The quality of life and safeness of the present and future generations are strongly intertwined with the availability of energy sources and the sustainability of the energy infrastructure. Energy is then, the most important resource for the development of a country and its utilisation per capita is increasing tremendously. The world’s energy consumption today is estimated to 40 billion kWh per year, about 10 billion metric tons carbon equivalent of greenhouse gas emission are released in the atmosphere to meet this energy demand. Approximately 80% is due to carbon emissions from the combustion of energy fuels. At the current rate of usage, taking into consideration population increases (2% per year) and higher consumption of energy by developing countries (2-3.5% per year), oil resources, natural gas and uranium will be depleted within a few decades. Estimates of oil and natural gas reserves world wide vary quite dramatically depending on the source. Gulf countries, including the Sultanate of Oman, are seeking for alternatives, renewable sources of energy. Global reserves of gas imply a lifetime of 61.9 years. As for the oil, the expected lifetime is around 40 years and coal; it may take two centuries or so. World Energy Council (WEC) study found that without any change in our current practice, the world energy demand expectation in 2020 would be 53 billion kWh or 50 to 80% higher than 1990 levels with a carbon emissions expected to increase by 54% above 1990 levels by 2020 making the earth likely to warm 1.7-4.9 °C over the period 1990-2100. The ever increasing demand of energy could place significant strain on the current energy infrastructure and potentially damage world environmental health by CO, CO2, SO2, NOX effluent gas emissions, acid rain, stratospheric ozone depletion and global warming. Recently environmental concern has extended to the control of micro or hazardous air pollutants, which are usually toxic chemical substances and harmful in small doses (1,000,000 deaths resulting each year, according to the World Bank). Most scientists now agree that human-induced global climate change poses a serious threat to both society and the Earth's ecosystems. One must therefore endeavour to take precautions today for a viable world for coming generations. Therefore, one of the fundamental priorities for our planet is to find several renewable energy sources and environmentally friendly energy conversion technologies. Solar photovoltaic will play a dominant role in this scenario and will represent the main energy conversion device. Oman enjoys a very high level of sunshine during the year, therefore it is economically feasible to research and use this endless resource. On the other hand, the Sultanate of Oman is too much concerned with pollution and other environmental issues. Hence, officials are giving a lot of care to this topic, and consequently, several studies are conducted in Oman nowadays to introduce this kind of clean energy in wide range. This paper reviews the current level of fossil fuel energy consumption worldwide and the consequent environmental impacts are comprehensively discussed. This paper also discusses the potential of photovoltaics in the stationary and portable power market in response to the critical need for a cleaner energy technology especially in Gulf countries, including the Sultanate of Oman. Anticipated patterns of future solar energy use are also presented. This paper demonstrates the current situation of solar energy in the Sultanate of Oman, and proposed some recommendations and suggestion to enhance the usage of this kind of energy in the country. Throughout the paper several issues relating to photovoltaics, environment and sustainable development are examined from both current and future perspectives.

Full text: IJEIR_1535_Final.pdf