00:00Every summer in Qatar,
00:02temperatures hover above 40 degrees Celsius
00:05with high humidity in the air.
00:08Yet, life continues.
00:10People go to work and school,
00:12out to eat,
00:13and for many,
00:14exercise is a year-round pursuit.
00:17That's because Qatar has engineered
00:20a way to beat the heat,
00:22investing in technologies and urban planning
00:24from district cooling
00:25to comfortable outdoor spaces.
00:27As the world gets hotter,
00:29we explore how this desert landscape
00:31maintains daily life and movement,
00:34coexisting with nature.
00:36I'm Laila Humaira,
00:37and this is Qatar In Motion.
00:43Did you know that before technological innovations,
00:47Gulf communities relied on ancient wisdom
00:49to survive the heat?
00:51Old Qatari houses were built
00:54with what's called barjil or wind towers.
00:57It's a passive cooling system that's designed
00:59to catch even the smallest breeze
01:01and funnel it indoors,
01:03improving ventilation.
01:06But with rapid economic expansion,
01:09Qatar must balance urban heat
01:12and its growth ambitions.
01:16Welcome to Jiwan Island,
01:18Qatar's newest recreational,
01:20retail and residential district.
01:22Despite the summer heat,
01:24you'll find that walking around
01:25is pleasant and breezy.
01:27That's because of the air conditioning vents
01:29all around.
01:30Look up and you will see tree-like canopies
01:33that offer shade from direct sunlight
01:35and also contain the cool air,
01:38creating an urban forest.
01:40The 400,000 square meter island
01:43is United Development Company's
01:45most recent real estate project.
01:48Jiwan creates a new essence of experience,
01:53leisure, walkability,
01:55and obviously convenience.
01:57So Jiwan is a way that we kind of try
02:02as a developer to balance
02:04what we'd consider as exclusivity
02:06and accessibility,
02:10innovation with heritage
02:12and luxury with responsibility.
02:16What stands out of Jiwan,
02:18of everybody,
02:19it's basically an all seasonality development
02:22that one could potentially come
02:24and visit any time in the year.
02:27At the heart of UDC's new district
02:29is Crystal Walk,
02:31a distinctive retail destination
02:33that has earned a Guinness World Record
02:35as the world's largest outdoor,
02:38air-conditioned shopping boulevard.
02:40Stretching more than 7,300 square meters,
02:43temperatures are kept as low as
02:4521 to 23 degrees Celsius,
02:48even during the height of summer,
02:50all made possible by district cooling.
02:53It was very important that we have district cooling
02:57as part of our DNA.
03:01And the reason being is that energy efficiency
03:05becomes paramount in basically the subject
03:11or the matter as it relates to sustainability.
03:14What we did is that we designed developments
03:18in the climate we had.
03:19that the orientation of the building,
03:22the shades, mobility, green spaces,
03:25landscaping, walkability,
03:27all those were absolutely necessary
03:30and cohesive to actually address the climate issue
03:33that we live in.
03:35But behind the world record is a bigger ambition
03:38to create places where technology can impress,
03:41but also make urban life cooler, cleaner,
03:45cleaner, and more sustainable.
03:47G1 itself and as far as the crystal walk
03:50is a Star 3 GSAS certified.
03:55What a GSAS certification do is that you have to look at
03:59specific designs at their very conception,
04:03all the way through the implementation and operation.
04:07So that's how sustainability is actually important for us.
04:11It's important that it's actually ingrained
04:15within our designs and within how we operate our facilities.
04:21Jiwan Island's cooling system is one of five in Qatar
04:24and it's powered by a company aptly called Qatar Cool.
04:28Although we've come to depend on district cooling,
04:31the technology remains largely invisible to the general public.
04:35So how does it work?
04:37The main loop is between the plant and the end user.
04:42Chill water is generated in the district cooling plant
04:45and it is circulated through the piping distribution network
04:50up to the heat exchanger within the building.
04:53The loop two which is within the plant is between the chillers
04:57and the cooling towers wherein that is an open loop
05:00where the heat is dumped to the atmosphere by the way of evaporation.
05:05The third loop is within the customer's building itself
05:08wherein they pick up the cooling from the heat exchanger
05:12and distribute it throughout the building.
05:15These giant chillers in the company's Jiwan Island plant
05:18are capable of providing 18,000 tonnes of refrigeration,
05:23enough to remove the equivalent of more than 63 megawatts of heat at full capacity.
05:29The district cooling system reduces the energy usage by 40%
05:34as compared to the conventional cooling.
05:36In Jiwan Island plant, we use thermal energy storage tanks in our design
05:41wherein we can generate cooling during the off-peak hours
05:45at less energy penalty
05:47and use the stored cooling during the daytime, during the peak hours.
05:53Beyond saving energy, conserving water usage and reducing emissions,
05:57district cooling will continue to play a big role in Qatar's sustainable development in the long run.
