Qatar's First Green Building Conference Gets Underway

Doha, April 26 (QNA) - Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), today launched its inaugural annual Qatar Green Building Conference at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC). The conference takes place over the next two days and an exhibition, which is part of the event, is open to the public and free to attend. Focusing entirely on green buildings, the Qatar Green Building Conference aims to review and address some of the pressing sustainability challenges facing Qatar and the region. More than 500 leading local and international green buildings experts, researchers, academics, and sustainability activists are attending the two-day event. The Qatar Green Building Conference is a key initiative in Qatar Foundations commitment to promote sustainable best practice and infrastructure development on the nation’s journey to a knowledge-based economy as outlined in the Qatar National Vision 2030. Outlining his vision for the conference, Engineer Issa Al Mohannadi, Chairperson of QGBC and Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA), said: "Qatar Green Building Council is taking a balanced approach to addressing sustainability challenges in the country. We believe that a combination of research and innovation, education and awareness, and building cohesive networks of stakeholders, is key towards achieving environmental sustainability on a national and a regional level. The Qatar Green Building Conference has indeed created a platform for the green building industry to make this possible collectively." In his keynote speech at the opening of the conference, Rick Fedrizi, CEO and Founding Chair of the U.S. Green Building Council, said: "Green buildings are a hallmark of economically sound business decisions, thoughtful environmental decisions and smart human impact decisions. As our world shrinks, because of ever more precious natural resources, technology and trade, its becoming very clear that while the decisions to build green are local one building, one home, one school; one hospital the aggregate impact is global. "Qatar Foundation and the Qatar Green Building Council understand this and USGBC is honoured to work with and support their commitments to promote green best practices and a sustainable infrastructure that are paramount to the well-being of people, the protection of resources and the growth of our economies." Over the two days, participants will discuss key green building topics themed around four areas, including Passivhaus in Middle East and North Africa Region; Retrofitting Doha’s existing building stock; Measuring Carbon Footprint; and Future Sustainable Cities. Qatar's first Passivhaus experiment, which aims to reduce energy consumption by half and is currently going through its research phase, is a breakthrough in the countrys green buildings industry. It will be under the spotlight during the conference workshops. Alongside discussions on Qatar's first Passivhaus experiment, the expert workshops will study the importance and feasibility of the country's mega green building projects, including the Msherieb Downtown, and Lusail City. The conference exhibition, open to the public daily from 9:00 am until 8:00 pm, features some of the most innovative green buildings solutions available in Qatar. The exhibition offers an interactive ambiance for networking and discussing sustainability topics with leading experts. Everyone is encouraged and welcome to visit the exhibition. (QNA)