GORD participated in the recently held event titled ​"Energy Efficiency: A Key Driver For Clean Energy Transition" organized jointly by Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) and EU-GCC Clean Energy Technology Network. GORD presented a number of research studies: QCOOL – The GCC’s first superefficient smart cooling system developed by GORD with support of QNRF. Also, Prof. Mohammed Arif presented the research undertaken by GORD in collaboration with University of Wolverhampton with support of QNRF titled: “Developing Green Building Guidelines for Occupant Productivity, Wellbeing and Behavioral Change: A BIM based Design Planning Approach“. The two day event was held in Doha, Qatar on May 3-4, 2017 at the QNRF office at the Tornado Towers and comprised of a number of workshops, experts’ networking, and training sessions.

Gulf countries face many challenges in the energy sector such as low energy efficiency, a chronic dependence on fuel subsidies and related high CO₂ emissions. To tackle these issues, the GCC countries are now embarking on a clean energy transition pathway, which targets a more sustainable, efficient and cost-effective method for using energy. The aim of the event was to foster partnerships by bringing together high-level stakeholders from the EU (European Union) and the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) to discuss Energy Efficiency and Cooling Technologies suitable for the region, exchange best practices and lesson learned and advance collaboration between EU and GCC actors. Energy efficiency and cooling technologies, including district cooling, can play a major role to reduce energy intensity and thus emissions. There are solutions available suited for small, medium and large-scale applications and that can be implemented in different sectors of the economy such as transport, buildings, and Industry. In addition, Energy efficiency provides significant co-benefits in terms of job creation, revenue generation, interaction with research and innovation, increasing competitiveness and an improvement of companies’ corporate images.

Day 1 of the event featured the Energy efficiency and cooling technologies Workshop attended by officials from GCC Secretariat General, Delegation of the European Union to KSA, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar, EU-GCC Clean Energy Technology Network and a number of renowned speakers and experts in the field. Session 1 of the workshop was: “State of the art and markets for energy efficiency and cooling technologies." The title of the presentation was: “Boosting the HVAC industry with QCOOL – The GCC’s first superefficient smart cooling system“. This research project was initiated by GORD in February, 2015 with the objective to develop solar cooling systems using new types of desiccants derived from seawater brines, that can provide cost effective and sustainable cooling of large spaces in the built environment of hot countries including Qatar and other GCC countries. The research project was funded by QNRF as a National Priorities Research Program and besides GORD, Aston University in Birmingham, United Kingdom also participated in the research project.

In the second year of the research project, with breakthrough results, GORD has been able to successfully develop QCOOL, an innovative smart (Qatar’s first) patented air conditioning system, which is a fully integrated and controlled ventilating and air conditioning system that provides super-efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable fresh air cooling for open or enclosed spaces in moderate, hot or humid climates. QCOOL is now being locally manufactured, licensed to Sharjah Kuwait Manufacturing (SKM) and will be shortly available in the market.

Session II of the workshop focused on “Policies and regulations to promote EE and cooling technologies".

The second day of the event kicked off with QNRF’s Research Outcome Seminar (ROS) to disseminate the findings of research projects funded by QNRF. The theme of this ROS was Energy Efficiency and Cooling, an area very relevant to Qatar and GCC countries and one that features high in QF R&D’s (Research & Development) list of priorities. The seminar comprised of oral presentations by project leaders, as well as flash and poster presentations by researchers. “Space Cooling using Solar Energy and Seawater Desiccants" was presented in which QCOOL was discussed from the academic point of view.

Prof. Mohammed Arif presented another research project titled: “Developing Green Building Guidelines for Occupant Productivity, Wellbeing and Behavioral Change: A BIM based Design Planning Approach". This study is undertaken by GORD in collaboration with University of Wolverhampton, funded by QNRF with the aim to update Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) guidelines to include occupant productivity, health and behavior criteria.

A number of interesting case studies were also presented in the seminar. The. These included: “Forming of Aluminum Foam Sandwich Panels" and “Development of a Novel Heat Sink with Wavy-Tapered Channels" from Texas A&M University, Qatar; and “Body cooling methods for endurance in hot environments at minimal energy" and a sustainable paper printing case study by Qatar University.

Following the QNRF ROS, the afternoon session featured three sessions:  “Technological options for space cooling in new buildings", “Technological efficiency improvements for space cooling in existing buildings", and “Business models and modalities of financing efficient space cooling technologies". The two day event successfully ended and was well appreciated by all participants.