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AS WE drive out of Muscat, the white buildings of Oman’s capital give way to an expanse of open sand ahead of the foreboding Hajar mountains. It takes us 2 hours to reach our destination, a journey that includes our SUV nearly getting stuck in the narrow back alleys of a town. But, eventually, geophysicist Ammar Alali and I arrive at a peaceful spring in the desert, surrounded by golden grasses and date palms. Alali frowns disapprovingly at a stream of bubbles in a pool of water. “It’s energy going to waste,” he says.

I have come here because Oman’s…