The solar thermal sources in Saudi Arabia could be used to produce enough electric energy for the whole world. This was asserted in a recent lecture at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Kaust) by Dr. Ahmed Ghoneim, a Kaust researcher, Professor of the Ronald C. Crane Mechanical Engineering Program and President of “Energy in the Twenty-First Century” at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States. In the lecture, entitled “Energy in the twenty-first century”, Dr. Ghoneim said, “increases in oil and gas prices, global warming and increased carbon emissions are three factors which lead us to think of working to diversify energy sources and to search for new sources of non-oil and gas characterized to be more durable, and less harmful to nature. This, of course, is without giving up working, at the same time, to promote the efficiency of existing sources. Since “renewable energy” from sources such as solar or wind power is considered safe and environment-friendly in satisfying energy needs, Dr. Ghoneim suggested encouraging its production, especially, in electricity generation. He added that “using solar energy to generate electric power is more important and feasible than burning oil for electricity, and for that reason, the world has been heading in recent years to the generating of electric powered vehicles.” Dr. Ghoneim said if Saudi Arabia adopted a development plan for renewable solar energy during the next decade, using this energy would be sufficient to satisfy the Kingdom's energy needs, which would enable the Kingdom to expand and diversify in the petrochemical industry. This would increase the size of Saudi exports given the forecasts of an expected boom in both the petrochemical and plastics industries, which rely, nowadays, on oil and gas.” __
