2023-05-17 16:41:28
Par Laila Humairah, Aadel Haleem & Didier Burnod
We learn about the ways in which Qatar is ensuring a sustainable future for generations to come, from a state-of-the-art solar energy test site to environmental awareness initiatives.
By contributing to the fight against climate change and empowering future generations to take meaningful action, Qatar is placing sustainable development at the forefront of its economic growth strategy. Initiatives range from investments in solar energy to establishing a sustainable food and water supply, to clean-up operations that preserve the country’s heritage sites while raising environmental awareness.
Perfecting solar energy technologies
The country has notably pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 24% and to draw 20% of its energy from the sun by 2030. But how does such a sunny territory manage to transform it into electricity? ? The Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI) pondered the question.
The QEERI solar test plant is a sprawling site. It’s there that Ben Figgis works every day. With his team, he oversees all the research on solar energy carried out by the QEERI on this site, with the aim of finding the best ways to use the sun.
“You just have to expose these panels to the sun and the silicon diodes start producing power on their own,” describes Ben Figgis. “It really is one of the miracles of materials science,” he enthuses. “What we want is to test all the technologies because their performance in a given climate may be different from what they will have in another climate,” he points out.
Qatar’s solar industry has grown rapidly in recent years, spurred by billions of dollars in investment in renewable energy. These panels are part of a 35,000m² facility, a test bed for what will help propel Qatar’s economy into a cleaner, greener future.
The constraint of dust
The sun shines all year round in Qatar, with the summer months enjoying 14 hours of daylight. But that doesn’t necessarily mean solar power is self-evident.
“One of the biggest challenges for solar power here in Qatar and in most desert areas is dust,” says researcher Ben Figgis. “The measurements we have made show that if you don’t clean the solar panels every month, they will lose about 15% of their performance, just because of the dust,” he specifies.
This is where robot cleaners come in. Every other day they dusted off the panels at the test site. During operation, data is collected to determine how well they are doing in maintaining plant performance.
But even robots sometimes make mistakes and can scratch panels when trying to clean them. This is why QEERI’s interior facilities are just as important as its exterior site.
Do with the stripes
From pressure testing to simulating extreme weather conditions, the solar panels are subjected to multiple on-site tests to determine their durability and performance and ultimately help bring them to market.
Juan Lopez-Garcia heads the QEERI research unit. He explains how these stress tests are essential to the work of his team. “One of our projects is to study the effect of this abrasion – these scratches – on the yield,” he describes. “The main thing that is affected by these scratches is the light transmitted through the glass,” he explains before adding: “On the glass, if there is a scratch, it can diffuse and scatter the light, which can have an impact on the yield since the light is reduced.”
The multitude of data collected by the QEERI in the two laboratories makes even more promising the future of solar energy in Qatar.
Preparing for a sustainable future
Earththe center for political research and the promotion of Qatar Foundation, was only launched last year, but it is already driving breakthroughs in sustainability and environmental research. Its role is to charting Qatar’s sustainable future and he got the ball rolling by organizing the first Earthna Summit, as explained to us Gonzalo Castro de la MataExecutive Director of Earthna.
“It was a great first event,” he said. “This was the first time we had a meeting on sustainability in hot and arid environments,” he declares.
“You have to know that sustainability for these types of climates means something very different: it’s not about tropical countries, it’s not about temperate countries, we don’t have forests or water, the effects of climate change climatic conditions will therefore be very serious,” he points out. “But at the same time, these countries are part of the solution because many of them produce hydrocarbons which are part of the energy transition that we need to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement,” he believes.
Using technology to ensure food safety
Food security and water scarcity are two major sustainable development challenges that Qatar is successfully managing. What can other countries in hot and arid regions learn from Qatar’s policies? “Food security is a huge challenge and of course when you don’t have water it’s even more difficult,” acknowledged Gonzalo Castro de la Mata.
