Comments on: Going Solar in Saudi Arabia

By: Total Solar Energy

Total Solar Energy — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 10:09:52 +0000

a win/win situation here. everyone benefits from it. so let’s see it happen

By: Michael P.

Michael P. — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 17:21:19 +0000

There is a new world wide web emerging right before our eyes.

It is a global energy network and, like the internet, it will change our culture, society and how we do business. More importantly, it will alter how we use, transform and exchange energy.

Enough solar energy falls on the surface of the earth every 40 minutes to meet 100 percent of the entire world’s energy needs for a full year.

There is no energy supply problem, there is an energy distribution problem — and the emerging solution is a new world wide web of electricity.

For more information see http://www.terrawatts.com

By: John Burgess

John Burgess — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 14:41:15 +0000

I don’t know… the Saudis have been doing experiments with solar power since at least the early 1980s. But the thing is, they are experiments, not proven technology. It seems to me that there’s a lot of experimentation going on, but not so much actually working sufficiently to hit the market successfully.

Even tried-and-true solar technology doesn’t always work as advertised in the KSA, probably due to the intense level of solar energy beating down.

The US Embassy, for instance, installed solar heating panels for all of the houses it built for its staff in Riyadh. Makes sense, no? There were also small heaters for use in the winter, when Riyadh can get cloudy and cold.

But the sun is so hot that the water heated by the solar panels is scalding hot, dangerously so. In Saudi summers, the cold water tap provides water that is itself hotter than most people prefer. And, since it’s the cold water tap, what are you going to use to cut the heat?

It’s perverse, perhaps, but the solution was to turn off the solar water heater in summer and, extremely energy-inefficiently, let the house A/C cool water in the electric heater tank. You ended up using the hot water tap to make the water from the cold water tap cooler.

It’s not for nothing that ‘Land of Paradoxes’ is one of the sobriquets applied to the Kingdom!

By: keith

keith — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 10:08:15 +0000

I remember driving out of Riyadh into the boondocks over ten years ago and coming across an experimental solar “village”. Obviously nothing came of it up until now, perhaps.

By: Sparky

Sparky — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 02:11:26 +0000

What about scalar energy…It is free! Also, hopefully the use of solar power will somehow reduce the amount of solar energy heating up Saudi Arabia. That would be nice because it is hot as hell there

By: Aafke

Aafke — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 23:22:41 +0000

I never understood why when living under the constant blazing sun, one wouldn’t use solar power for everything.
the only thing you need to do is dust the solar panels.
Handy for all the desalinisation too. why use oil if you can sell it and you have another energy source blazing away above you?
Eeeh, western countries have also already been doing a lot of research on solar power too.

By: ratherdashing

ratherdashing — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 19:49:33 +0000

ya know? Western countries played a large role in the development and the extraction of first major resource (oil) found in the KSA. I think this resource (solar) should be extracted by the Saudis themselves. That way, we have none of the political and strategic after effects.

I say, let the Saudis develop ways to convert solar to electricity and market it to the region. Think of what a source of pride it would be for them.