Youth standing together
As I was walking back from the East Restaurant complex just outside the QNCC, I stumbled upon a large gathering. Many people were shouting and others were quickly snapping pictures and filming. On the receiving end of the incessant flashes was a group of youth holding a large sign that exclaimed: “We Stand With You.” The youth from all across the world are announcing their pledge to stand with the Arab youth in support of their calls to their leaders. Together they urge their leaders to make definite cuts to greenhouse gas emissions and pledge for renewable energy sources, such as solar. This protest in the main hall of the QNCC was a direct extension of the protest I attended last Saturday. It is great to see that the youth of the world are connecting and hope to continue their push.
One of five cars up for raffle
The next day we decided to finally make our way to the Doha Exposition Center, which is hosting the Sustainability Expo. After a quick 45 minute ride in the desert (due to traffic), we arrived at the Expo center. Let me tell you, this place is cool. In the front of the center there were 5 small electric cars that will be raffled off tomorrow. I’ll let you know if I win (I suppose it will take a while to drive it back, but I haven’t decided how I will cross the Atlantic Ocean yet).
Information desk at the expo
Next, we came across the information center, which had walls that were completely comprised of used plastic bottles. They painted some of them to say, “COP 18,” which was pretty cool. They have also used old water jugs as decorative art.
Water bottle tree
Roll Tide!
Next I walked on over to Saudi Arabia (in the Expo center), and wrote “Roll Tide” on the sustainability in hopes that this trend will be sustainable throughout multiple generations. However, I would like to award the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a gold star. Not only did they have Minority Report style touch screen, but they had tons of information about how Saudi Arabia (and the world) will look in 2050.
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Minority Report!
One of the cars I built
One of the cool things was this cool interactive touch screen that gave information about city living in the future. Since we will all be living in Mega Cities, land will be at quite a premium. Innovative ways will be super high skyscrapers, living underground, and huge boats. Then I built my own car that will be powered by Hydrogen, have a carbon fiber body, and have airless tires.
Saudi Arabia did a great job in explaining and displaying some new, exciting technology including the mobile carbon dioxide capture system. It can be placed in the back of a truck and it essentially works by harnessing the exhaust and directing it through a high surface area powder absorbent that can capture the exhausted carbon dioxide. In addition, the vehicle was still “Built Ford Tough.”
Ford truck holding the carbon capture system
Carbon dioxide capture system in the back of a truck
Wind tower in Masdar City
There is also a project in Abu Dhabi known as Masdar City, which a planned “neighborhood” that will run only on solar and sources of renewable energy. For example, here is a replica of a wind tower that will help cool down areas through solar-assisted airflow. Since the wind tower is very tall, it creates a temperature gradient that will function to cool down the ground level without any electricity. Another cool idea was the personal rapid transportation in little pods, which I failed to take a good picture of (sorry!)
One of the planned venues for the World Cup in 2022
I then checked out the World Cup stadiums for Qatar’s 2022 event. If you didn’t know, all of the stadiums are being designed for maximum airflow, which allows them to effectively air condition the playing pitch. In addition, many of the stadiums will be modular and Qatar will disassemble them and move to developing countries so they too can have a stadium.
They also had vending machines that will accept recyclable cans and bottles. In addition, they give coupons and rewards for recycling. I am not sure what the coupon we received was good for though as it wasn't very descriptive. We also may have stolen that can so we could recycle it.
A final thing I will show off, is the new solar powered sports car from Tesla that was displayed at the expo.
As I wrote this I realized that a majority of this stuff might have been for children, but I enjoyed myself nonetheless.
As I wrote this I realized that a majority of this stuff might have been for children, but I enjoyed myself nonetheless.
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