Leveraging technology

In a report entitled ‘Clean Energy Opportunities for Emerging Muslim World Markets', Athar Mian points out that "new, sustainable energy (and water) sources are needed as much in oil-rich Gulf states as anywhere else in the world."

According to data from Financial Sense, for example, Saudi Arabia will approach zero net oil exports in 2031, within a range of 2024 to 2037. Saudi per capita oil consumption is now the highest in the world (32.88 bbl in 2006), followed by the US (25.64 bbl).

What all this means is a global drive towards cleantech, defined as energy production from non-polluting sources. These technologies are the stalwarts of solar, wind and biomass, in addition to hydroelectric and geothermal energy.

Mian says there has been "a new rush towards innovation claims" in recent times, accompanied by "new-fangled development hype about more novel technologies."

This has helped to sell cleantech as the ‘Next Big Thing', with investment in clean energy worldwide rising to $150 billion in 2007, up a staggering 60% from the previous year.

However, a June 2008 joint study with Heidrick & Struggles revealed that the MENA region faces a cleantech talent shortage. In The Big Interview issue of MEP Middle East, Faisal Jassim MD Raphael Khlat cautions that, rather than rushing towards new technologies, the MEP sector, in particular, must use the opportunity offered by the current slowdown to consolidate, optimise and exploit existing resources.

A lot of Dubai was built in a fever dream of expansionism, which placed considerable strain and pressure on the local industry.

"We need to confront the problems of the industry in a transparent fashion. One thing for sure is that the current drive for growth cannot continue in the same fashion. There has been a lot of greed, and a lot of mistakes made. Now we are more experienced and are slowly putting guidelines into place."

Khlat says those players who serviced this initial market and survived their trial by fire are now uniquely placed to be in it for the long haul.

So while the global financial meltdown has implications for the long-term growth of the construction industry, sectors such as MEP are thinking laterally.

The global move towards cleantech is providing a unique opportunity to leverage technological advancement in the industry in general, and MEP is at the forefront of this development.

Gerhard Hope is the editor of MEP Middle East.

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