Energy consumption accounts for most of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Managing the growth in energy demand is therefore a key part of climate change mitigation. In the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, energy consumption has been growing rapidly. Between 2004 and 2014, final energy consumption grew at an average annual rate of 6.8% compared to a global average of 1.8%. Energy efficiency can help GCC countries manage their energy demand growth, but it is difficult to measure energy efficiency, so analysts often rely on indirect indicators such as energy intensity. Frontier analysis can be used to measure energy efficiency, but is data intensive. To undertake frontier analysis for the GCC countries it was therefore necessary to construct a new dataset, which was used for corrected ordinary least squares to estimate underlying energy efficiency between 2004 and 2014 for two key sectors in the GCC countries: residential electricity and road transport gasoline. The results suggest that underlying energy efficiency generally improved in the GCC region, in contrast to the trend of rising energy intensity that the region has been witnessing. The energy efficiency improvements may have been driven by global technical progress and tighter global fuel economy standards, of which the GCC countries were beneficiaries. With the provision of high quality, recent data with shorter lag times, frontier analysis could be used to provide prompt feedback on the impact of energy efficiency policies and programmes, leading to better outcomes.

Rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, commonly referred to as distributed generation (DG) solar systems, are deemed important contenders in future sustainable cities. Because deploying DG systems is associated with technical, financial, policy, and market implications that impact utilities, governments, and businesses, quantifying the potential of DG systems that could be deployed in a certain jurisdiction ex ante helps inform the decision-making process for all stakeholders. To that end, the upper limit of rooftop PV systems that could be deployed in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, was assessed with the aid of geographic information systems (GIS). By relying on urban land lot data for different categories, i.e., zones, and the maximum allowable area that could be built within a certain lot using prevailing building codes and regulations, the rooftop area suitable for PV deployment within Riyadh Metro was quantified. The analysis was restricted to rooftops in residential, mosque, shopping mall, and health care buildings only. Following the quantification of the rooftop area, the upper limit of rooftop solar PV capacity that can be deployed in the city of Riyadh was found to be 4.34 GW. This capacity represents nearly 22% of the peak load and can satisfy approximately 9% of the energy requirement in the central region, the region in which Riyadh resides. Sustainability 2019, 11, 4301 2 of 20Akin to any technology, both DG and utility-scale PV bring about strengths and weaknesses. Utility-scale solar farms, for example, benefit from economies of scale and are easier for electricity companies to manage from a central planning perspective [14]. However, land availability makes utility-scale deployment difficult within cities and even more so in city centers.On the other side of the spectrum, DG scale solar systems surmount the large land area requirements, and empower the consumer [15]. As the homeowner (or industrial facility, for example) self-consumes whatever is generated, this reduces the electricity bill. Further, if exporting energy back to the grid is possible and is compensated for, then the homeowner, depending on his consumption level [16], can receive credit for the exported energy [17]. This consumer empowerment [18], which transforms him/her to a prosumer (i.e., a consumer and a producer simultaneously), is of particular appeal especially in countries where the prevailing electricity prices are high. On the other hand, DG systems could cause instabilities in the distribution network [19], and hence, the electric utility has to adopt new operational procedures to avoid such incidents.Governments that have promoted renewable energy deployment were generally propelled by three main drivers: Reducing carbon emissions, boosting the economy by creating a renewable energy industry and creating jobs, and achieving higher energy security levels [20]. These objectives would be achieved by tying them to a renewable energy target installation capacity, and this target would have stemmed from a grand strateg...

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