Michael Kraemer, a lawyer at Taylor Wessing, has plenty of enthusiasm to match the unusual nature of his mode of transport - he is behind the wheels of the only electric car seen on Dubai's roads.
The little machine guarantees him immediate attention: valets fall over themselves to park his vehicle; and schoolchildren crowd around it in excitement, plying its driver with questions.
Even if Mr Kraemer is not exactly the attention-seeking type, he does have an agenda to promote. He is a committed environmentalist who has long been appalled by the carbon footprint of the gleaming metropolis he has lived in for the past six years.
The UAE is the second-biggest emitter of carbon dioxide per capita, after Qatar, and environmental concerns have so far made little impact on the way its inhabitants live. Driving an electric car is one way to demonstrate things can be done differently.
And things are, slowly, beginning to be done differently.
Both Abu Dhabi and Dubai have made commitments to introducing solar power into their energy mix, and green building standards are coming online in the construction sector.
For Mr Kraemer, the pace of change remains frustrating. But after spending the past two years with 4x4s bearing down on his diminutive vehicle on the Sheikh Zayed highway, he believes UAE roads are on the brink of a small revolution.
Should he get his way, his Tazzari Zero electric car - which reaches up to 100kph but has no air conditioning - will soon be powered by solar energy. This will make his car truly carbon neutral, something not yet achieved, as the electricity it uses now is generated in conventional power plants.
"It's nice to show that solar isn't just for home use, but that it can be used for other purposes," he says.
To prove his point, Mr Kraemer has been assembling a solar electric car charging station, with a little help from fellow solar enthusiasts.
The equipment was donated to him by various companies. Siemens has supplied him with the charging station itself, while Trina Solar and Canadian Solar have provided a total of 19 solar panels.
The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) is now considering his proposal to link the solar array to the grid and Mr Kraemer is hopeful permission will be granted in the coming weeks.
Dewa's growing interest in solar power has manifested itself recently as Dubai unveiled plans for the 1,000 megawatt Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park that is due to be completed by 2030.
The authority is also not blind to opportunities on a different level, and has also been in discussions with Vahid Fotuhi, the head of the Emirates Solar Industry Association, to install Dubai's first grid-connected solar array on the roof of his villa, even before Mr Kraemer came knocking.
The green-minded lawyer concedes electric car battery technology is not sufficiently developed to provide a range that would make them a true competitor to the conventional engine.
But he is optimistic about generating solar power in private houses and feeding it into the grid, a model that has been widely adopted in his native Germany, where households receive so-called feed-in-tariffs for the electricity they produce.
Given the German experience, Mr Kraemer believes solar installations on the rooftops of residential properties, commercial buildings, factories and warehouses could dwarf the output of Dewa's solar park.
Many obstacles remain, however.
Dewa, for one, is cautious about the effects large amounts of diffuse energy sources could have on grid stability. The authority is currently installing smart meters across the emirate, an important component for a flexible grid. But the roll-out will take many years.
A feed-in-tariff is also needed to make the installation of solar panels economical to households.
Mr Kraemer hopes Dewa will make use of his installation to test the viability of rooftop solar in the emirate and to familiarise themselves with the concept.
Most of all, though, he was motivated by the desire to get the ball rolling: "Someone had to start doing something," he says.
fneuhof@thenational.ae
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Mane points for safe home colouring
- Natural and grey hair takes colour differently than chemically treated hair
- Taking hair from a dark to a light colour should involve a slow transition through warmer stages of colour
- When choosing a colour (especially a lighter tone), allow for a natural lift of warmth
- Most modern hair colours are technique-based, in that they require a confident hand and taught skills
- If you decide to be brave and go for it, seek professional advice and use a semi-permanent colour
Fixtures
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EWednesday%2C%20April%203%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EArsenal%20v%20Luton%20Town%2C%2010.30pm%20(UAE)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EManchester%20City%20v%20Aston%20Villa%2C%2011.15pm%20(UAE)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EThursday%2C%20April%204%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ELiverpool%20v%20Sheffield%20United%2C%2010.30pm%20(UAE)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
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Rating: 3.5/5
The White Lotus: Season three
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Rating: 4.5/5
THE SPECS
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
