Abu Dhabi , UAE ( CNN ) -- During the summer months , in the arid , subtropical coastal plains of the United Arab Emirates , temperatures rise to 40 Celsius plus -- while average rainfall is a desolate four inches a year . And yet , in the years since the discovery of vast oil reserves in the late 1950s , a forest of skyscrapers , luxury apartments , verdant green gardens and golf courses has risen from the sand . It 's been made possible only with recourse to unimaginably large amounts of water . Indeed , at 550 liters a day , Emiratis consume more per head of population than anyone else on earth . `` It just evaporates very , very quickly , '' explains Ivano Iannelli , CEO of the Dubai Carbon Center of Excellence . `` Then when you add the lifestyle requirements -- the giant swimming pools ; the cooling systems ; the big gardens that need irrigating four times a day ... it goes some way to explain why the water consumption is so high . '' With scarce native freshwater supplies , Iannelli says the oil-rich nation spends hundreds of million of dollars a year purifying coastal seawater . For a country that , according to OPEC , boasted over $ 74 billion crude-oil export revenue in 2010 , the financial burden may seem relatively light . But the cost to the climate , says Iannelli , is certainly not . `` Desalination requires a lot of power ... we estimate that about four tonnes of carbon are emitted per million gallons of freshwater produced here , '' he says , with reference to the energy-intensive process of removing salt from seawater ( see factbox ) . To put that figure in context , Iannelli says that the energy required to pump freshwater from underground ( which , he says , is the most common source of drinking water in the West ) typically produces just over 1.5 tonnes of CO2 per million gallons . Read related : From polluter to protector : The UAE 's 'Green Sheikh ' While large-scale desalination is not uncommon in those parts of the world where natural water resources are scarce -- such as Texas and Australia -- the UAE is by some margin , according to Iannelli , the industry 's most active player . In fact , 50 % of all the world 's desalination takes place in the Gulf . The Fujairah desalination plant in Abu Dhabi has a freshwater generation capacity of 492 million liters a day , making it the biggest single producer on the planet , according to Iannelli , who notes that it `` totally dwarfs anything found in the West . '' For Dr Mohammad Dawoud , of the Abu Dhabi Environment Agency , this spells trouble for the future . `` If we do n't conserve our water ... I fear about our resources in the future for the next generation , '' he says . However , standing in one of the country 's 30 solar plants -- overlooked by sand dunes on all sides , Dawoud tells CNN that he hopes that solar technology may eventually offer a viable alternative energy source to power the UAE 's huge desalination needs . `` There are no carbon emissions while using photovoltaic cells to produce electricity -- then ( we can ) use electricity to operate desalination plants to produce freshwater , '' he predicts . But on this point Iannelli is not convinced : `` At the moment , solar panels are not fit for purpose in the UAE ... the dust and the sand in the atmosphere prevent ( sun ) rays from hitting the panels efficiently ... and the high temperatures also reduce performance , '' he says . `` For me , solar is not the answer . '' Instead , Iannelli believes that the most practical solution is for the desalination process to become more energy efficient , in conjunction with an effort by the Emiratis themselves to curb their `` lavish '' water consumption habits . `` There is almost no regulation concerning water or power use , no minimum standards for water-consuming appliances ... and very few energy requirements for buildings , '' he laments . `` Whatever we do , from now on it has to be cost-effective , lean and clean . ''
UAE consumes 550 liters of water per head each day -- more than any other country . With no fresh water supplies , it depends on carbon-intensive desalination process . Comment: