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Dubai: Up to 92 per cent of regional business leaders believe that the UAE should invest in research and implementation of projects for solar, wind, bio-fuel and other alternative sources of energy, according to a latest poll.
The business community has been galvanised into action in the face of a possible 35 per cent water and power shortfall by 2012, as a result of spiralling energy demands. Energy consumption in the city of Dubai alone is increasing 15 per cent year on year, according to reports.
"Although various projects are underway that aim to deploy alternative energy sources such as solar and wind, studies show that based on the current pace of development alternative energy may only account for a mere 4 to 5 per cent of the UAE's total peak electricity demand by 2020, which is expected to balloon to over 40,000 megawatts," Anselm Godinho, Managing Director of International Conferences and Exhibitions (IC&E), organisers of OGS 2008, said in a statement.
"We believe that the Oil and Gas Show can be an important catalyst that will encourage more concrete initiatives to address this emerging concern," the statement added.
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