Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

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energy

Energy Politics and Africanfuturism—A Conversation with Nnedi Okorafor — Nnedi Okorafor. Courtesy the author’s website.The cover of the book ‘Noor’ by Nnedi Okorafor.

MER Article

Energy Politics and Africanfuturism—A Conversation with Nnedi Okorafor

Nnedi Okorafor is an award-winning writer of science fiction and fantasy for adults and youth. Her latest work is Akata Woman (Penguin, 2023), an Africanfuturist novel that follows her previous work, Noor (Penguin, 2022). Noor features the protagonist AO, whose experience of disability, bio-tech and trauma shapes her trajectory in

Karen Rignall, Nnedi Okorafor • 11 min read

Routes to Disruption—Supply Chain Sabotage and Israel's War on Gaza — Hundreds of protesters gathered at the Port of Oakland to demand an end to US support of Israel’s actions in Gaza and to oppose US aid to Israel, January 13, 2024 in Oakland, CA. Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty ImagesActivists installed a banner at Souda Bay, 2024. Courtesy the authors.

MER Article

Routes to Disruption—Supply Chain Sabotage and Israel's War on Gaza

Since October 7, at least three shipments of military-grade jet fuel (JP-8) have reached Israel from the United States, powering the fighter jets and Apache helicopters that have, for more than nine months now, continued to decimate Gaza. Each shipment carried 30,000 barrels of fuel—enough to refuel a

Elia El-Khazen, Charlotte Rose • 6 min read

Off the Grid—Why Solar Won't Solve Lebanon’s Electricity Crisis — A technician controls an electric switch board connecting homes to electricity generators in a suburb of Beirut, 2021. Joseph Eid/AFP via Getty Images

MER Article

Off the Grid—Why Solar Won't Solve Lebanon’s Electricity Crisis

Incorporating renewables into the country's beleaguered energy sector.

Danielle Fheili, Joanne Nucho • 10 min read

Fossil Fueled Comfort—The History and Cost of Air Conditioning in Bahrain — A building with many air conditioners, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 2018. Eric Lafforgue/Art in All of Us/Corbis via Getty ImagesAn aerial view of Awali, Bahrain. Official image from Bapco’s website. Date unknown.A Kuwaiti campaign to raise awareness of the risk delivery people face during the summer. By artist Talal Al-Maian, 2019.

MER Article

Fossil Fueled Comfort—The History and Cost of Air Conditioning in Bahrain

How AC has reshaped the urban landscape and labor politics of the Gulf.

Marwa Koheji • 9 min read

Desert Solar—A Spectacular Fiction, Not a Spectacular Future — Rendering of the Al Maktoum Solar Park distributed for official publications by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority.Cover of the Middle East Solar Industry Association’s Solar Outlook Report 2019, with a view of Morocco’s Noor Laayoune Solar PV Park.Masdar Future Energy display at COP28. Author’s photo, December 2023.Portrait of Mustapha, the man responsible for the distribution of water in the oasis. January 2021, Tighmert, Morocco. By artist Seif Kousmate, from his project Waha about the relationship of humans to the environment in oases. Mixed technique using fire on a paper print.

MER Article

Desert Solar—A Spectacular Fiction, Not a Spectacular Future

On the visual power, and pitfalls, of solar mega projects.

Natalie Koch • 10 min read

Laundering Carbon—The Gulf’s ‘New Scramble for Africa’ — Kenyatta Ngusilo (C), a member of the Ogiek community, watches as his storehouse burns in Sasimwani Mau Forest, 2023. Hundreds of Ogiek people were left homeless after the Kenyan government evicted alleged encroachers. James Wakibia/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

MER Article

Laundering Carbon—The Gulf’s ‘New Scramble for Africa’

Carbon offsets are changing the relationship between the Middle East and the African continent.

Adam Hanieh • 10 min read

The Uneven Politics of Decarbonization in the Middle East and North Africa — An aerial view of technicians completing the construction of a wind turbine in the Golan Heights, Israel, 2020. (David Silverman/Getty Images)

MER Article

The Uneven Politics of Decarbonization in the Middle East and North Africa

According to Europe’s largest generator of renewable energy, Norway’s state-owned Statkraft, “A lesser known positive aspect of the green energy shift is that more renewable energy leads to more peace and democracy!” It is tempting to formulate such grandiose arguments about the possibilities of a transition to renewables

Benjamin Schuetze • 8 min read

Life in the Vicinity of Morocco’s Noor Solar Energy Project — A model of the solar complex in the entrance hall of MASEN at Noor-Ouarzazate. Photo by Kelly Pemberton.A pilot project of ecological farming in Izerki, 2018. Photo by the author.

MER Article

Life in the Vicinity of Morocco’s Noor Solar Energy Project

Morocco's massive Noor solar energy project is not only generating electricity. Based on her fieldwork and interviews, Zakia Salime explains how the extraction of land, labor and water by the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy is intertwined with development programs, farming initiatives and job

Zakia Salime • 12 min read

Life in the Vicinity of Morocco’s Noor Solar Energy Project — A model of the solar complex in the entrance hall of MASEN at Noor-Ouarzazate. Photo by Kelly Pemberton.A pilot project of ecological farming in Izerki, 2018. Photo by the author.

Current Analysis

Life in the Vicinity of Morocco’s Noor Solar Energy Project

Morocco's massive Noor solar energy project is not only generating electricity. Based on her fieldwork and interviews, Zakia Salime explains how the extraction of land, labor and water by the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy is intertwined with development programs, farming initiatives and job

Zakia Salime • 12 min read