Does anyone care for carbon emissions in Qtr?

Environmental awareness here is sub-zero IMHO,they make claims about supposed "green" buildings & being environmentally friendly but it's all eye-wash to make it appear to the rest of the real world that they care when the truth of the matter,they're not even aware,caring for the environment comes AFTER awareness,so really,they have a VERY long way to go to catch up with the real world...& what's happening here is that a good % of environmentally aware expats who come in from countries with high levels of awareness & practice get sucked into the consumer materialistic society here,

"i mean,why should i not buy that big V8 SUV? most drivers here are crazy & have no clue about traffic rules or driving,at least my family & myself will be safer in that big thing,there are no taxes,so i'm not paying a premium for driving around this HIGHLY polluting vehicle,petrol costs less than bottled water so the fact that it's a gas guzzler is no issue."

So even these aware people get tempted by & fall for this trap,such is human nature,no point pinning the blame squarely on them...It takes awareness & implementation from the authorities for the citizens/residents to follow...

Mischa,

If you are waiting for the High Speed rail to be operational in Qatar, you are going to wait 10 to 20 years, if the project won’t become obsolete before it starts like so many others!

I think Bleu is right, your exposure to environmental conscious societies like the one you are now, will make it unbearable for you to live here.

LOL,,,, mischa, you WON'T like it here!

Haha!

Jasmin, ok I believe you and forgive me my arrogant assumption!

To give you an answer as long as my opinions goes, its ok to use air conditioning as long as you are not trying to recreate the climate of Antarctica in your house, i.e. that you use it sensibly!

Yes, its true because its a little colder here people use heating in winter, mainly gas based. Some people use electricity (i did once!) but i find it disgusting now, dont do it, my current flat has gas heating from my neighbours.

There is also district heating stations (Fernwärme) in Vienna and one of them also looks quite nice on the outside: I believe it burns non-recycleble refuse, generates electricity and heats the house with the warm water from the turbines. It also has a number of filters on the exhaust pine to stop the heavy metals and other yucky stuff from escaping into the atmosphere! :)

As far as coming to Qatar, will do, once high speed rail network is in service, which they are planning to do (which is a good thing!!!):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8409581.stm

Perhaps i'llll visit all of the gulf countries then.

It would be nice to come do do some kind of a volunteering project;

Staying in an an expensive hotel, even if i could afford to and lying on a beach is not my thing, I would like to visit a country by doing a workcamp (a voluntary service), preferably an environmental one.

I am sure as you say, you did not wish to offend me, however, you have and here's why:

1. so tell me what is more important to you? could it be watching the next episode of the desperate housewives?! I dont mean to offend you here, just would like to know once you've mentioned it, please enlighten us; and what good does it do to the humanity in the long run?

Reply: Just because I do not care as much as you about the environment does NOT mean that I think the most important thing in the world is to watch Desperate Housewives. Actually, I have NEVER seen this programme and am an intelligent and educated person. I care deeply for humanity and make personal sacrifices that I am sure exceed the things most other people here do.

You cannot suggest that because of my opinions I am a lazy, vain and narrow minded person who only cares about watching tv shows.

Lastly, you say you agree that it is disgusting to have air conditioning on whatever the climate. Have you lived a summer in Qatar? If so, and you have done it without ac then I salute you for standing by your very strong opinion. I imagine winter in Austria must be very cold without using heating which is a comparable example.

Qatar Living is about people who live in Qatar not UK/Russian (your profile contradicts your nationality) students who have never been here and, due to their reluctance to use any carbon are unlikely to be able to fly here.

You ask people for their opinions as long as they are not indifferent (that means do not care either way) and then slate me for telling you mine.

This exactly why I find eco people so irritating.

Today I saw 3 BMW's with a Ritz sticker on the window and they were parked and left running, I guess they like the vehicle to be cold but to leave the air on continuously is ridiculous. I guess they don't care how much it pollutes our air.

Just simples steps with huge positive impact on results and on the government's image on the international stage ;)

LOL. Wishful thinking Nic, wishful thinking.

