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Will the Mediterranean ask the Sahara to marry her ?
Do you know the concept Sahara Green ? The initiative, which aims to combine the Sahara and the Mediterranean, for the well-being of Mediterranean populations, and environmental protection. From their union, and the intermingling of their fluids (solar radiation and seawater), will born the green economy as expected.

The story begins when Mr Hassan Kamel Al-Sabbah 
 (1895-1935) met Prince Shakib Arslan in the United States of America. 
 They study the possibility of using all his inventions in solar energy 
 in the deserts of the Arab countries. He then contact all the Arab kings and princes to implement this project, which has not emerged for 
various reasons. 80 years later the project of Mr. Hassan Kamel Al-Sabbah inspired 
 all today's concepts such as DESERTEC, the Mediterranean Solar Plan , MedGrid.

Hassan Kamel Al-Sabbah, invented and tested 
 the first solar cell in 1930 while working at General Electric. The dream of Al-Sabbah was to produce solar cells
 in the desert, the main ingredients being the sand (to make solar cells) and solar radiation. In 1935 he said 
that he will return in the Middle East to transform the desert into a paradise. He was talking about how
 to use the sand and sun to produce solar cells , in order to produce a huge quantity of electrical power.

Today, the think tank Green Sahara (http://desertec-mediterranee.over-blog.com), continues in his line, and supports projects DESERTEC, Mediterranean Solar Plan and MedGrid. Its president, Dr. Nasser HADROUG, shares his thoughts in his Sahara Green Book (http://www.slideshare.net/nhadroug/sahara-green-book), whose subject is the use of the Sahara Green concept to develop a green economy in the Mediterranean. The think tank Green Sahara consists of an online network of professionals named Greenly (http://www.wix.com/thegreenbook/greenly) that attempts to define the technical choices of the TREC (Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation), such as solar thermal concentration (CSP), the desalination of seawater, and their combination (Aqua-CSP), hydrogen production, and permaculture.

The concept Sahara Green, therefore, is to deploy solar thermal concentrator (CSP) between the Sahara and the Mediterranean; part of the energy produced would be used for sea water desalination (Aqua-CSP). Sea water would be partly transferred to the edge of the Sahara to stop desertification and greening it, through permaculture techniques. The other part of the clean water produced would be used for agriculture, industry and consumption, and hydrogen production in order to initiate the hydrogen economy. The remaining green electrical energy produced by plants, will be enough to power Africa and Europe. Indeed, 5% of the area of ​​the Sahara receives enough sunlight to power the entire planet into electricity (18,000 TWh / year) and reduce emissions of 4.7 billion tons of CO2 by 2050.

This Aqua-CSP-Network would be composed by "Oasis Power" (TM) stations, linked together, and to the European continent by HVDC lines (high voltage direct current).

The benefit of this trans-mediterranean energy cooperation project (TREC) is the implementation of a green economy in the Mediterranean, which would result in many benefits for humans and the environment. Indeed, geopolitics would improve (less conflict), forced migration to Europe would decrease. The employment situation in the southern Mediterranean would improve, and would then improve the well being of the North Mediterranean.

So what ? The Sahara and the Mediterranean, hand in hand ?

Edited by SaharaGreen Editions (2002)

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