
Qatar now so hot it has started air-conditioning the outdoors - nabla9
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/qatar-air-conditioning-temperature-weather-heat-climate-change-athletics-world-cup-a9160751.html
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bronzeage
The irony is that the big winners of fossil fuels, which are all the arabic
countries, will be the ones who get hit by the climate change the worse.

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newyankee
The country hit worst by climate change is India by sheer population which
depends on agriculture which is becoming unsustainable due to uncertainty and
very high temperatures in summer (as high as 50 C in some places).

Uncertainty in Weather + Water problems + Inefficient agriculture + biggest
population (in 5 years i think)

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trickstra
Also, the richer countries will have ways to mitigate the effects of climate
change - such as running air conditioning on the streets, or just staying 99%
of their day in offices and houses. While the people in poor countries can
only escape. So unfortunately, it will be the poor countries that will get hit
the hardest. India, South-east Asia, central and south Africa.

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newyankee
A country like Qatar is so rich it can easily buy a piece of land in a place
like Russia and fly bulk of its population there routinely if needed.

Sounds crazy today, but it might actually be an easy way for countries like
Russia or Canada with so much surplus land to monetize it.

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perfunctory
On a related note “Last year in Beijing, during a heatwave, 50% of the power
capacity was going to air conditioning”

[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/29/the-
air-...](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/29/the-air-
conditioning-trap-how-cold-air-is-heating-the-world)

~~~
Synaesthesia
In the article it’s mentioned that “ Qatar, which is the largest per-capita
emitter country of greenhouse gases, according to the World Bank — nearly
three times as much as America and almost six times as much as China – uses
about 60 percent of its electricity for cooling.”

“ Air conditioning accounts for less than 10 per cent of China’s or India’s
electricity use.”

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zaroth
How much of Qatar’s 2°C increase is due to urban heat island and how much is
believed to be climate change? TFA says it’s a combination of both but does
not elaborate.

I was thinking why not just mist water, but with the high humidity that’s not
going to work.

Sounds like a good market for personal cooling devices. Cooling certain areas
of the skin like your wrists is good at helping shift the apparent ambient
temperature. Much more efficient than cooling the streets. There are also
those devices you can wear around your neck.

I also wouldn’t be surprised if it was possible to create a specially
insulated shirt that has a personal chiller (perhaps backpack size) piping
cool air down your back to bring down core temperature.

200Wh in a 1kg battery can probably provide a decent amount of personal
cooling, particularly if it’s built to interface intelligently with specialty
clothing using performance fabrics. You need a system than can intelligently
disperse the heat in a compact format, even in 50°C ambient, which is probably
the hardest part.

It’s not like this place wasn’t always blisteringly hot, if you live in the
desert you’re going to want good tech to stay cool.

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mikestew
_I also wouldn’t be surprised if it was possible to create a specially
insulated shirt that has a personal chiller (perhaps backpack size) piping
cool air down your back to bring down core temperature._

I'm not going to bother digging up a link, but such things exist, some of my
less heat-tolerant motorcycle buddies have them. One system I know of has a
cooling unit that one would have to strap to the rear seat (probably six-pack
cooler sized), but I believe self-contained, don't-have-to-drag-a-box-with-me
units are available now.

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kilroy123
Would planting trees and a lot of irrigation not help make a difference? Money
doesn't appear to be a big issue there.

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lmilcin
Actually, trees have lower albedo than sand meaning, they reflect less sun
energy back to space.

Also, trees do not help if you get hit by a wave of 50C desert air.

Also, the drynes of air in arabic countries is actually their saving. The only
way for a human being to be able to survive outside in air hotter than 35C is
if the air is dry so it is possible to cool by sweat evaporating.

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hcarvalhoalves
> The only way for a human being to be able to survive outside in air hotter
> than 35C is if the air dry

You’re exaggerating.

Where I and other 12 million people live it’s often 35C+ and ~60% humidity.

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lmilcin
Above 35C air temperature human body cannot remove heat any other way than
through evaporation of sweat.

At 46C you need air that is less than 50 percent humid to even survive. And
this means you can only lie flat in shade and breath, any more exertion and
you cook from inside.

For anybody to survive outside in 46C air and additionally you want to exert
yourself in any way like walking the air must be very dry.

If you are still not convinced just read up a little bit,
[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https:/...](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://insideclimatenews.org/news/02082017/heatwaves-
deadly-heat-humidity-wet-bulb-human-survivability-
threshold%3Famp&ved=2ahUKEwi616frlqblAhXqkIsKHTDfDvsQFjAKegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw0LHK8xKmhTzGiTiw8gl_Vs&ampcf=1)

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isthispermanent
Fun fact: the 2022 World Cup is being held in Qatar.

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sys_64738
I wonder if the ACs from the stadium in Doha can keep the temp on the field an
even 25C. Not sure about the fans leaving the stadiums though. They could die.

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trickstra
And the hot side of the unit goes where?

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arijun
They might be swamp coolers, which blows the air over water, evaporating the
water and cooling the air.

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Jtsummers
They have high humidity and temperatures. Swamp coolers wouldn't be terribly
effective in that environment. These are probably conventional chillers
pumping out cold air.

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flyinglizard
Climate change, scarcity of drinking water, oil losing its intrinsic value,
endless conflicts. The Middle East is in for a wild ride.

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nacs
Maybe "oil losing its value" isn't as big a deal for the rest of the world but
the other 3 are definitely issues on a global scale.

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flyinglizard
For the Middle East it's the biggest issue though, because the others could be
solved, or at least alleviated, with money. But Middle Eastern economies
heavily rely on oil (90% of Saudi exports, 94% of Iraqi exports, 72% of
Iranian exports, etc). Take that money out and this entire house of cards
comes down.

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driverdan
Why aren't they using solar? Is it because oil is so cheap and abundant?

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magicsmoke
Also because sand and dirt buildup on solar panels is a major issue for
Saharan countries.

Wash it off = waste precious water

Mechanical device = Jams in sandstorms

Maintenance personnel = Expensive and remote locations

There's at least a few startups trying to tackle this problem.

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PopeDotNinja
A friend of mine who worked for an energy company also mentioned that some of
their solar panels got stolen often enough they had to factor that into their
costs.

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faissaloo
I wonder if as climate change worsens we'll end up with infrastructure to
support air conditioning, like we have for water, electricity and internet.

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Synaesthesia
Goodness, that heat with humidity, I can’t imagine how bad it must be.

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Razengan
Why not just cool the sun?