06:04Cooling is becoming a necessity even in the colder regions.
06:09In terms of climate mitigation, we have capability to do changes,
06:13implement new technologies in our plants,
06:16whereas you will not be able to expect hundreds of buildings to upgrade their systems
06:20depending on the situations they are tackling.
06:23To meet the growing demands of district cooling,
06:26Tata Cool opened its Command Control Centre in 2024.
06:30This so-called mothership delivers real-time insight into plant efficiency,
06:35building operations and consumer consumption patterns,
06:39while also monitoring and optimising the work that is being done underground
06:43from a single, centralised location.
06:46The company is also supporting initiatives aimed at nurturing the next generation
06:51of climate innovators and water scientists
06:54by teaming up with the Qatar Science and Technology Park.
06:58The QSTP Total Energies WaterTech Accelerator
07:02is an accelerator for start-ups and scale-ups
07:07that have at least a minimum viable product or beyond,
07:11a solution for the water challenges in the region.
07:15This initiative was started due to the demands and the challenges
07:20the industrial and municipal sectors are facing,
07:24and they need help to identify and bridge the gap
07:28from innovation towards business standards.
07:31This is the perfect testbed for all the innovative technologies
07:35to prove that their solutions work,
07:38and whatever can work here in Qatar
07:40can actually work in other countries.
07:42Through boosting public-private partnerships
07:45and investing in green energy,
07:47Qatar is ensuring that the innovation loop continues
07:50to produce real-life solutions
07:52that enhance the quality of life for its residents.
07:58While district cooling helps to tackle the heat,
08:01it still begs the question,
08:02how do people take part in outdoor activities?
08:05Well, the short answer is they bring the workout indoors.
08:09All over the Gulf, running clubs and wellness communities
08:12are utilizing large indoor air-conditioned spaces
08:16to kick-start a new trend.
08:18Here in Qatar, mall running is catching on so fast,
08:22the challenge is to keep up.
08:26Running inside the mall, when we did it the first time,
08:29it was a need.
08:30The mall, it's a place where it is air-conditioned
08:33and well-prepared, cleaned, secure.
08:36A lot of people are looking for the executes.
08:39And this is our job.
08:40It is to remove the executes for them.
08:44that we cannot run because the weather is not good.
08:50We are always there to give you a lifestyle of training
08:55on a daily basis.
08:57And our program is built with, let's say,
08:59in Mall of Qatar, in MOQ Fit Club,
09:02you will have the functional training,
09:04the mobility sessions, the running, the strength sessions.
09:07You can build a full program with us even in summer.
09:11It's for free.
09:12So everyone is welcome.
09:14I hope they keep it up.
09:17And it is making you feel that you can enjoy
09:21your first day early in the morning
09:23doing healthy activities.
09:25The benefit of this indoor social activity
09:29is not only for myself, like physical fitness,
09:32but also it's my chance to meet people from different ages.
09:37I invited the communities to run here.
09:39I want to support the people and people to support me
09:41in the same time.
09:43This is the strength of a community
09:44that it's always everyone pushing everyone.
09:47Not everyone is an athlete.
09:49Helping them in the first step,
09:50it's the social responsibility
09:51since it will bring them to the next
09:53and then they are locked in the movement cycle,
09:56which is the most important.
09:58I believe in movement.
10:00Movement should be consistent
10:01and even whatever the intensity of the movement,
10:04it should be still there.
10:06There is a movement.
10:06Summer should not be a pause for your training journey.
10:09It should be the time where you change the way of training.
10:13So we redesigned our training in order to adapt with the weather.
10:21Well, the truth is, whether we like it or not,
10:24rapid urban growth, climate change and extreme heat
10:27will continue to pose serious challenges to the environment
10:31and the people living in it.
10:33So how can countries like Qatar come up with policies
10:36to mitigate soaring temperatures
10:37and maintain liveability for its residents and citizens?
10:42The research we focus on here is trying to look at sustainable ways
10:46of mitigating heat.
10:48So we're looking beyond active cooling and mechanical cooling
10:51into sustainable passive solutions.
10:55When we say green and blue solutions,
10:58that actually refers to greening, urban greening,
11:01use of trees and vegetation as a way of mitigating heat.
11:05And when we say blue infrastructure, that refers to water features,
11:09water ponds and fountains and misting technologies.
11:13Smart, when we say the word smart in this,
11:16is really how we use data, how we control,
11:20how we have active control of information.
11:22What we do here and the understanding we provide
11:25and the research we conduct almost serves as a window into the future
11:29for many other countries in the world
11:31where climate change is going to shift them
11:33into more warming weather and climate
11:36and more frequent heat waves and more intense heat waves.
11:41From district cooling to mall runs and breathable corridors,
11:45Qatar has made living in an arid climate not just possible,
11:49but also sustainable and smart.
11:52That's all the time we have for now.
11:53Thanks for watching Qatar in Motion and see you next time.
