Saudis go green, announce plans for major alternative energy research center
ABU DHABI Ñ Saudi Arabia has decided to establish a research
center that would promote alternative energy and other advanced
technology.
Officials said the research would be located at King Abdullah University
of Science and Technology in Jedda and would lead to the development of an alternative energy infrastructure, Middle East Newsline reported.
They said the research at the kingdom's
first coed university, equipped with the 14th fastest computer in the world,
would range from space science to solar energy.
"Saudi Arabia aspires to export as much solar energy in the future as it
exports oil now," Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al Nueimi said.
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Al Nueimi said the Saudi kingdom, which uses about 60 percent of crude
oil capacity, plans to develop solar as a major source of energy as early as
2014. He said the university would also conduct research into environmental
technology, including the use of algae to store carbon dioxide emissions.
"Undoubtedly, scientific centers that embrace all peoples are the first
line of defense against extremists," Saudi King Abdullah said on Sept. 23.