"We submit to the majority because we have to. But we are not compelled to call our attitude of subjection a posture of respect." Ambrose Bierce

The US and China are trying to introduce improvements that can be traced and monitored.

Here... you know how it goes.

i just wanted to see the government of Qatar introducing one simple visible measure, to show that they care a tiny bit. Let's say, how about a recycle program just for plastics (to start with).

And how about regulate the exterior façade materials, limiting as much as possible, glazed façades. And why not, limit plantation to local species that consume less water and just one more, don’t turn on the lights of entire empty towers....

Well in all fairness they aren't the only government to do so. Frankly I'm more worried about pollution in the States & China than I am here. (Not that that's an excuse for them to do nothing)

"We submit to the majority because we have to. But we are not compelled to call our attitude of subjection a posture of respect." Ambrose Bierce

I agree with you.

Any small individual effort is better than none.

Until the local government starts dealing with this serious problem in an open and honest manner, they will just be aggravating the situation!

I'm not denying there doing way more to kill the environment here than they are to save it, I just wanted to point out that some people do care.

"We submit to the majority because we have to. But we are not compelled to call our attitude of subjection a posture of respect." Ambrose Bierce

Olive,

Small measures are better than no measures to remedial the already inflicted damage.

However, we must never forget that any attempt to turn deserts green and to build buildings with the same finishes as if we were in tempered climates, causes inevitable damages to the environment.

Actually there are some companies here who are trying to change things. A lot of the hotels are incorporating Green Standards, many of the oil companies are complying to the new standards for flaring & Emissions,and the College of the North Atlantic has introduced cardboard recycling both on campus and in their compounds. It's small, but at least it's a start.

"We submit to the majority because we have to. But we are not compelled to call our attitude of subjection a posture of respect." Ambrose Bierce

LOL!

I laugh at you XD

Whyteknight,

You got laughed at because you are not the government of Qatar!

I once suggested to someone, don't buy Bottled water because of the plastic waste it leaves behind, instead install a water purifier at home. Posted a few times on QL too about it long back.. I always got laughed at :(

"Live with passion, Die with style"

Whyteknight,

Trust me, governments can do miracles in terms of shaping behavior.

Qatar does not even have a recycle program.

Just imagine how many empty plastic bottles of water are sent out to burn in the Qatari desert?!

Sad to see this happening in such a rich country but with so limited policies :(

Like I said earlier it's not just Qataris but expats are to be blamed too. Maybe government regulations can help but sometimes as responsible residents, we ourselves can take the initiative too.

"Live with passion, Die with style"

LOL @mischa ... I love to consume.

I'd propose Qataris get free petrol for their cats while expats (90% of the population) buy it at QR2.5/liter...

p.s. I was at the Wisteria Lane set last week ... so much smaller that it seems!

@jasmine - your cousin in right!! so tell me what is more important to you? could it be watching the next episode of the desperate housewives?! I dont mean to offend you here, just would like to know once you've mentioned it, please enlighten us; and what good does it do to the humanity in the long run?

Jasmine, i'd like to suggest you take a look around a little beyond your world of consumption. Consider people of the poorer countries. Their life is not that fortunate, fair enough; but give time, they are earning more each year and will be consuming even more, perhaps according to the standards set on the west; what happens when each of them will want a large dodge pickup truck and throws every carrier bag away each time after they went shopping?

Gadarene - I cannot agree more, the biggest problem for me - to reconcile with the idea people (of many industrialised countries take US as an another example) are ok with the WASTING mentality in their culture.

A very good move would be to CHARGE for the utilities, gas and electricity, set taxes on petroleum (%300 like in the UK is a good start)! Guess what has helped europeans to become wore climate and environment aware.

Then the revenue could be used to subsidise renewable resources, like solar panels (which lets be honest make sense in the Gulf countries); electric trains and so on...

I totally agree with you. I take my own bags to Carrefour for the main reason that they are strong and good quality bags. If your cousin would come over to Qatar in July let's see if she would be able to be inside the house without the a/c on - or if she wouldn't appreciate walking into an airconditioned building/room after having been in 50 odd degrees C! People have to experience these kind of weather conditions to be able to understand how important a/c is.

