Come 2022, footballers from around the world will be heading to Doha, in a country where temperatues commonly reach 46 degrees Celsius, and don’t often fall below 29 degrees Celsius. FIFA knew this when it awarded the tournament to the country, so it also stipulated that the open stadiums must be air conditioned in some way.
How do you air condition an open stadium? Qatar University believes it has the answer, and it doesn’t involve lots of air conditioning units pumping out freezing cold air.
Qatar is a very rich country due to the massive amounts of oil and natural gas it has. Therefore they can think outside of the box for problems like this and not have to worry too much about cost. Dr. Saud Abdul Ghani, who runs the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering department at the Univeristy, has come up with a very green and nature-inspired way of solving this problem: artificial solar clouds.
If you’ve ever been outside on a very hot day then you know that standing in a shaded area can result in a temperature drop of several degrees. Dr. Ghani’s idea is to create an artificial cloud that would float above the stadiums covering a large area of the playing field in shadow. As the sun in blazing down on the cloud while it is doing this, all power can be generated through solar panels.
The cloud will be constructed of carbonic materials and have four solar engines allowing it to be moved by remote control as well as hover in place. We assume at night they will be landed near the stadiums. As for cost, the first one is thought to be in the region of $500,000, but Dr. Ghana believes that will fall and the usefulness of the clouds will extend well beyond the World Cup.
While a novel idea, we can’t help but think a strong gust of wind may cause major problems for the cloud. We’re also unsure how safe the players will feel with these clouds floating above them.
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