Mounting global concerns about growing energy consumption

The studies conducted by these centers have, however, noted that solving the problem would not cost more than 1% of the global gross national product (GNP).

The revelations come amidst growing fears that continued calls for curbing energy consumption, resulting from increasingly high temperatures, would adversely impact the economic growth of several countries.

Concerns are also mounting that the world's failure thus far to check harmful CO2 emissions would lead to disastrous water and seed shortages, as well as more desertification that could eventually trigger armed conflicts.

"It goes without saying that oil refining and production activities and automotive waste are among the major causes for the current rise in earth temperatures," said Dr Abdullah Al Amiri, the Emirates Energy Award Chairman.

"Higher temperatures cause sea water to expand with heat and glaciers to melt, raising the sea level year after year, which could result in a 48 cm sea level rise, a catastrophe that will have a particularly serious impact on all infrastructure facilities, including roads, power grids, etc, in costal cities," Al-Amiri added.

Gulf states are currently investing around $90 billion in hotel and tourism projects, with the UAE accounting for 85% of the tourism developments in the Gulf region that are scheduled to be completed by 2018, an investment valued at Dhs858bn.

The UAE also ranks first in terms of the spaces allocated to these projects, around 558 million square feet, or 75% of the total are in the Gulf that has been allocated to real estate projects.

And statistics reveal that Dhs40bn worth of real estate projects have been announced over the past two months alone.

This huge number of developments entails higher energy production and consumption rates, a fact that emphasises the need for evolving regulations that strike a balance between ecological integrity and economic necessity.