I admit I am not bothered about the environment, mainly because I object to the people who shove it down my throat.

My cousin in the UK thinks we are disgusting because we have a 4x4 and use ac. She says that she would NEVER use ac, even if she was in Qatar during summer. That's just the kind of silly extremism that turns me right off the whole thing.

I do take my own carrier bags to Carrefour, for no other reason than it is common sense. If it takes 200 years to break down a carrier bag, try not to throw so many away.

I believe and care about many other causes and give time, energy and money to those.

... saying they recycle plastic bags, do not use anything but the reusable shopping bags from Carrefour, use cloth nappies instead of disposable ones... to be Oh-So-Green... but both husband and wife drive big engine 4x4's... quite funny really, how can they actually pretend that they are helping the environment? I just want to say to those people: 'Sorry, don't give me any of that Green Talk, look at your emissions first and THEN think carefully what you are gonna say next!'

I say again,step 1 to addressing a problem...is actually admitting there's a problem...irrespective of what ANYONE here has to say...this country WASTES electricity & water @ a RIDICULOUSLY high level,BOTH locals & expats BUT as with anyone else in the same situation,locals more so,simply because,they don't pay for it,it's natural human tendancy...to all those here saying,"oh it's the industry emissions,LNG productions,hydrocarbons,blah blah"...may i ask one question,drive by the business district @ about 10pm & look @ all the towers there FULLY lit-up inside,all bloody 30 floors of it from top to bottom with obviously not a SINGLE person in the building(except the security),some of which aren't even OCCUPIED!!!...now would someone enlighten me as to how that is not considered a WASTE of electricity or how that may in any way be considered "industry emissions",unless those towers magically transform into LNG plants by night,i don't see how that's possible...it's WASTING & it's A LOT of it...Qatar isn't alone mind you,ALL of the GCC are guilty of this...but of course,as is obvious here,no one has the courage to admit there's a problem that needs to be dealt with...so until then,sure,just pretend all is well & the problem will just go away right?...er,wrong,actually the problem will get bigger till it gets to crisis stage,just afraid it might be too late for these guys by then...but then again,they're not even willing to admit there's a problem,claiming "30 % global LNG production & other industry emissions" as the reason for the high figures...sure guys,absolutely,the rest of the planet is crazy for trying to save/preserve precious natural resources right?...good luck...you'll definitely need it for the future...just remember this,when the resources run out & they will,it's just a matter of time,NO AMOUNT of money will buy you guys any more of it,that is the ultimate truth in this matter...

Thanks Robert, in helping the clarification.

I am not here to win debates, its just the facts, so why should we deny it!?

As much as we feel uncomfortable, the sad truth is the life style and lack of adequate government policies and its enforcement (refer to my comment above Wed, 24/02/2010 - 9:02am) puts the GCC counties on the top list of CO2 producers per capita.

I'm afraid Nic is right, if you did include the hydrocarbons exported co2 emissions in Qatar would be higher per country than probably Japan or Europe!!! However its where you burn the stuff that is counted not where it is produced.

So its still amazing Qatar and the UAE come top of the lists per capita but the citizens and inhabitants mostly do not care!

Translator,

Once again, the figures shown in the table “List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita”, do not include the emissions from manufacturing exports (in Qatar's case, mostly oil and gas products, therefore refineries); They refer solely to the life style of the concerned country, which put Qatar on the top of the list, sad but true!

falcon1, ignore him, he cares less what you say. He is drumming that the government of Qatar is not doing enough, etc etc

The government of Qatar is supplying 30% of LNG to the world, there is nothing they can do about the industrial emission from such a process. They are making fuel for the world, and in that process they are emitting CO2 on behalf of the LNG consuming nations.

The domestic emission is nothing compared to that.

I said in my early comment, if they seperated the industrial part from the domestic part of the emission figures, then we can compare rationally.

whyteknight,

Exactly!

Ski Dubai in Mall of the Emirates in Dubai uses as much electricity in 1 day as my whole home town of 1,100,000 inhabitants in a day... That's the kind of energy consumption we are talking about here..

