The Qatar University Stadium
FIFA chose to bring the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, the tiny emirate in the heart of the Middle East, guided by the desire to make history, and the opportunity to partner with the natural gas fortune of the Qatari royal family.
For that occasion Qatar has promised to spend $4 billion to build nine stadiums, renovate three others and equip all of them with a high-tech, outdoor air conditioning system to combat summer temperatures that can reach 120 degrees during the day. The country has vowed to spend another $50 billion on infrastructure ahead of the tournament.
The engineering department at Qatar University, headed by Dr. Saul Abdul Ghani, recently announced the addition of an artificial cloud-like shade for the stadium. The cloud is said to be made up of a hundred percent light carbonic materials and has four engines that run on solar power. It can also be positioned to hover anywhere over the stadium via a remote control. The cloud isn’t quite the fluffy, cotton-candy like floss that people have come to love, but more of a flat sphere, something more akin to an elongated UFO floating high-above the stadium.
Estimated costs put it at approximately $500,000 each. With nine stadiums to outfit, that amounts to a whole lot of money, but with Qatar’s seemingly endless reserves of riches, that shouldn’t be a problem.
The creators of this new innovation hope that one day their invention would be widely-used in open spaces like beaches and open car parks. [BBC]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-z2jtUS9-Y&playnext=1&list=PLFCE4B0026947876D[/youtube]
