Data-Driven Economic Analysis: KAUST's Impact on Saudi Arabia

This assignment solution focuses on the economic analysis of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and its impact on Saudi Arabia. It addresses the challenge of limited data availability by pivoting to define a 'wish list' of data required to comprehensively assess KAUST's benefits to the nation. The analysis considers KAUST's objectives related to food quality and security, environmental improvement, and energy innovation. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are identified for each objective, such as oil polarity for food quality, household expenditure surveys for food security, environmental parameter assessments, waste reduction metrics, and renewable energy production. The solution includes data analysis on atmospheric turbidity and desalination costs in Saudi Arabia, highlighting the kind of information needed for a robust economic evaluation. The document is available on Desklib, a platform offering study tools and solved assignments for students.

Running Head: ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
Economic Analysis
Name
Institution

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
KAUST refers to King Abdullah University of Science and Technology located in
Thuwal Saudi Arabia. It is a private University that was established in 2009 to serve as a
research institution with English as the primary language of communication. According to the
university has core laboratories where research teams receive training and services to propel their
research objectives. This assignment will discuss the local and direct impact of KAUST in Saudi
Arabia according to specific goals of water, food, environment, and energy. This paper will also
discuss the mission and vision of KAUST in Saudi Arabia.
The mission and vision of KAUST are to enhance the welfare of Saudi Arabia by
focusing on specific objectives:
1. FOOD
Objective A, improve the quality of food in a Saudi household. According to Sivaram
(2018), the aim is a direct local impact as it affects the quality of the food in Saudi Arabia
because the quality of food is a crucial determinant of the health status of the society.
Objective B, provide food security in Saudi Arabia household. The objective has a direct
local impact as it tries to ensure food security in Saudi Arabia to prevent famine epidemics that
can lead to loss of life and also the loss of productivity among the workforce.
Drioli, E., & Giorno, L. (Eds.). Comprehensive membrane science and engineering (Vol. 1).
Newnes, 2010.
Sivaram, V. The Dark Side of Solar: How the growing solar industry empowers political
interests that could impede a clean energy transition, 2018.

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
Objective C, conduct research on the hygiene of the sources of food in Saudi Arabia. The aim is
a direct local impact as it tries to verify the sanitary conditions of the causes of food.
Fleetwood (2019) infers that if the food is processed, the sanitary conditions of the
industry should be examined and on the other hand, if the food is natural, assess the sanitary
conditions of the growing environment of the food.
2. ENVIRONMENT
Objective A, improve the outlook of the situation in Saudi Arabia. The objective has a
direct local impact on the climate of Saudi Arabia. According to Song (2016), the aim aims to
equip the situation with enough trees and reduce the number of contaminants to create a
conducive environment.
Objective B, conduct research on new methods of disposing of non-biodegradable waste.
The objective has a direct local impact on the environment of Saudi Arabia
Fleetwood, J., Rahman, S., Holland, D., Millson, D., Thomson, L., & Poppy, G. As clean as they
look? Food hygiene inspection scores, microbiological contamination, and foodborne illness
Food Control, 2019.
Song, Q., Li, J., Liu, L., Dong, Q., Yang, J., Liang, Y., & Zhang, C. Measuring the generation
and management status of waste office equipment in China: a case study of waste printers.
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2016.

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
According to Bharadwaj (2015), the aim aims to recycle non-biodegradable waste to useful
products that can promote the economy of the nation. Thus, plastics and polythene bags can be
re-processed to valuable products and in the long run prevent pollution of the environment.
3. ENERGY
Objective A, provide new ways of generating electricity in Saudi Arabia. The objective
has a direct local impact on the energy sector of Saudi Arabia. Zhao (2019) infers that the goal
aims to devise new ways of harnessing energy to substitute the existing methods. Additionally,
new plans should be designed to exploit natural resources to the maximum and also secure the
nation against depletion of the existing resources.
Objective B, conduct research on how to harness the clean solar energy in Saudi Arabia.
The objective has a direct local impact on the energy sector of Saudi Arabia. The aim aims to
produce power energy through the windscreen to reduce the reliance on the electric plants which
are affected when there is an inadequate amount of water. Thus, wind plant is a better source of
power energy.
Bharadwaj, A., Yadav, D., & Varshney, S. Non-biodegradable waste—its impact & safe
disposal. Int. J. Adv. Technol. Eng. Sci, 2015.
Zhao, Z., Lan, D., Al-Sharafi Tan, X., Hollmann, F., Bornscheuer, U. T., Yang, B., & Wang, Y.
How to Break the Janus Effect of H2O2 in Biocatalysis? Understanding Inactivation
Mechanisms to Generate more Robust Enzymes. ACS Catalysis, 2019.

