It seems that the end of oil may not necessarily mean the end of a Middle East grip on the pocketbooks of the developed world.
Clean energy advocates who are motivated to transition from oil for reasons of national security have a new reason to lobby for clean technology innovation in America:
"[E]ven as President-elect Barack Obama talks about promoting green jobs as America's route out of recession, gulf states, including the emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, are making a concerted push to become the Silicon Valley of alternative energy."
It seems that Middle Eastern states that enjoy a high standard of living due to their thriving oil industries have recognized that due to rising population, societal change and global warming, oil will not be the fuel of the future. And they are taking steps to build new energy industries. The Times article reports that entities in Middle East petro-states are investing in things like alternative energy, carbon capture and low carbon cement on the order billions of dollars:
"These are long-term investments in an alternative energy future that neither falling oil prices nor the global downturn seems likely to reverse...This new investment aims to maintain the gulf's dominant position as a global energy supplier, gaining patents from the new technologies and promoting green manufacturing. But if the United States and the European Union have set energy independence from the gulf states as a goal of new renewable energy efforts, they may find they are arriving late at the party.
"The leadership in these breakthrough technologies is a title the U.S. can lose easily," said Peter Barker-Homek, chief executive of Taqa, Abu Dhabi's national energy company. "Here we have low taxes, a young population, accessibility to the world, abundant natural resources and willingness to invest in the seed capital."
How can the flood of investments comparative to the United States (the article references the crown prince of Abu Dhabi investing 15 billion dollars in renewable energy--the same amount Barack Obama proposed investing annually for the entire United States during his campaign) be explained?:
"With no industrial history, the gulf states say they have the advantage of starting from scratch in developing green manufacturing; countries like the United States are forced to retool ailing industries, like car manufacturing."
It seems that the end of oil may not necessarily mean the end of a Middle East grip on the pocketbooks of the developed world. But serious, sustained federal investments in clean technology innovation could change that.
