Institutional development · Research, innovation and assessment · Qatar
HBKU researcher asks whether Doha's rapid growth is building heat traps that raise energy bills
An academic at Hamad Bin Khalifa University's College of Science and Engineering argues, drawing on new research on Doha, that rapid urban development is altering the city's local climate.
Why it matters: Researchers and planners working on Doha's energy demand face his argument that current energy models struggle to keep pace with development-driven local climate change.
Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) published an insight piece by Dr Azzam Abu-Rayash of its College of Science and Engineering, titled 'Cooling Doha's Future: Designing for Heat-Resilient Growth'.
According to HBKU, Dr Abu-Rayash questions whether Doha is genuinely building smart cities or inadvertently creating large heat traps that will push up energy bills.
Drawing on new research on Doha, he argues that rapid urban development is fundamentally changing the local climate in ways that current energy models find hard to track, the university said.
Editor’s view
Scott James, Research and Innovation Editor
The commentary concerns energy planning for Doha: if, as Dr Abu-Rayash argues, current energy models struggle to keep up with the local climate effects of rapid development, then energy projections for the city would rest on models he says are falling behind.
