Dubai has powered the solar path

Exactly a year after His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced the green building initiative, Dubai World has launched a Dh2.75 billion ($750 million) solar power project.

The project is expected to generate 130 megawatts of power when completed in 2010. This commendable move comes at a time when the UAE Government is going ahead with clean nuclear technology to boost future power generation and supplies to create a sustainable society.

Dubai's leading role in the going green campaign has been commended by global leaders at a forum that endorsed the government's initiative. Former South African president F. W. de Klerk, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, said the world's population had crossed seven billion this year. The last billion was added to mankind in just 8 years, faster than the sixth billion that took 12 years to grow from 1988 to 2000.

It took mankind about 2,300 years to raise the population from 100 million to a billion in 1880.

The fifth billion took 13 years to reach in 1988, and the fourth billion took 15 years from 1960 to 1975. It took the third billion 30 years to be added to mankind, from 1930 to 1960, and the second billion took 60 years to grow.

At this rate, the global population could hit 9 billion by 2025, which is not sustainable. "Our earth is in danger," de Klerk told the forum on Friday, saying that massive awareness of environment issues could save planet Earth and mankind from disaster. "We are a victim of our own successes," he said. The challenge now is to create sustainable societies. "Where there is a will there is a way. Dubai has shown this and they are implementing this," he said, adding that others need to join the move.