Former US president Jimmy Carter will be remembered as a green energy pioneer


Thomas Watkins
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Decades before world leaders woke up to the risks of climate change, Jimmy Carter was a pioneer in promoting green energy and environmental policies.

The former US president, who has died aged 100, is often remembered as the man who installed solar panels on the roof of the White House in 1979 — only to have them ripped out by his successor Ronald Reagan.

But his environmentalism ran far deeper, and his vision for America continues to shape energy discussions to this day.

Mr Carter served one term in office from 1977 to 1981. It was a tumultuous time in the world's energy markets, and he came to power with the 1973 oil embargo during the Arab-Israeli war still fresh on America's mind.

In 1979, another oil shock came during the Iranian Revolution that led to a sharp drop in crude oil production. As in 1973, Americans had to queue to fill their cars and the crisis ultimately helped Mr Reagan defeat Mr Carter in 1980.

It was against this background that Mr Carter designed what his biographer Jonathan Alter called “the nation’s first comprehensive energy policy".

Carter's legacy



He called for 20 per cent of America's energy to come from renewable sources by 2000, an ambitious target that has only very recently been met.

Mr Carter also pushed Americans to consume less energy, famously addressing the nation in 1977 and asking people to put on a cardigan and turn the thermostat down.

Mr Carter founded the US Department of Energy, which is responsible for developing new sources of fuel and is currently making advances in the field of nuclear fusion that promises to one day provide abundant, emissions-free power.

He also designated millions of hectares in the Alaskan wilderness as federally protected lands and signed into law the Superfund programme for cleaning up hazardous waste sites and spills.

In what today could be seen as a contradiction, however, Mr Carter was also a proponent of burning coal.

The effects of burning hydrocarbons on global warming were not as well understood in the 1970s, and back then, the main concern with coal was acid rain. But sulphur-dioxide scrubbers helped reduce the polluting rain and Mr Carter saw coal as a way of reducing US reliance on foreign oil.

Mr Carter's passion for solar energy only expanded after he left the White House.

In his hometown of Plains, Georgia, he installed thousands of solar panels that now provide enough energy for half of its residents.

At the 1979 dedication ceremony for the thermal solar panel units Mr Carter put on the White House roof, Mr Carter expressed his passion for green energy.

"A generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people," he said.

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Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

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  • 400m Olympic running track
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  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
GAC GS8 Specs

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Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km

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Usain Bolt's World Championships record

2007 Osaka

200m Silver

4x100m relay Silver

 

2009 Berlin

100m Gold

200m Gold

4x100m relay Gold

 

2011 Daegu

100m Disqualified in final for false start

200m Gold

4x100m relay Gold

 

2013 Moscow

100m Gold

200m Gold

4x100m relay Gold

 

2015 Beijing

100m Gold

200m Gold

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How green is the expo nursery?

Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery

An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo

Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery

Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape

The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides

All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality

Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country

Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow

Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site

Green waste is recycled as compost

Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs

Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers

About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer

Main themes of expo is  ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.

Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN MARITIME DISPUTE

2000: Israel withdraws from Lebanon after nearly 30 years without an officially demarcated border. The UN establishes the Blue Line to act as the frontier.

2007: Lebanon and Cyprus define their respective exclusive economic zones to facilitate oil and gas exploration. Israel uses this to define its EEZ with Cyprus

2011: Lebanon disputes Israeli-proposed line and submits documents to UN showing different EEZ. Cyprus offers to mediate without much progress.

2018: Lebanon signs first offshore oil and gas licencing deal with consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek.

2018-2019: US seeks to mediate between Israel and Lebanon to prevent clashes over oil and gas resources.

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Global state-owned investor ranking by size

1.

United States

2.

China

3.

UAE

4.

Japan

5

Norway

6.

Canada

7.

Singapore

8.

Australia

9.

Saudi Arabia

10.

South Korea

The biog

Age: 19 

Profession: medical student at UAE university 

Favourite book: The Ocean at The End of The Lane by Neil Gaiman

Role model: Parents, followed by Fazza (Shiekh Hamdan bin Mohammed)

Favourite poet: Edger Allen Poe 

Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
  • Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
  • Flexible payment plans from developers
  • Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
  • DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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Notable cricketers and political careers
  • India: Kirti Azad, Navjot Sidhu and Gautam Gambhir (rumoured)
  • Pakistan: Imran Khan and Shahid Afridi (rumoured)
  • Sri Lanka: Arjuna Ranatunga, Sanath Jayasuriya, Tillakaratne Dilshan (rumoured)
  • Bangladesh (Mashrafe Mortaza)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
The specs
  • Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
  • Power: 640hp
  • Torque: 760nm
  • On sale: 2026
  • Price: Not announced yet
Updated: December 30, 2024, 7:04 AM`