As The National reported yesterday, Masdar and the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology have announced plans to launch a specialised research hub to develop advanced solar technologies. The centre will host a portfolio of services from research and development to testing and evaluation, as well as certification and consulting. Separately, at this week's World Green Economy Summit in Dubai, the UAE was identified as a "global green energy power" by a new report published by The Climate Group. The report said that the country could be a "hub" for a new global energy revolution. The sector is expected to create 160,000 jobs in the UAE within 15 years and boost GDP by up to five per cent.
Research may well help solar power overcome the obstacles it faces in this country due to the dusty weather and should spur innovation at a time when the oil producing countries of the region are facing new challenges from overseas. In the United States, for instance, the oil industry is thriving as the cost of extracting shale oil decreases with the introduction of new technologies. Against a background of weakening oil prices, one shale producer is reported to have cut costs by more than 20 per cent in the past four months.
In the face of such competition, renewable energy technologies are still not advanced enough to compete with oil on a level footing. Most solar panels have a low rate of efficiency and that’s why large-scale solar projects – such as Shams 1 in Abu Dhabi – must be supplemented by advances elsewhere.
There is clearly a need to develop more suitable and smart technologies to improve the electricity system. As we have argued before, this relies on a combination of thinking big and small. This means Shams 1 and other signature projects should be supplemented by a quiet “revolution” of rooftop water heaters and solar panels in residential areas and other small-scale projects that can feed energy back into the grid.
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
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Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
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