Dubai, the land where everything is larger than life, has greenlighted plans to build the world’s largest solar panel manufacturing plant.  The photovoltaic production facility, Solar Technologies FZE, will be constructed at Dubai’s Technopark beginning next month and could begin producing cells as early as the last quarter of 2010.

Dilip Rahulan, the Chairman and CEO of Solar Technologies FZE said about solar energy, “The energy from sunlight striking the earth for 40 minutes is equivalent to the global energy consumption for a whole year.”  His company has plans to subsequently open plants in Mexico and Bulgaria after the Dubai facility is in operation.

It’s good to see Dubai hopping in full steam on renewable energy.  In addition to the abundant natural resources of fossil fuels throughout the Arabian peninsula, the area is also obviously one of the most sunny regions on the planet, making for a potentially easy transition from an economy based on the 20th Century power sources of oil & natural gas to 21st Century solar energy.

Read the rest of this entry »

Just yesterday, I posted about Greensburg, Kansas being rebuilt into a model green community. I believe the words “the model green community” might have even been used. Well, Abu Dhabi caught me moving after it yelled red light and has sent me back to start. The nation that sits on 10% of the world’s oil reserve is building what has to be considered the model green city. Sorry, Greensburg, you got served.

The city will be known as Masdar City, and costs are anticipated to begin around $22 billion. However will they find the money?

Read the rest of this entry »

Abu Dhabi’s sitting on top of nearly 100 billion barrels of oil, but that’s not stopping it from planning for a post-petroleum future. The United Arab Emirates capitol is going to spend billions of dollars to create a zero emissions “eco-oasis” named “Masdar” “arabic for “the source” –in the middle of a sandy wasteland, according to Der Spiegel.

The city “will look like a cross between The Arabian Nights and The Jetsons,” and Abu Dhabi’s leaders hope their solar-powered city will help them outshine neighboring emirate Dubai, which dominates the region. The rivalry runs so deep, Der Spiegel reports, that a tug of war broke out between the two emirates over Justin Timberlake. A senior Abu Dhabi official persuaded the popstar to switch a recent performance from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, for an event sponsored by Masdar’s parent company. Looks like they know how to harness star power, anyway.