by Pincas Jawetz (PJ@SustainabiliTank.info)

Tel Aviv, Israel, December 17, 2005

The Marker of December 15, 2005, notes the initiative to build joint solar energy projects involving Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority. The paper refers to an “Action Plan” that was signed between Israel and the European Union. Then, December 15-16, 2005, in Tel Aviv, potential projects were presented by a group of Israeli experts under the auspices of the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation. Dr. Amit Mohr presented these projects as a catalyst for the development of the Mediterranean eastern shores. He pointed out that the use of solar energy could be the motor for enhanced economic development in the region - increse in emplyement and the enhanced supply of energy from non-polluting sources - specially for countries that are dependent on energy imports like Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. Further, Dr. Mohr mentioned that this action plan will also make it possible for the countries of the Middle East to export solar energy technologies to countries in Europe and South-East Asia where the demand for energy is high.

Above article reminded me of the great hopes that came out from the Casablanca, Morocco, conference following the peace moves between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Those days joint solar energy projects were seen as the cement that will bind the potential Middle East Peace accords.

Further, above article caused me to stop delaying my following up on what I consider the potentially most significant side event of the Montreal meeting. My reference is to the following:

Friday December 9, 2005, what was supposed to be the last day of the Montreal COP11//COP/MOP1 of the UNFCCC, the program of side events included in the 1-3 p. m. slot the Jordan-organized session “Arab Initiatives On Renewable Energy” (Mr. Mohammad Al-Alem  mohd_180 at hotmail.com) but, alas, the meeting had an unfortunate timing conflict because it collided with the 1-3 p. m. special session that the Mayor of Montreal organized for hearing former President Bill Clinton. As a result I missed the Arab meeting and when I arrived to the hall people were already gone, probably because of a shortened session. Nevertheless, it was not a total loss so far as I was concerned. I found there a document titled: “Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation TREC for development, climate stabilisation and good neighbourhood” - and this is what I consider the most interesting document I picked up in Montreal.
I took it along with me on my present trip in the belief it will eventually come handy - anmd it did.

The session was advertised as containing two parts - MENAREC I dealing with projects based around Yemen, and MENAREC II, based around projects involving Jordan. I assume that MENAREC means Middle East - North Africa Renewable Energy Cooperation and that the document I found relates in some way to MENAREC II.

Now, TREC or the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation is the brainchild of the German Association for the Club of Rome, and the Hamburg Climate Protection Foundation and it seemingly involved Benin, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and the EU. I assume thus that this is connected to Menarec II.

TREC actually was a paper for an Arab Thought Forum held in Amman 2003, in anticipation of the June International Conference on Renewable Energies 2004 in Bonn.

I like TREC because it points out to the fact that countries to the south and the east of the Mediterranean have vast but unused sites offering superior solar and wind energy resources. Malek Kabariti from Jordan, Uwe Moller from the Club of Rome, Germany, and Gerhard Knies from Hamburg, write:”High-voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnections enable low-loss transmission to be made over great expanses at low cost. Existing pipelines can already transport hydrogen from renewable electricity as an admixture to natural gas. Combining wind and solar power from large and from far distant regions can significantly reduce fluctuations by compensating effects.” So, we have here a system to export Arab and African sun and wind to Europe - not bad. Further, as a by-product, huge amounts of sea water could be desalinated in a cogeneration scheme in parallel to above exports of energy, and we know that lack of potable water is the most serious future problem of the Arab world.

The document points out how TREC can help also in three out of the eight Millenium Development Goals - Goal 1 (eradicate extreme hunger and poverty), Goal 7 (ensure environmental stability, which includes timely climate stabilisation), and Goal 8 (develop a global partnership for development). Further, when I used such words as “AN ELIXIR” I refer to some of the several additional points the document makes:

- Economy and reliability of supply can be improved by inter-regional exchange: Enhanced cooperation will lead to understanding and peace rather than armed conflict.

- Renewable energies will reduce the dependence on a few oil and gas exporting countries and thus enhance geopolitical stability.

- RE allow preserving the scarce resources of oil and gas for their important non-energetic applications in the future.

- RE offfer to countries in transition the chance of leapfroging in development straight into renewable technologies instead of detouring through intermediate fossil fuel capacities.

- Technology transfer North-South and clean energy transfer South-North will interlink and stimulate these economies - partnership for mutual development.

Further, what about keeping the Arab states in the energy export business beyond their present exports of oil? How much is this worth to Europe in terms of building good will and thus decreasing the security threats that are in major part results from the dependence on the Arab flow of oil? Will Saudi Arabia accept the ideas presented in this document rather then continue its interference with attempted rational decision making by the Europeans when dealing with the problems of climate change. Exporting the sun does not rob national resources - exporting oil does exactly that. Oil production destroys social structure - this will not happen when the export is RE. Back to the Ebert Foundation and its work that includes Israel - could the developers of the TREC and the MENAREC initiatives see that involving Israeli technology could be to their own clear advantage also? What about the ideas put forward by Dan Raviv which we reported earlier? Yes - we have here a potential motor - let us try to go about it in the most logic way possible. These ideas deserve much deeper consideration and a push to their realisation.