"Live with passion, Die with style"

falcon1,

what is being discussed here is the list itself, “List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita”.

This list classifies countries in accordance with their population lifestyles and government policies.

Obviously if you added the emissions from the refineries, you would have a higher figure, but that is not the topic here.

It shows clearly that the biggest C02 producers per capita, are the inhabitants of the state of Qatar.

I don't understand why cant you accept the facts!

Nic, I am not confused but I think you are trying to act smart..

I agree that the said list does not include emissions from manufacturing exports (oil and gas) and emissions avoided due to imported goods.

However, it does not make it a rule that you can not produce another list which will include emissions from manufacturing exports. My point was about per capita calculation and one can calculate per capita based on total emissions including manufacturing exports.

falcon1,

I omitted the "following list" because I didn’t paste the list.

But you seam to remain confused.

I will help you to clarify:

"Note that emissions as a result of manufacturing exports and emissions avoided by importing products are not considered in the following list."

The figures of CO2, listed here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita, excludes emissions of C02 from two sources:

1 - from manufacturing exports (in Qatar's case, mostly oil and gas products, therefore refineries);

2 - avoided emissions by imported products;

Conclusion:

This list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita , “List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita”, which puts Qatar on the first position, worldwide, does not take into account the emissions produced by refineries!

Unfortunately for the entire world, you are not right.

I wish you were!

Nic, please note that the definition given is good for producing that particular list and not generally for everything:

"Note that emissions as a result of manufacturing exports and emissions avoided by importing products are not considered in the following list."

Please not the last words given in the note - in the following list.

Each person has at least one car with 6 or 8-cylinders engine :P

falcon1,

I am afraid you are wrong.

Please open the link on the original post and you will see the following explanation:

"Note that emissions as a result of manufacturing exports and emissions avoided by importing products are not considered"

Before coming to the gulf, I used to work in an Indian state called rajasthan which is again mostly desert. There is big power shortage there so 80 % of my time used to be spent in giving presentations about new concepts to save energy and making calculations for the same, It was a bit shocking to come and see the situation in the gulf.

"Live with passion, Die with style"

Sorry roberto, but per capita is total emissions produced from all sources of emission and then divided by the population of the country. Therefore, LNG, Oil, Petrochemicals, Refinery and Power Gen and others are all sources of emission generation.

Further, I agree with whyteknight that since the energy is cheap or even free in some instances therfore, it does not hurt to use more. This is a simple economics rule - the more you have the more your propensity to consume. Therefore, not to single out Qataris alone. Please look at other countries also and see those who are rich use much more energy in those countries and those who are poor less energy. This is true in a poor country and even in a rich country. If you look 20 to 30% of the world's rich control and consume 70-80% of the resources and 70 to 80% of world's poor use 20-30% of the resources. The real climate control can and will only happen when there is a balanced and more equal distribution of resources over the globe. Are the rich ready to relinquish their riches and share with their poor counterparts?

wk,

as i said above, its the government who failed so far to educate society and that includes all inhabitants!

roberto to be honest I can't single out Qataris alone for this.. I see a lot of other nationalities wasting energy here in Qatar just because it is cheap.. I don't even want to start on the fuel wastage....

"Live with passion, Die with style"

Falcon the per capita emmissions do not include the supply of LNG or Oil, it is to do with personal use. i.e. what is consumed by the population and this would include power generation in the country.

Beep you can choose to focus on some people's negative comments but you cannot ignore the facts such as the extremley high rate of pollution per capita. saying you have a small population in my mind does not exempt you from your responsiblities. It may be extremley difficult to become a Qatari citizen and therefore join the 'we are only a few' but we share the same planet and we are the same species after all.

because unfortunately some of the points mentioned against the locals, 1st of all are generalized, 2nd of all, full of hate and deprivation

yes i must admit there are examples of misusing shmucks here n there, but dont log online and act all greeny for the sake of self recognition.

if you care to spread awareness, do it right

else, dont spoil the cause and shut up

and for the fellows which have done a good job presenting their cause, thumbs up and good luck to all of you

Aim for the stars..

