Last November and December 2007, the King of Jordan and Jordanian officials met and spoke several days with their European Union counterparts about creating solar and other alternative energy sources in a partnership in coming years in the Jordanian deserts, with the goal of making both Jordan and Europe less dependent on traditional sources of energy in this 21st Century.
http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093133877
In both German DeutscheWelle news and on BBC, in both November and December there were many lengthy reports on how the Hashemite Kingdom was looking to create a partnership with Europe prior to the Global Warming Conference in Bali.
Suddenly, in the months after the conference in Global Warming conference in Bali, hardly any new sources in Europe have mentioned again the offer from Jordan to produce in partnership with Europe large quantities of solar power in the Middle East and sell a great part of it back to Europe.
AND WHAT ABOUT THE USA?Most disappointingly, the United States has ALSO not been at the forefront once again IN promoting non-petroleum and/or non-nuclear based energy development in the Middle East.
Due to the ongoing problem of disposing of nuclear waste, even energy poor states like Jordan and Egypt do not prefer nuclear energy development over alternatives. That is, cleaner solar, wind, and other non-petroleum sources of energy are more attractive in their own nation’s development than are alliances based on petroleum and nuclear technology transfers?
In contrast to the EU’s (and USA’s) lack of commitment to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Italy has indeed shown greater interest in developing solar energy projects in the deserts of Libya. However, it is not clear why Jordan has been so slighted—is it simply due to the EU’s fear of investing in a country neighboring Iraq and Israel?
Interestingly, recently as part of the global privatization process, Jordan has sold off a majority of its stake in its energy supply chain to a Dubai-based (UAE and Jordanian) business consortium.
http://pepei.pennnet.com/display_article/294259/89/ARTCL/none/none/1/Jordan-joins-the-club/
This unique show of interest by the UAE in Jordanian energy projects means that even though the Western countries are a greater consumers of energy than the all of the Middle Eastern countries combined, the West wishes to continue to focus on the Middle East almost solely in terms of petroleum development and trade. Why can’t the West see that its continued dependence on the same energy broker states in the Middle East (along with Russian actors) is a NO-GO in this age where everyone needs to reduce dependence on single main sources of energy?
