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Types of Projects: A Rainbow of Green • 59

a way out: Within the space of six hours, the world’s deserts receive more
energy than all the people in the world consume in a year.” The only ques-
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tion we have to answer is: how can this radiant energy be economically
transformed into useful energy and transported to consumers?
The DESERTEC concept provides a solution to this. From the
DESERTEC’s Red Paper : “In fact it simultaneously tackles efficiently all
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the global challenges of the upcoming decades mentioned before: short-
age of energy, water and food as well as excessive emissions of CO . At the
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same time, this concept offers new options for the prosperity and devel-
opment of regions that have so far, from an economic point of view, been
scarcely developed—as well as promising new opportunities for the eco-
nomically leading countries.”
Studies by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) show that, within 40
years, solar thermal power plants in particular will be capable of generat-
ing economically more than half of the electricity needs of the EUMENA
region (Europe, the Middle East, North Africa) at that time.

CLEAN ENERGY IS AVAILABLE IN ABUNDANCE IN THE
EARTH’S DESERT BELT.
North and south of the equator, deserts span the earth. Over 90% of
the world’s population could be supplied with clean power from des-
erts by using technologies that are available today.

In order to meet today’s global power demand of 18,000 TeraWatt hours
per year, it would suffice to equip about three-thousandths of the world’s
deserts (about 90,000 square kilometers) with solar collectors of solar
thermal power plants. About 20 square meters of desert would be enough
to meet the individual power demand of one human being day and night
(see later discussion)—all this absolutely CO free. Given the political will,
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it would be possible to achieve a worldwide realization of the DESERTEC
concept in less than 30 years.
The DESERTEC concept will allow most people in the world to access solar
and wind power from the energy-rich desert areas. This would be a useful
addition to the renewable-energy resources of each region. By using high-
voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines, it is possible to trans-
fer power with losses of no more than 3% per 1,000 kilometers. Given the
relatively high intensity of sunlight in desert regions and the relatively small