Reach the roof

Qatar is largest producer of LNG and it produces oil and other petrochemicals. Therefore, its carbon emissions are high. However, alot is being done to check emissions at Industry level. Already, it has cut down on flaring associated with oil production. Since, there are alot of new LNG trains coming that are also world's first and biggest, there is flaring during their commissioning but these are being checked and once the operations are stable there will be much less emissions. However, the per capita emissions will always be great in this country because having a small population base it produces and supplies the world's largest amounts of LNG and oil. It is producing all the emissions here so that the rest of the globe can have clean energy in the form of LNG and GTL. Overall, result is the same - produce more emissions here and have less emissions while consuming energy in other parts of the world. That is why there is a concept called NIMBY = Not in my back yard. This is practiced in USA as there has not been new refineries built in the last 30 years in the USA but in Qatar we do not seem to mind it.

Yes Bleu I guess that is the problem, everybody else thinks its someone elses problem. The US blames the Chinese and Indians, they in turn blame Europe and the US for historical pollution and the poor Qataris say we are only a few.... lets us keep our lights on 24 hours a day, our A/Cs, our 6 gas guzzling cars, our expensive summer holidays....

Qataris, Emiratirs and rich Saudis are truely Weapons of Massive Consupmtion!!!

Bleu,

Sadly, your country is planning for disaster, by:

- building glazed façade buildings;

- planting and maintaining greenery not native of desert climates;

- not having an efficient network of public transportation;

- driving habits of 1 person/car, (most big and non fuel efficient cars);

- having the lavish life style and huge houses;

- not having a recycle program at national level, disposing all untreated waste into one basket - the desert;

- ...

Populating deserts and attempting to transform them into Swiss landscapes, cannot be done without a huge damage to the Environment.

All the rest are mere details!

YES, WE ARE JUST A FEW PEOPLE....

don't look at the per-capita figures, look at the gross figures, and as roberto says, look at the USA... :P

cutting out the country's industrial CO2 emissions & just based purely on personal consumption,Qatar's CO2 footprint(along with the rest of the GCC) is RIDICULOUSLY high compared to the population...of course,they will never admit that but that's just pretending a problem doesn't exist thinking it will go away...on the contrary,it's just getting bigger...

@translator - true, China and US are not the best examples, but China is changing a little bit, they are looking for cleaner technologies, and keen on expanding their high speed rail network etc., also consider what it takes to change something in a country of that size.

Also the gas is quite clean in comparison to coal or petroleum, liquefaction process as well as transportation result in more emissions. Even though Qatar emissions are way about the average...

hm, thats interesting, thanks for your comment well maybe with time people will be more are that wellbeing and efficient use of resources are connected

There are some tyoes of these trees and why not to spend money and plant more trees.

@ translator,the first step towards any redemption is accepting that there is a problem mate...defending your community or ranting against someone simply because they told it like it is is not the solution...just consider this my friend,ANY community that gets FREE water & electricity is bound to be unaware of conservation unless they were fully aware of the global situation regarding these precious resources right? so please,don't take it personally,it's painful for ANY outsider to come here & see the immense amount of waste of precious resources on display here because that's not how it was in their home country WHICHEVER country they belong to...the need of the hour is an increased awareness & a REAL effort @ conservation NOT just some laws on paper which are never implemented...fair enough?...

whyteknight,

well said, that's exactly my point, thank you!

Translator,

Its quite limited (can be seen by your assumptions) to assume things based on oneself life model!

My friend, the way you see the world and live your comfy materialistic life, although generally in line with what you see here and in your country, it’s definitely not the only model.

Trust me, it’s again none of your business but I can afford that 6 bedroom villa. You would probably be shocked to know the level of my income (but I will spare you of that).

It’s in fact an option that I choose to be environmentally friendlier than you, that is why you felt personally attacked!

Yes, I drive an economical car for the sake of the environment, surprised? Don’t be, not all of us think the way you do!

I said not much I can do for recycle; I didn’t say I am not doing anything!

