One World Essay
Qatar will host the Fifa World cup in July 2022. They won the tender to put on the event
by using science and technology to overcome the extreme high temperatures during the
summer months in Qatar. The Fifa world cup is global sporting fixture that will consume
fast amounts of energy. It is an international sporting occasion that was won on the
premise that it would be the world’s first carbon neutral event. Qatar in order to win the
World cup proposed to Fifa that they would utilize innovative technologies such as solar
energy to supply the extra energy requirements for cooling systems in the stadiums.
These cooling systems would have an integral and important role in reducing the heat and
keeping cool the players and spectators who will be experiencing the hot temperatures in
the Qatari summer for the first time.
The problem with holding such an international event in the Middle East is that the
temperatures can be as high as 50 degrees Celsius. These high temperatures makes it
virtually impossible for any outdoors sporting activities because the athletes will
experience dehydration and will get heat stroke whilst playing in the mid-day sun. The
problem is more acute in Qatar whereby the temperature can be as high as 50 degrees
Celsius, but the football players have to deal with a hundred per cent humidity.3
http://www.insideworldfootball.biz/ifa/9892-cooling-technology-unsustainablefor-qatar-2022-warns-populous-principal
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Previously such extreme temperatures have made sporting events impossible to be played
in the Middle East. Also other equatorial countries who are unable to meet the energy
requirements to run AC cooling units in the stadiums were also excluded and shared the
issues that Qatar did that the football players health will be harmed playing in such
hostile and extreme conditions.
Qatar’s bid provided innovative technology to find a solution to this issue. Qatar has
found a solution to circumvent the extreme temperatures and is going to build five
stadiums, which will utilize solar energy to provide a supply of energy to the cooling
systems within the stadium.
Solar energy is a process where light energy in converted into Kilowatts which is used as
a sustainable renewable energy source. Innovative scientific technologies will be utilized
during the world cup in 2022 so that the players and the spectators will be kept cool at a
constant temperature of 27 degrees Celsius. After the matches the solar energy units will
than send the excess energy to the national power grid to provide necessary energy
requirements due to the fact that there will be a sudden short term increase in local
population as a result of the extra tourists coming into Qatar. When the matches are being
played the stadiums will take back the extra energy that it will need from the national
grid. This is the rational for the stadiums carbon neutral footprint. The innovative cooling
technologies will be placed in all areas that will be designated for the players and the fans
to occupy.
The success of the technology will mean that other countries with extreme high
temperatures in summer will be able to use this technology has a solution so that they are
able to participate within the global sporting community. Solar energy is a sustainable
energy source that is in abundance for those countries situated near the equator and have
access to long hours of full daylight.
Not only does this provide free energy. But most of the Less economically developed
countries are situated near the equator and have little infrastructure or money to meet the
energy requirements that such a world football event would require.
If the technology that Qatar proposes is successful the wider implication would be that
these less economically developed countries will be able to use sustainable free
renewable energy that could be exported into the national grid for their comminutes
wider social and economic development. The fifa world cup would be a possibility and
not a dream that would encourage development and investment within the LED’S.
Science and innovative technologies arising from the Qatari’s government to find a
solution does have a wider impact on the global community. As a consequence of being
able to harness light energy from the sun and converting that energy to cooling systems
within the stadiums will mean that countries near the equator who were previously
excluded from global sporting events due to the geographical climatic hot equatorial
temperatures are able to use these technologies to participate in events such as the
Olympic games and the Fifa world cup that are historically held in the summer months.
The ethical considerations for the solutions that are provided by science are that such
technology enables inclusion for the world community. All can participate equally into
events that they were unable to actively participate in before and were unable to take
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http://www.iloveqatar.net/forum/read.php?26,12915
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advantage of the economic and cultural benefits that are a product of holding such global
events.2
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http://www.nortonrose.com/knowledge/publications/48660/renewable-energyin-qatar
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