How Not To Go Green: From the Most Green to the Least Green World Cup?

The green living movement may be headed for a setback, thanks to soccer.

Let me explain.

By all accounts the 2010 World Cup in South Africa was the greenest World Cup event ever.

Energy efficient methods for transporting people to and from the soccer venues in South Africa were put in place. Tens of thousands of indigenous trees were planted in beautification projects around the country. The flagship soccer stadium in Johannesburg was designed to be a model of energy efficiency. And the uniforms worn by Team USA and eight other teams were produced from recycled plastic beverage bottles.

But the recent announcement that the tiny Arabian country of Qatar will host the 2022 World Cup competition will likely reverse the progress in greening the famous world soccer competition.

The decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar was surprising to a number of people, but giving a newcomer a chance to take the world stage by hosting such a prestigious sporting event was cheered by many. No World Cup has ever been hosted on the Arabian Peninsula before. This was a victory for an underdog.

But looking at the practicality of the decision, one need to go no further than the energy demands to question the wisdom of this decision. The competition is help during the summer month of July, and Qatar is so hot-temperatures consistently exceed 40 degrees centigrade (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and routinely can approach 50 degrees Centigrade (122 degrees Fahrenheit).

The solution offered by the Qataris is to air condition all the soccer stadiums so the players and fans alike will not be keeling over from heat stroke. Qatar is proposing to install massive numbers of solar panels to provide the electricity necessary to provide the air conditioning necessary to keep the soccer stadiums habitable. But due to the massive amount of energy needed to generate sufficient cooling of these soccer venues, the idea that these air-conditioned stadiums in the Arabian desert will even approach carbon neutrality is laughable.

The amount of energy required to cool a building is determined by the temperature differential between the inside and the outside. In Qatar in the summer, this temperature differential is extreme, about 40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Compare that to the norm in the USA or the UK, where the temperature differential would be closer to 15 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

There will be a longer lasting benefit, of course, one the World Cup games are over. These solar panels will be able to continue to generate electricity, hopefully into the Qatari grid, reducing the needs for electricity generation from fossil fuels in the future. Perhaps that payback will make the investment worthwhile.

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