“Qatar has introduced technologies to enhance reliance on its own food production and there are many lessons that can be learned by other countries,” he indicates. “But the solutions must be adapted to each ecosystem and each type of soil,” he continues. “I think in that sense, food security is not just about growing your own food, but also being able to rely on supply from other countries: therefore trade routes and the ability to have trade is also very important for food security,” he says.
In recent years, we have seen a growing number of young people empowering themselves to take action on the climate crisis. How is Earthna helping them to be heard?
“During the summit, we had several sessions with young people and we could hear what they had to say: they were very adamant about how they want to inherit our planet and what solutions they can provide ,” says the executive director of Earthna. “Young people are clearly part of the solution, they are keeping the pressure on and I think it is very important for the current generation, the ones who run the world, to listen to them,” he insists.
Raising awareness of respect for the environment
The Doha Environmental Actions Project (DEAP) ensures that Qatar’s beaches and heritage sites remain clean and preserved for generations to come. Its volunteers play a leading role in raising environmental awareness in the country.
A hundred people recently took part in cleaning up the beach at Al Zubarah archaeological site.
“We have been doing this for 5 or 6 years and we have mobilized 11,000 volunteers, the majority being school children,” says Jose Saucedo, the director of DEAP. “Today you can see students, primary school children, families and businesses joining us, everyone is participating in this great movement that we have created over the years,” he rejoices.
Athba Al Bassam and her daughter both contribute. “Today it’s windy,” indicates the mother of the family, “but we wanted to be there to do something for the environment and clean up the beach,” she says.
The DEAP project reminds us that plastic pollution is a major global concern. Every year, 11 million tons of plastic waste end up in the oceans. The hope of the local organization is that each beach cleanup will raise environmental awareness in Qatar. This is why she invites volunteers to leave behind only footprints.
“We collected 180,000 kilos of waste [depuis le lancement du projet],” says Jose Saucedo. “That’s so much litter removed from nature in Qatar – from the mangroves, from the road, from the beach, from heritage sites -,” he points out.
“It’s very easy for people to understand,” continues the director of DEAP, “once they’re at a site participating in a cleanup, that the challenge we face with plastic pollution and litter is real. It’s much easier than convincing them of the seriousness of the situation without them having that context in mind,” he insists.
Turning waste into art
Art helps to encourage people to think about ways to change things. Some of the bottles collected in previous cleanings were used in recent ones. Doha Learning Days (Doha Learning Days) by students from Qatar Academy Doha.
A set of objects collected on beaches across Qatar has made it possible to create two collective works representing a dugong and a turtle. Achievements carrying a message, as explained to us by Elizabeth Kennedy, the establishment’s deputy principal.
“Our lands are being degraded and this is impacting the animals found in Qatar,” she indicates. “We have beautiful whale sharks that congregate here, our beautiful dugongs, but also our sea turtles that nest on our beaches and sometimes when they see plastic bags floating in the water they mistake them for jellyfish, “ she explains.
“I think it’s our duty to take action and ensure that we leave our Earth in a better state,” she points out.
A position paper on single-use plastics
A shared concern: a group of ten-year-old students launched the initiative “Activists in Action” which aims to ban single-use plastics in Qatar, a measure that has since been applied by their entire school, Qatar Academy Doha.
“According to the research we have done, banning plastic bags is a very important step towards a healthy environment,” says young Sara Aldosari, a 6th grade student. “If you want a healthy environment, you can’t get it by using plastic for 12 minutes and then throwing it away after 12 minutes,” she is indignant. “It stays on the planet much longer than we use it, so it’s not fair to other people, or even animals,” she says.
Back in Al Zubarah, Ferhan Sakal is a regular at beach cleanups. He hopes to see even more new faces in the next such operation.
“It’s a very good initiative that can be further developed in Qatar,” says the excavation director of the Qatar Museums. “We have achieved a very interesting objective by organizing periodic clean-up operations: which allows us to clean up heritage sites, but also to raise public awareness of the problem of the environment on a global scale,” he says before concluding: “It’s not a Qatari problem, but a global problem that we have to solve.”
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