CO2 mitigation strategy through geothermal energy, Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is generating 194.4 billion kWh of electricity through 500,000 barrels of oil. With the demand of electricity growing at 7.5% annually, the country may need 8.3 million barrels oil per day by 2020. This is going to put the country as the leader among the top CO2 emitting countries by 2020 with emissions peaking at 750 Gg of CO2 from the current 400,000 Gg. This is not a healthy sign for the country׳s GDP. The country can easily mitigate this problem by using the available wet and EGS (enhanced geothermal system) geothermal systems. 13 million Gg of CO2 can be mitigated by utilizing its geothermal energy sources for desalination plants along the western coastal region. Another 900 Gg can be mitigated by adopting GHP technology for space cooling and heating. Change in energy policy, solving tariff related issue and adopting CDM through geothermal energy sources, Saudi Arabia can mitigate CO2 emissions and still maintain its supremacy in the world.