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR
Food
Objective A. Oil polarity. That is the change in oil polarity of food. The difference is
calculated as Pf-Pi. According to Li (2016), oil polarity is bound to change due to the presence of
contaminants. If contaminants are present, the frying oil can go rancid. Thus, the change in
rancidity of the oil shows the extent of the quality of the food.
Objective B. Households expenditure surveys. The survey finds out the quantity of the
food purchased and the amount of money used to buy the food. It is calculated as food
security=cost * amount. The little the amount of food means that a small amount of money was
used to purchase food and the household is suffering from food insecurity.
Objective C. Assess food handling. The food handling assessment is used to assess the
sanitary precautions of the food handlers because food can be contaminated during processing,
storage, and distribution. During the evaluation, the key indicators are the protective gear of the
food handlers and their health conditions.
Environment
Objective A. Assess critical parameters. The outlook of the situation should be free of
contaminants; it should have enough number of trees to support the biodiversity, free of
pollutants such as litter, stagnant water and noise.
Li, J., Cai, W., Sun, D., & Liu, Y. A quick method for determining total polar compounds of
frying oils using electric conductivity. Food analytical methods, 2016.

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
Thus, if an environment has enough amount of the critical parameters, it means the
situation has improved its outlook. It is calculated as new outlook-previous outlook.
Objective B. Reduce non-biodegradable waste. Non-biodegradable wastes are nasty
pollutants because they cannot decompose. Thus, KAUST has obliged to devise effective ways
of recycling non-biodegradable waste to prevent more pollution in the environment. It is
calculated as the proportion of the number of means of recovering the trash to the amount of
waste.
ENERGY
Objective A. Device new methods. New methods of generating electricity and fuel
energy should be devised to act as supplements of the existing sources. It is calculated as the
final – initial. An affirmative answer indicates that KAUST is committed to generating new
ways of obtaining energy in Saudi Arabia.
Objective B. Number of wind plants. According to Ramli (2016), new wind plants should
be developed to harness wind energy to supplement the hydro-electric power. Thus, the more the
number of wind plants, the higher the commitment of KAUST to harness wind energy. It is
computed according to the amount of wind energy available.
Ramli, M. A., Hiendro, A., & Al-Turki, Y. A. Techno-economic energy analysis of wind/solar
hybrid system: a Case study for the western coastal area of Saudi Arabia. Renewable energy,
2016.

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
Data Analysis
4.Turbidity for various locations in Saudi Arabia. Computed on annual basis
The turbidity of the atmosphere has been averaged and calculated for twenty-nine areas
around Saudi Arabia from 1971 to 1980.
The figures for turbidity were observed to vary from 0.1 to 0.4 and the accumulated mean
turbidity ranged from 0.281 plus or minus 0.05. The maximum value of turbidity was in Riyadh
0.474 plus or minus 0.090 and the minimum value was 0.168plus or minus 0.028 in Sirr Lasan.
The minimum value of the turbidity depicts that Sirr Lasan sky could be the clearest in Saudi
Arabia. Associations between geographical coordinates and turbidity have been examined and
have depicted a fragile association between them. Moreover, periodic deviations research has
found out no crucial distribution, which insinuates that every station has got its own tendency.
The smaller figures of the turbidity show that the sky of Saudi Arabia has moderately little
disruption in the atmosphere.
Reduction of data
The data comprises, the average monthly of daily worldwide radiation on horizontal
surface as well as the monthly average of daily extraterrestrial radiation of the sun. With regards
to Unsworth and Monteith, we utilized the following expression for the turbidity.
τ = 1.47(Hd/Ht− 0.10)
Hd is the sun radiation that is diffused computed through the following formula.
Jacovides, C. P., Varotsos, C., Kaltsounides, N. A., Petrakis, M., & Lalas, D. P. Atmospheric
turbidity parameters in the highly polluted site of Athens basin. Renewable Energy, 2010.

