oa Analysis Of Advanced Aq System For Sustainable Food Supply In Qatar

This paper presents a new concept for sustainable vegetable and fish production with limited use of land and low consumption of water and energy. The so-called AQ system is designed to support a food supply throughout the year, therefore independent on season and weather conditions. It is an environmentally friendly and energy efficient system with new agricultural approaches. The AQ system uses ~ 90% less water than traditional agricultural and fishery methods. Farming is based on recycling the water in the AQ system, therefore providing a self-sustainable water usage that is one of the crucial factors to follow in improving Qatar's water usage. The water consumption in this system is therefore designed to especially be implemented in the regions which suffer with fresh water supply and has limited agricultural growth by arable land, water and energy capabilities that are being rapidly consumed by the growing population in the region. The energy efficiency of the AQ system is achieved by using renewable energy operating systems such as solar panels and geothermal system, thus following Qatar's national security strategy in implementing economical alternates and renewable low carbon energy technologies. The AQ system is built on so called technology of green buildings, with the highest processing and operational standards, and environmentally friendly materials. Other advantages of the AQ system, is its sustainable vertical farming using advanced "green" and organic technologies for water reclamation and space-efficient cultivation. This approach provides higher yield in greenhouse space by avoiding generation of environmental pollutants. This is because the AQ system does not require use of pesticides, steroids or fertilizers, antibiotics, GMO seeds and feed, or similar, to achieve high production of vegetables and fish that therefore both contain high nutritional values. The AQ system is software driven technology thus supporting the rapid pace of IT infrastructure implementation in Qatar. Once the AQ installations are in place, they require low energy and low water supply, with low maintenance and can be operated by semi-skilled labor. The system exhibits no points of failure, and as such can operate continuous hours throughout the year.