A webinar on Thursday marking the Italian Research Day underscored the importance of creating practical but sustainable and innovative solutions to protect the environment.
Titled A new approach for a new world: Eco-sustainability and environmental transition between research and practice, the webinar saw the participation of Italian ambassador Alessandro Prunas and scientists from the Qatar Environment & Energy Research Institute (Qeeri) and the Milan city’s Green and Environment Division.
“Sharing experiences between a well-established and innovative institution such as the Qeeri and the environmental department of larger European cities such as Milan,” Prunas said, “can help us bridge research and implementation of practical solutions aiming at zero emissions, carbon neutrality, and air quality, and building efficiency are not only topics of academic analysis but also matters of administrative policies and urban planning."
“Italian local administrations know that very well and certainly, it is the case of the city of Milan, which has always been willing to learn from different contexts in order to foster high level of innovation in its urban and social contexts,” he explained.
He thanked the Qeeri for partnering with the Italian embassy in Doha in celebrating the event this year, an edition dedicated to highly topical issues such as environmental protection and sustainable development.
The participation of Milan city’s Environmental Department, Prunas said, also underlines the excellent and growing co-operation between Italian and Qatari institutions.
The ambassador pointed out that Italy plays a leading role in forging global environmental policies, especially in climate change issues, citing the hosting of a number of events last year during the G20 meeting and COP26.
“This year many things have changed – despite our will – (and) our approach to sustainable development has been progressively influenced by emerging issues such as energy security and human rights,” Prunas said, adding: “The current war in Ukraine brought new concerns and a broad feeling of insecurity.”
“However, this does not mean that our commitments towards the environment have been superseded,” he continued. “On the contrary, they rather need to be in some cases accelerated, and in other cases innovated with new considerations that are perhaps redefining methodology of action towards sustainability and energy diversification.”
“Prompt environmental actions cannot be further procrastinated,” the envoy said. “We continue to need analysis and research, as well as practical implementation of those projects that we fruitfully carry out, joining forces with academic institutions around the world.”
Several topics were tackled during the webinar, including *Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Energy Management for Smart City Applications by the Qeeri’s Energy Management Programme chief scientist Dr Antonio Sanfilippo.
He said that the programme is aimed at creating a solar mapping and forecasting platform, develop smart grid solutions for hot desert climates, craft demand response solutions for efficient energy use in Qatar, and promote sustainable farming such as hydroponics and aquaponics, among others.
Other topics were discussed were *Qatar Challenges with Reinforced Concrete Corrosion by the Qeeri’s Corrosion Centre senior research director Dr Hanan Alshareef Farhat, *Solar Desalination: Initiative Road Map by the Qeeri’s Water Centre senior scientist Dr Abdelnasser A Aboukhlewa, and *Towards an Iot (Internet-of-Things)-Based Integrated Platform for Healthy Connected-Building by the Qeeri’s principal scientist Dr Abdlmonem H Beitelmal.
“We aim to develop an IoT-based health-connected home solution, an intelligent decision-support platform, that actively tracks and manages indoor thermal comfort and air quality,” said Dr Beitelmal. “The system includes proper interpretation and evaluation of the environmental sensors’ data for economically viable commercial solutions.”
Moderated by the Qeeri’s Energy Centre scientist Dr Alessandro Sinopoli, the webinar also saw the participation of Dr Angelo Pascale, the director of Milan city’s Green and Environment Division, who discussed *Separate Waste Collection and Circular Economy in Milan.
Qeeri executive director Dr Marc Vermeersch underlined the importance of education in aiming for long-term impact of efforts to address environmental concerns.
“The best approach (to tackle climate change issues) is to have these young kids as ambassasors for the institute, and these ambassadors go and reach out to their families and to their local communities to adopt best practices,” he said.
Dr Vermeersch noted that various Qeeri initiatives can be adopted by other regions around the world.
“I believe that if we do this on a broader scale, and we have to do it, it will have a significant impact,” he said.
“Sharing experiences between a well-established and innovative institution such as the Qeeri and the environmental department of larger European cities such as Milan,” Prunas said, “can help us bridge research and implementation of practical solutions aiming at zero emissions, carbon neutrality, and air quality, and building efficiency are not only topics of academic analysis but also matters of administrative policies and urban planning."
“Italian local administrations know that very well and certainly, it is the case of the city of Milan, which has always been willing to learn from different contexts in order to foster high level of innovation in its urban and social contexts,” he explained.
He thanked the Qeeri for partnering with the Italian embassy in Doha in celebrating the event this year, an edition dedicated to highly topical issues such as environmental protection and sustainable development.
The participation of Milan city’s Environmental Department, Prunas said, also underlines the excellent and growing co-operation between Italian and Qatari institutions.
The ambassador pointed out that Italy plays a leading role in forging global environmental policies, especially in climate change issues, citing the hosting of a number of events last year during the G20 meeting and COP26.
“This year many things have changed – despite our will – (and) our approach to sustainable development has been progressively influenced by emerging issues such as energy security and human rights,” Prunas said, adding: “The current war in Ukraine brought new concerns and a broad feeling of insecurity.”
“However, this does not mean that our commitments towards the environment have been superseded,” he continued. “On the contrary, they rather need to be in some cases accelerated, and in other cases innovated with new considerations that are perhaps redefining methodology of action towards sustainability and energy diversification.”
“Prompt environmental actions cannot be further procrastinated,” the envoy said. “We continue to need analysis and research, as well as practical implementation of those projects that we fruitfully carry out, joining forces with academic institutions around the world.”
Several topics were tackled during the webinar, including *Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Energy Management for Smart City Applications by the Qeeri’s Energy Management Programme chief scientist Dr Antonio Sanfilippo.
He said that the programme is aimed at creating a solar mapping and forecasting platform, develop smart grid solutions for hot desert climates, craft demand response solutions for efficient energy use in Qatar, and promote sustainable farming such as hydroponics and aquaponics, among others.
Other topics were discussed were *Qatar Challenges with Reinforced Concrete Corrosion by the Qeeri’s Corrosion Centre senior research director Dr Hanan Alshareef Farhat, *Solar Desalination: Initiative Road Map by the Qeeri’s Water Centre senior scientist Dr Abdelnasser A Aboukhlewa, and *Towards an Iot (Internet-of-Things)-Based Integrated Platform for Healthy Connected-Building by the Qeeri’s principal scientist Dr Abdlmonem H Beitelmal.
“We aim to develop an IoT-based health-connected home solution, an intelligent decision-support platform, that actively tracks and manages indoor thermal comfort and air quality,” said Dr Beitelmal. “The system includes proper interpretation and evaluation of the environmental sensors’ data for economically viable commercial solutions.”
Moderated by the Qeeri’s Energy Centre scientist Dr Alessandro Sinopoli, the webinar also saw the participation of Dr Angelo Pascale, the director of Milan city’s Green and Environment Division, who discussed *Separate Waste Collection and Circular Economy in Milan.
Qeeri executive director Dr Marc Vermeersch underlined the importance of education in aiming for long-term impact of efforts to address environmental concerns.
“The best approach (to tackle climate change issues) is to have these young kids as ambassasors for the institute, and these ambassadors go and reach out to their families and to their local communities to adopt best practices,” he said.
Dr Vermeersch noted that various Qeeri initiatives can be adopted by other regions around the world.
“I believe that if we do this on a broader scale, and we have to do it, it will have a significant impact,” he said.
