Sustainable Waste to Energy Technologies: The Opportunities
Derasat’s recent ThinkTalk in collaboration with German-Saudi Arabian Liaison Office for Economic Affairs (GESALO), discussed “Sustainable Waste to Energy Technologies: the opportunities”. The Kingdom of Bahrain’s efforts and commitment to deliver sustainable energy transition is stated in Bahrain’s Economic Vision 2030. Many technologies have been deployed and developed to use waste as a fuel input for energy. This panel discussion explored some of the key waste to energy technologies and best practices available to achieve sustainable solid waste management. Also, initiatives, challenges and opportunities were discussed with German and Bahraini experts.
The webinar was held on Wednesday 2nd June 2021, 11:00 am (Bah time), via Zoom.
Dr. Abdallah Nassour
Associate Professor, Professorship of Waste and Resource Management, University of Rostock, Germany
Dr. Nassour has 25 years of practical experience in solid waste management and circular economy. Since 1995 he has been consulting for politics, municipalities, companies, and education in sustainable solutions for solid waste management (laws, organization, financing, techniques, etc.). In the context of his work at the University of Rostock and as a co-owner of the ENVERO GmbH, a private consulting firm, he is active in many countries around the world. The focus of his experience lies in the areas of policy, Laws, Organization, financing of waste management and knowledge transfer between Germany and the Arab regions. During his career in waste management, he has developed, managed and worked on numerous projects. In Germany, he is a connoisseur of waste management in the countries of the MENA regions and has extensive scientific and practical expertise, which are of importance for the development of appropriate solutions. Since 2007 he has worked in Jordan for various projects in composting, disposal logistic, treatment of mixed waste, education in waste management, etc. As a part of cooperation with a development cooperation agency aiming at improving local capacity in the MENA countries, Dr. Nassour has been involved in development cooperation projects for more than 20 years.
Dr. Hanan Albuflasa
Assistant Professor of Renewable Energy, Head of the Department of Physics, University of Bahrain
An Assistant Professor of Renewable Energy, Head of the Department of Physics, University of Bahrain. Dr. Albuflasa has a Ph.D. and M.Sc in Renewable Energy from Centre of Renewable Energy System Technologies, CREST, Loughborough University, UK. Dr. Albuflasa is the Bahrain representative for the GCC Technical Standard Committee on Renewable Energy and Energy Storage Systems, a participating member of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) for TC 82 and TC 88, national GHG inventory team member and the GLOBE NENA representative in the Evaluation Working Group. She is the Principal Investigator of the UK-Gulf institutional grant with Loughborough University in the UK. She is also Principal Investigator for the three years joint research project between University of Bahrain and Aston University and the four-year joint project with University of Oxford.
Eng. Katharina Reh
Waste composition and sampling specialist, Domestic waste specialist, Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT, Germany
Katharina Reh has been working at the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT, institute branch Sulzbach-Rosenberg, since 2011. Since then, she has lead and contributed to several projects in the field of waste management concepts and material flow management. Since 2014,she is head of the working group “Waste and Resource Strategies” and, since March 2021, of the department “Recycling Management”. From 2005 to 2010, she studied waste management and contaminated site treatment at the Technical University of Dresden. Since 2015, she has held a lectureship at the Technical University of Munich on the topic of “Treatment of special materials and waste”.
Dr. Omar Al-Ubaydli
Director of Studies & Research, Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies (Derasat)
Omar Al-Ubaydli is Director of Studies and Research, and Director of Economics and Energy Studies. He previously worked as an Assistant Professor of Economics at George Mason University, USA, as well as being a member of Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell’s Joint Advisory Board of Economists. Dr. Al-Ubaydli received his BA in Economics from the University of Cambridge (Queens’ College) and his MA and PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago. Dr. Al-Ubaydli’s research has been published in several international, peer-reviewed journals and has been featured by media outlets including the Economist magazine.