The Future for Egypt

Egypt’s Nile Delta is disappearing which only can mean doom for its citizens. This Delta is home to eighty million or more citizens. This includes their two most populated cities, Alexandria and Port Said. Global Warming is causing the Delta to lose sediment build up. This means that the Delta could become completely submerged in the next fifteen years!

The loss of the Nile Delta could also mean the loss of tourism which accounts for 12.6% of employment. The water loss will also be costly for the agricultural sector. Farmers are now being affected from salinity to their crops. As a result, their crops are dying and they must purchase other expensive methods of farming. Farmers used to rely annually for the Nile Delta floods which brought fresh water through their crops and would take the salinity out of it. Without the flooding, life is becoming much different for everyone.

The loss of the Nile Delta could potentially change the landscape of Egypt in the future. Hopefully Egypt will be able to become organized together and change the direction in which things are going now.

Links:

 http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2015/04/03/climate-change-is-consuming-the-nile-delta-and-egypt-with-it

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://martinhumanities.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/nile_delta-1.jpg&imgrefurl=https://martinhumanities.com/2015/01/21/nile-delta-photos/&h=384&w=477&tbnid=781WHXGM700mEM:&vet=1&tbnh=161&tbnw=200&docid=6osPh171i0AxuM&itg=1&usg=__GFYReYrEVpqh3Wk2i66d4_a-kNI=&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiKpI32wfvQAhXjhFQKHepkCmIQ_B0IcjAK

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjqv6-IwvvQAhUEjlQKHYPDDYsQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhistorylink101.com%2Fn%2Fegypt_1%2Fa-farmers_daily_life.htm&psig=AFQjCNFS2Mtr_OuvMg0n7JqTiukc_RU17g&ust=1482074001728831

Renewable Energy in Egypt

    In 1986, Egypt's NREA was established to develop new renewable energy technologies on a commercial scale. In fact, development of renewable energy has even become a major priority over more recent years for Egyptian government. Egypt's present energy strategy is to increase the share of energy to twenty percent of this countries mix by 2020. This target could be met largely due to wind power projects. 

Current Renewable Energy Capacity 

Wind

            Egypt is known for having one of the best wind resources in the world! Egypt’s most well developed wind region would have to be the Zafarana district that has average wind speeds of nine meters a second. The NREA owns the project that consists of wind farms which started in 2001. In 2010 though, all of the wind farms capacity together totaled 550mw which makes it one of the biggest onshore wind farms in the world.

 

Solar

       Due to Egypt’s location and climate, its’s average solar radiation is between 2,000 to 3,2000kWh per square meter a year. Although, solar projects have been slow due to how high of a cost they are. Their only major solar power project is in Kuraymat and is a 140MW solar thermal combined power plant with 20MW coming from solar energy. 

Hydro

       On the positive side, hydroelectricity has been a part of electricity generation in this country for decades. The Aswan Dam produces 15,300GWh a year. This is about five or even ten percent of Egypt’s annual energy needs. Although Egypt has made some progress with this type of renewable energy, their government is more directed towards wind and solar energy sectors.

Links:

https://cleantechnica.com/2015/01/07/egypts-recent-renewable-energy-tender-oversubscribed-two-times-solar-projects/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Egypt

http://staging.unep.org/greeneconomy/AdvisoryServices/Egypt/tabid/56146/Default.aspx

http://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/knowledge/publications/74735/renewable-energy-in-egypt-hydro-solar-and-wind

The Current Climate, The Geological History, and The Impacts of the Ice Ages

  Current Climate:

   Egypt's general climate is a hot desert. Most of the country is dry except for the Mediterranean coast which gets more rainfall in the winter. This country also is a victim of extreme heat in the summer months. Although this is true, Egypt's daytime temperatures are much more moderated near the northern coast.
    The average low temperatures for Egypt would be 49.1 degrees Fahrenheit during their winter months. Egypt's highest temperatures, during summer time, can reach a high of 104 degrees Fahrenheit. This high temperature is reached in the central and southern parts of this country during the day time.
     This country experiences an extremely hot and dusty wind that blows from the south, or even the south west, every single year. This wind, called Khamasin, causes temperatures to reach a high of 113 degrees Fahrenheit. These dangerously high temperatures cause early heat waves and the humidity drops under a low 5%.








      The Geological History:

                        Egypt is made up of three layers of rock.



   The first layer that covers up most of modern day Egypt would be limestone. The second layer underneath is a bed of sandstone. Lastly, the oldest layer of rock that's underneath is metamorphic and igneous rocks.
   The Egyptians always used their soft rocks, limestone and sandstone, for building stone. The Saharan deserts in Egypt also offer another variety of rocks including calcite and sedimentary stones.
Overall, most of the rocks are found to be dated back to the Paleozoic Era

   Impacts of the Ice Ages: 

      The last Ice Age that occurred, 30,000 years ago, had huge ice glaciers formed on the high African mountains of Ethiopia, Uganda, and Kenya. When the melting began 12,000 years ago, the water was transported towards the north. This massive amount of water flowed out o flake Victoria and down to the Blue and White Nile valley basins. Seasonal flooding held the Nile valley for more than three thousand years. This made it so humans could not inhabit this country at all. Humans were able to live here again when the melting slowed.

Egypt's Population, Culture, and Region

Population: 94,666,993. Egypt is the 16th largest populated country.



Culture: In Egyptian society, family is the most significant unit. People are always subordinate to the family, tribe or group. These families consist of both nuclear and extended family. Religion always plays a huge role to Egyptian life. Islam is practiced by the majority of Egyptians and it even affects their personal, political, economic, and legal lives. This culture believes that honor is the facet of all relationships, and also that respect and esteem is both a right and obligation. Lastly, social class has a huge impact on Egyptian culture. There are three social classes that include upper, middle, and lower. Which ever class an individual is born into determines their everyday life the opportunities that they will have.

Egypt's Culture Video 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFZS1U-w4EA

Region: Most of Egypt's region is desert that stretches east from Africa's Atlantic Coast across the continent and into Southwest Asia. In Egypt there are four major physical regions. The four of them are split up into the Nile Valley and Nile Delta, Western Desert, Eastern Desert, and Sinai Peninsula.




Links:
http://www.divergenttravelers.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/edit-0444.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFZS1U-w4EA

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjMg6TkpfnQAhUD7iYKHQ0sBu0QjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.data360.org%2Fdsg.aspx%3FData_Set_Group_Id%3D205&psig=AFQjCNF3Y5ag4FsqqeFK79b5I9S7A_QZsw&ust=1481997675603478

Past Climate History

   The ancient history of the Egyptians was thriving in 1500 B.C., but remarkably, just after a few hundred years later, their empire came crashing down. An analysis of pollen grain, and radiocarbon dating, suggests that climate change played a huge role in the devastation. Pollen is often used to reconstruct past climates, and such pollen, can leave a unique signature in the grains. This can tell scientists what types of plants were flourishing when the pollen was buried. The results from core samples show that there was a decrease in trees that were part of the landscape, during this time. Trees such as oaks, pines, and even olive trees were shown to be vital parts of Egypt. The dating showed that there were repeated periods of drought. The dying of the Middle East in 1250 to 1100 B.C. has a strong correlation with the collapse of the Egyptian Empire. 

Links:

http://image.slidesharecdn.com/historyofhoneyinworld-160405064831/95/history-of-honey-in-world-a-research-report-by-mr-allah-dad-khan-44-638.jpg?cb=1459838937

http://www.mummies2pyramids.info/images/edward-poynter-lion-god.jpg