-20 percent of its energy needs through alternative energy sources (solar and wind). — Develop a plan to establish local consultancy and services companies to support this industry through offering some incentives such as interest-free loans, customs exemption and free industrial lots. I would like to conclude this article by saying that: I cannot resist hearing the sun's beautiful energy voice during the day and its weeping at sunset realizing how much of its energy had been wasted. Let's work together to maximize the utilization of this God blessing energy. — Dr. Sami Alnuaim is a Saudi writer and can be reached at Twitter:@neaimsa. His articles can be followed at www.saudienergy.net
