Renewable Energy Desalination : An Emerging Solution to Close the Water Gap in the Middle East and North Africa

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is one of the most water-stressed parts of the world. In just over 25 years, between 1975 and 2001. Looking to the future, MENA's freshwater outlook is expected to worsen because of continued population growth and projected climate change impacts. The region's population is on the way to doubling to 700 million by 2050. Projections of climate change and variability impacts on the region's water availability are highly uncertain, but they are expected to be largely negative. To offer just one more example, rainfall and freshwater availability could decrease by up to 40 percent for some MENA countries by the end of this century. The urgent challenge is how to adapt to the future as illustrated by these numbers and how to turn the region's economy onto a sustainable path. This volume suggests new ways of thinking about the complex changes and planning needed to achieve this. New thinking will mean making better use of desert land, sun, and salt water the abundant riches of the region which can be harnessed to underpin sustainable growth. More mundane, but just as important, new thinking will also mean planning for dramatically better management of the water already available. Right now, water is very poorly managed in MENA. Inefficiencies are notorious in agriculture, where irrigation consumes up to 81 percent of extracted water. Similarly, municipal and industrial water supply systems have abnormally high losses, and most utilities are financially unsustainable. In addition, many MENA countries overexploit their fossil aquifers to meet growing water demand. None of this is sustainable while water resources decline. This volume hopes to add to the ongoing thinking and planning by presenting methodologies to address the water demand gap. It assesses the viability of desalination powered by renewable energy from economic, social, technical, and environmental viewpoints, and it reviews initiatives attempting to make renewable energy desalination a competitively viable option. The authors also highlight the change required in terms of policy, financing, and regional cooperation to make this alternative method of desalination a success. And as with any leading edge technology, the conversation here is of course about scale, cost, environmental impact, and where countries share water bodies plain good neighborly behavior.

Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	World Bank
Language:	English en_US
Published:	Washington, DC: World Bank 2012-09-26
Subjects:	AMBIENT AIR, AMBIENT AIR POLLUTION, APPROACH, AVAILABILITY, BAGASSE, BAGASSE COGENERATION, BALANCE, BIO-FUELS, BIOMASS, BOILERS, CAPACITY BUILDING, CARBON CREDIT, CARBON CREDITS, CARBON DIOXIDE, CARBON FINANCE, CARBON FINANCING, CARBON FUND, CARBON TAX, CITIES, CLEAN DEVELOPMENT, CLEAN ENERGY, CLIMATE CHANGE, COAL, COAL PRODUCERS, COGENERATION, COMBUSTION, CONVENTIONAL ENERGY, ELECTRIC POWER, ELECTRICITY, ELECTRICITY DEMAND, ELECTRICITY GENERATION, ELECTRICITY PRICES, ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION, EMPLOYMENT, ENERGY COMPONENTS, ENERGY CONSUMPTION, ENERGY FUND, ENERGY GENERATION, ENERGY MARKET TRANSFORMATION, ENERGY NEEDS, ENERGY PLANTS, ENERGY POLICIES, ENERGY PROGRAMS, ENERGY RESOURCE, ENERGY SECTOR, ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES, ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY, FINAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION, FOSSIL, FOSSIL FUEL, FOSSIL FUEL POWER, FUEL OBLIGATION, GASOLINE, GENERATION CAPACITY, GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT, GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FACILITY, GREEN ELECTRICITY, GREENHOUSE GAS, GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS, GREENHOUSE GASES, GRID ACCESS, GRID ELECTRICITY, GRID RENEWABLE ENERGY, GROWTH IN DEMAND, GROWTH IN DEMAND FOR ELECTRICITY, HEAVY RELIANCE, HOUSING, HYDRO POWER, HYDRO PROJECT, INDEPENDENT POWER PRODUCERS, LANDFILL GAS, LOW-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS, MINERALS AND ENERGY, OIL, OIL EQUIVALENT, PETROLEUM, PETROLEUM GAS, POWER CAPACITY, POWER GENERATION, POWER GRID, POWER PLANTS, POWER PRODUCER, POWER PRODUCERS, POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENTS, POWER SECTOR, POWER SHORTAGES, POWER UTILITY, PROCESS STEAM, RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY, RENEWABLE ENERGY, RENEWABLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT, RENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATION, RENEWABLE ENERGY INVESTMENT, RENEWABLE ENERGY INVESTMENTS, RENEWABLE ENERGY LAW, RENEWABLE ENERGY MARKET, RENEWABLE ENERGY POLICIES, RENEWABLE ENERGY POLICY, RENEWABLE ENERGY PORTFOLIO STANDARDS, RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTS, RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES, RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE, RENEWABLE ENERGY SUPPLY, RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES, RENEWABLE GENERATION, RENEWABLE PROJECTS, RENEWABLE RESOURCE, RENEWABLE SOURCES, RURAL AREAS, SMALL HYDRO, SOLAR WATER HEATER, SOLAR WATER HEATERS, SOLAR WATER HEATING, SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, SUGAR INDUSTRY, SUGAR MILL, SUPPLY CURVE, SUPPLY CURVES, SYNTHETIC FUEL, TARIFF LEVELS, TAX CREDITS, TOTAL ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION, TOTAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION, WIND, WIND ENERGY, WIND ENERGY PROJECT, WIND FARM,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/09/16800288/renewable-energy-desalination-emerging-solution-close-water-gap-middle-east-north-africa https://hdl.handle.net/10986/11963
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