The current and future projects of Qatar Cool, the country's sole district cooling supplier, were in focus at a major conference which began in Doha on Monday.

The ‘Building Sustainable Communities in Qatar’ conference is being sponsored by Qatar Cool. The country's top developers, contractors, architects, engineers and consultants will discuss the key issues arising from sustainable development.

Issa Qandeel, Qatar Cool’s projects department manager and Aniruddha Kulkarni, the Operations and Service Manager, will make presentations at the summit.

The presentation will focus on Qatar Cool’s current and future projects including the construction of the world’s largest district cooling plant at The Pearl-Qatar.  The plant officially known as the ‘Integrated District Cooling Plant will be completed by the end of 2010.

Sustainable development in Qatar is about meeting the needs of people today without depriving others from achieving their future needs, Qatar Cool said in a statement.

Kulkarni will highlight the achievements of Qatar Cool in the West Bay area and will present data collected since January confirming, the energy saving forecasted from district cooling systems.

'Sustainable development is where present needs are met without depriving others from meeting their present or future needs and is a core value of Qatar Cool’s mission statement,' Kulkarni observed.

'By sponsoring this event we hope to encourage other major developers and contractors to engage in key issues facing Qatar, such as soaring power demand and increasing CO2 generation and find solutions to address these issues,' Issa Qandeel remarked.

Qatar Cool is already paving the way to sustainable communities in Qatar by addressing several key issues simultaneously, he added.

According to him, Qatar is located in one of the best regions in the world for district cooling usage and is deriving environmentally-friendly benefits from it.

The district cooling utility uses up to 60 per cent less power than conventional air-conditioners resulting in less CO2, NO2 and other harmful gas emissions, he noted.

'It also produces less noise pollution and creates more space allowing for more greenery; thus providing a healthier atmosphere and meeting the demand for synergy between environment, energy and economy,' Qandeel added.-TradeArabia News Service