Climate change impact on renewable energy resources in the arab world based on Jacobson’s roadmap of renewable wind, water, and sunlight (WWS) 2050

Abstract

Most Arab countries are part of the Sunbelt where solar insolation is among the highest in the world (as high as 9.5 kWh/m2 per day). At the same time, Arab countries have a high-risk of climate change. Of the 19 countries that set new temperature high in 2010, five were Arab countries. Temperature in Kuwait reached 54.3 °C in 2019. The aims of this study were fourfold: to discuss the current situation of renewable energy in the Arab countries, to analyses the regional patterns of climate change, to secure a certain amount of the future energy needs by establishing the suitability map for renewable energy exploitation, and to assess the Jacobson’s «world plan»,100% Clean and Renewable Wind, Water, and Sunlight (WWS) All-Sector Energy Roadmaps for Arab Countries according to climate change impacts 2050. To achieve these aims, the current study depended on climatic data from web-based WorldClim utility and the global climate model ECHAM5-MPIOM that downscaled by the regional climate model RegCM and CORDEX domain. A site suitability map has been developed using the Geographic Information System (GIS). We analyzed the results based on the IPCC A2 scenario for the periods 2011–2040 and 2041–2070. We found that transforming Arab countries to a 100% WWS system as suggested by Jacobson et al. (2016) will reduce the end-user demand in 2050 by about 32%. This difference can be attributed to the conversion of fossil fuel combustions to a more efficient sustainable renewable energy.