Again, I live in a flat because I am well aware how much damage to the environment, causes the process to produce water to fill your pool and irrigate your grass.

It’s a choice, you do what you have to do and live with your conscience because I live with mine.

Just because you are actively part of the problem (easily verifiable by your footprint here in QL), don’t feel personally attacked. I was mainly attacking the government environmental policies, practically inexistent, not so much the individuals who act as allowed!

Translator you just gave an example why people don't care here. You think if you can afford to then why bother saving.

"Live with passion, Die with style"

What I do not accept is your jumping to attack a society for a behavior you seem to conduct yourself anyways.

I don’t live in a villa

Chances are that you do not afford it, not you decided to live in a flat to save the environment

I don’t drive a big car alone

So you do drive a big car, or do you always take one with you to savethe environment

I don’t have a car for my wife,

You do that to save the environment?

It’s sad not to be able to recycle but not much we can do here about it.

Not much you can do? do you take empy plastic bags when you go shopping? that is recycling

I don’t throw garbage everywhere including on public beaches and desert.

Countries with highest laws for protecting the environment are perhapse done so to reverse such disasters, tell me one river in Europe which you can actually can drink directly from it?

I don’t waste potable water in gardens and swimming pools...

Becuase you live in a flat, not because you want to protect the environment

Translator,

many things, not really your business but to satisfy your irrelevant curiosity here are some things I do: I don’t live in a villa, I don’t drive a big car alone and I don’t have a car for my wife, and another for my driver to drive my kids, etc, etc, etc

It’s sad not to be able to recycle but not much we can do here about it.

I don’t throw garbage everywhere including on public beaches and desert.

I don’t waste potable water in gardens and swimming pools...

I am not a fan or a follower of the American Middle Class lifestyle's dream of big houses with big TVs and 2 or more cars in the garage!

Simple and basic are my principles!

As I said Translator and it seams you don’t like to hear it, its not as much about what we inhabitants can do do, as it is about government policies. The Authorities are the only ones who have the power to impact significantly on any improvement, as we inhabitants will have to comply with their policies.

Why is it so difficult for you to accept this reality?

You did not answer me Nic, what you have done, since you seem to claim highly educated in this matter, to protect the environment while you are here in Qatar?

Translator,

Society means those who live here.

Government means those who have the power to establish law and regulations, aiming to achieve certain objectives such as: security, prosperity, environmental, economical, and 1000's of other etc...

The minority here produces way more than the majority of the labor workers and guess what? They still succeed in putting Qatar on top of CO2 producers.

"The leader can obtain objectives by leading towards it"

Yes, those who come here and buy a big car are often NOT environmentally educated!

There is so much to be done here (mentionned a few in my 1st comment above) that I would have to write a dissertation on it, which I am obviously not going to do!

As I said in my previous comment, transforming deserts in greenery is a high and extreme polluter process which can’t be controlled if development in deserts does not stop!

Unfortunately, it’s a fact, either you like to hear it or not!

You said "The government has failed to educate society"

What society? the majority of the society are not local citizens, and the majority of the non-citizens are labor workers who contribute very little to the problem.

Most of those who come here and afford buying a "big" car will do so, why? was it they were not educated well about environment in their countries?

Socio-economics here plays a different game that in Europe or US. Many who cannot afford driving "any" car in Europe, will drive a V6 car here, becuase they afford it and they would do the same in Europe, regardless of the efforts of the government to protect the environment.

Prove me wrong Nic, what you did to protect the environment here?

Straight Arrow,

That is not the problem at all because in fact, to maintain any greenery here in these climates (the process of producing potable water) is an extreme polluter process.

To produce the water to irrigate every single square meter of grass or any tree, pollutes much more than the C02 these greeneries are able to digests!

So planting in the desert means in fact more pollution!!!!

The pollution is sadly unavoidable because you are trying to set up a city in the desert with models used in tempered climates! Recipe for inevitable long term disaster!

The solution would be to invest the money where green is natural, like most of Africa and Asia (for examples)!

