An Oil Giant's Green Dream

If you've filled your tank with gas, or warmed your home with natural gas, there's a chance you sent money to Abu-Dhabi.

So it might come as a surprise to learn that Abu Dhabi is this week hosting the world's first Future Energy Summit, a three-day gathering of more than 4,000 entrepreneurs, analysts and officials from the alternative energy world.

But if the idea of an Arab oil power like Abu Dhabi supporting fossil fuel alternatives sounds a bit like a heroin dealer trying to sell methadone, think again. In 2006 it launched the Masdar-Initiative (means "source" in Arabic), a scheme that includes a collaborative research institute with the MIT.

"We have a long tradition as a global energy leader and we have the financial resources to develop new fields of energy," said Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Masdar's CEO. "Leadership entails responsibility."

These are bold plans for a city that had little green experience until recently — but for Abu Dhabi, investing in alternative power is a way to remain a world energy center in the event that concerns over climate-change cut into the demand for fossil fuels.

Via Time-Magazine