How would a trend toward alternative sources of energy, such as solar energy, affect the petroleum-producing countries of Southwest Asia?
Please help. This is for a Document-Based Question for World Geography.
How would a trend toward alternative sources of energy, such as solar energy, affect the petroleum-producing countries of Southwest Asia?
Please help. This is for a Document-Based Question for World Geography.
Very little.
Many types of alternative energy such as solar and wind energy do not replace or even compete with petroleum in the energy market. In most places these types of alternative energy, which produce electricity, compete only with coal or natural gas. There are very few places in the world where electricity is generated by burning petroleum.
It has also been shown that alternative fuels such as ethanol still require large amounts of fossil fuel to grow the crops and power the fermentation plants. Only in countries like Brazil have they succeeded in reducing petroleum consumption by producing and burning ethanol as transportation fuel. This is partly because Brazilian ethanol production uses biomass to power its ethanol refineries, instead of natural gas as is common in the United States.
A good source of energy statistics is the BP Annual Statistical Review of Energy. The Review says "Geothermal, wind and solar electricity generation combined, is estimated to account for approximately 1.7% of global electricity generation."
The full document is available on line here:
http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9023767&contentId=7044196
Brazilian ethanol:
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/articles/hof/HofJan09.html
US ethanol production:
http://www.energyfuturecoalition.org/biofuels/fact_ethanol.htm
there would be less demand for mi-eastern petroleum, and prices would drop