Speaking as a Qatari

Here there is lack of planting trees and making green areas in the past few years, and now Qatar has many industries going on which will bring benefit to Qatar and its people.

Here we must have a policy which says for every new industrial facility buit a similar area must be planted.

There is no social conscience here.

The government has failed to educate society and to provide the means to recycle or even use alternative energy.

The process of producing electricity and water is one of the highly polluter and nothing is planned in the long term, to change it.

The poor local infrastructures stimulate people to use private transportation. Often you will see one person per vehicle. Also the abundance of wealth, the very cheap gas price and the inexistent environmental education, stimulates people to drive big cars.

For all of the above reasons, Qatar and UAE are indeed Environmental disasters, the Top CO2 producers/ per capita.

All People find the other man to make the city green.. well Grow more trees atleast near ur house.. would be Good...

The fact that Qatar is on top of list for CO2 emission per capita is missleading, and Qatari authorities has challenged this presentation of figures with the concerned international organizations.

This is a country which is exporting 30% of the worlds Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) and have recently openned major steel and aluminum plants, among other power consuming operations.

You say why missleading? China opens a new coal power plant every week (which is worst form of poluting), but since they have a huge population, the figures of emission per capita does not show a high number.

Not denying that more conservation awareness is necessary here, but it would only be fair to find out how much of CO2 emission Qatar produce for domestic operations, not for making a clean fuel for other countries.

@ mischa,i don't think they even know the meaning of those two words here mate,EVERY SINGLE visitor that has come here to see me,be they family or friends from all over the world,have pointed out one thing in common & that is the sheer wastage of ALL resources in this country & the resulting emissions from that waste of the resources...to say they need an education on this would be an understatement...it isn't even low awareness,it's a complete lack of awareness...hopefully in time they'll learn but IMHO,i don't see it happening in this lifetime...they've gotten too wealthy too soon & being a closed country/culture the awareness levels are understandably non-existant & they're not open to change either because for them,that's admitting that the way they're doing things is wrong & they'll NEVER admit that...accepting there's an issue is step 1,change can only come after that,right now,there isn't even acceptance so it's a MASSIVE task & no one wants to make the effort for fear of losing out on their lucrative jobs & tax-free pay so it's a real catch-22 @ the moment...

Take it this way, for as long as you are in the fossil fuel business, carbon emission will always be there. On the other hand for as long as you are in and O & G maufacturing, flaring and release of over pressure hydrocarbon is a norm. If your subject is about green house gas release and climate change, then you can single them out.

In UAE atleast they are aware of it and DEWA in Dubai introduced green building guidelines in 2008 to try and cut on carbon emissions. No new building will be passed if they don't conform to the standards, here nothing as yet.

"Live with passion, Die with style"

Of course no one here cares. They are second behind the UAE in amount of Co2 emissions per head but would prefer to blame the US or other countries. We are a small population yani, don't blame us. My family is poor we only have 4 cars and a/cs on 24 hours a day. We have to leave the lights on outside our villa all night because of burglars....

Becuase they are rich, (2nd highest GDP per capita, soon to be the first) most believe such concerns are not for them.

well that's what i thought, about being aware but not bothered much. I would not say its perfect here in Vienna - at local shopping centre just as you enter a hot stream of air coming at you - i thought that was barbaric!

People have heard about it, few of them do make an effort to cut down on it but I haven't seen much to suggest they are serious about cutting it down.

A new building about to open recently became LEED certified but I haven't seen the masses being too bothered about it.

You have put a CFL in your display pic, you will be surprised to hear the number of conventional GLS lamps being sold here per month which are now banned in Europe ofcourse for the past few years.

"Live with passion, Die with style"

first of all thanks for the quick reply!

Ok, i presume in Qatar the topic might be highly unfashionable at the present moment (unlike the greedy Europe ;)) but what about general world concern, I mean it must reach through the media, television documentaries, influence through foreigners, surely people must be aware of something to do with the the world trying hard to cut down on carbon emissions?!

People are not bothered.. You should come here to see the sheer wastage, this town can run with 50 % of the energy they consume right now.

"Live with passion, Die with style"