...its amazing that with all this new construction that no buildings incorporate solar panels or are designed to be energy-efficient.

I guess it has to do with cheap fuel and power here. In European countries I imagine for many people they go for energy efficiency because of the high price of energy (e.g. buying Toyota Prius cars) rather than just the desire to be green.

Qatar is such a low and flat country if the sea levels do rise due global warming it would be under water pretty quick.

These considerations never seem to get mentioned, with everyone zooming around in their SUVs.

I would be very interested to hear about any changes afoot in this area...