Climate Change Mitigation Strategy through Utilization of Geothermal Energy Resources from Western Arabian Shield, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Stable The CO2 emissions by Saudi Arabia now stands at 446,000 Gigagrams. Most of it comes from fossil fuels based power and desalination plants. As a consequence of it the country is experiencing changes in the microclimate, indicated by an increase in the atmospheric temperature by about 0.76 °C over the last decade. Saudi Arabia has considerable geothermal energy sources represented by hydrothermal and hot dry rock (EGS) sources along the western shield margin. By using energy source mix the country can offset part of its domestic oil demand and reduce considerable amount of CO2 emissions. By using geothermal energy for desalination alone can save about 13 million Gg of CO2. New energy policies have to be developed and adopted to mitigate CO2 related climate change scenario in the future.