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
Hd= Ht(1.39− 4.027C + 5.53C2− 3.108C3)(3)
C is the clearance index, which is equivalent to Ht/H0..
Data analysis and Results
The computed yearly average values of turbidity was found by finding the average
monthly, for figures of turbidity on every station. The mean figure of turbidity was varying from
0.168 plus or minus 0.028 to 0.474plus or minus 0.090, which insinuates that the sky in Saudi
Arabia has a minimum amount of sky and aerosols pollution in the atmosphere.
The figures for turbidity were varying from 0.214 plus or minus 0.055 to 0.293 plus or minus for
21 stations in Saudi Arabia. Out of the 21 stations in Saudi Arabia, 7of them had figures of
turbidity exceeding 0.3 and one station depicted less than 0.2. The entire mean value of turbidity
in Saudi Arabia was 0.281 plus or minus 0.056, which is similar with global values recorded
elsewhere, for instance Monteith and Unsworth. In the city of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, has depicted
the highest mean annual turbidity figure of 0.474 plus or minus 0.090. This is not a wonder since
Riyadh has the greatest population in Saudi Arabia and it is situated right in at the center of the
desert, and is contemplated as a developed city, with a lot of industries. Sirlassan, is a hilly urban
region and has recorded the lowest average annually of turbidity ranging from 0.168 plus or
minus 0.028. Below are the different cities in Saudi Arabia and the turbidity.
El-Sebaii, A. A., Al-Hazmi, F. S., Al-Ghamdi, A. A., & Yaghmour, S. J. Global, direct and
diffuse solar radiation on horizontal and tilted surfaces in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Applied energy,
2010.

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
City Annual Turbidity
Hanakiya 0.223
Hail 0.233
Derab 0.214
Dawadmi 0.250
Bil-Juarshi 0.254
Al-Numas 0.277
Al-kharj 0.293
Alheifa 0.239
Al-Hofu 0.258
Abha 0.290
Tabouk 0.243
Tabarjel 0.353
Sirr-Lassan 0.237
Skaka 0.400
Sabya 0.205
Riyadh 0.390

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
Qurayat 0.246
Modaylif 0.474
Kwash 0.372
Hutatsudair 0.285
Kiyad 0.168
Khulays 0.351
Tayma 0.379
Desalination cost of various plants in Saudi Arabia
The accumulated cost of producing distillate water in Saudi Arabia from desalination of
plants in sea water in Saudi Arabia is varying in each year similar to other industries. The
division of costs of water that is distilled from desalination of seawater plants
Madani, A. A. "Economics of desalination for three plant sizes." Desalination 78, no. 2
(2004).

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
Figure 1
As indicated in figure 1 above the mean operational yearly cost in 11 years went up from 1.59
SR/m3IN year 2000 to 2.47SR/m3 in the year 2010 while the lowest amount was 1.45SR/m3 in
the year 2003. The tendency that was observed was because of two causes. The primary cause
was production of water, which went up from 2.08 million m3 daily in the year 2000 to 2.95
million m3 daily in the year 2004. Due to the contracting of modern plants at Khobar3, Shouba2
and JubailRO.
Reddy, K. V., & Ghaffour, N. Overview of the cost of desalinated water and costing
methodologies. Desalination, 2007.
Ukayli, Mustafa A., and Tahir Husain. "Comparative evaluation of surface water availability,
wastewater reuse and desalination in Saudi Arabia." Water International 13, no. 4 (2005):

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
Nonetheless, the enhancement was balanced by the economy of scale accomplished through the
maintenance and operational cost, making the accumulated cost of operation to go down from
1.59 SR/m3 in the 2000 to 1.45 SR/m3 in the year 2003.
The other reason is because of the life extension and rehabilitation for the present plant, together
with the improvement projects in the SWCC (The Saline Water Conversion Corporation).
Moreover, the administrative costs as well as the maintenance cost increased in a span of 6 years
from 0.26 and 0.29 SR/m3 in the year 2004 to 0.57 and 0.87 SR/m3 in the year 2010
correspondingly.
The variation is because of life extension and rehabilitation projects for the current plants
that resulted to amplified working hours of supervision and administration staff and maintenance
work. Nevertheless, the activities of several units of desalination had been stopped because of the
life extension and rehabilitation projects, which led to a decline in the production of the
accumulated water.
Alawaji, S., Smiai, M. S., Rafique, S., & Stafford, B. PV-powered water pumping and
desalination plant for remote areas in Saudi Arabia. Applied energy, 2008.