63% of Qatars electricity is used for cooling. Today conventional energy (oil and gas) are used to produce electricity and desalinate water. Cooling can also be done using renewable energies. No electricity has to produced but solar and geothermal energies can produce cold directly using adsorbtion or absorption chillers. District cooling systems like they are already used in the West Park area of Qatar are a basis for renewable energies cooling. In comparison to solar cooling, geothermal cooling will cost about half. The temperatures needed are between 100 and 120°C. These temperature s can be found in Qatar as well as in other countries of the GCC in depth of 1700 to 2500m. The subsurface is very well known in the GCC from oil and gas explorations. Geothermal reservoirs like limestones and sandstones are present in the required depth. With growing awareness of renewable energies in the GCC and the concept not to waste oil and gas for electricity production for a low price in the GCC, geothermal cooling will be a success story not just in Qatar but in all of the GCC.
With the third largest gas reserves, the OPEC member Qatar plays a significant role in the supply of fossil fuels worldwide. Qatar's exports of natural gas and oil yield one of the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita ratios worldwide, around 60 % in 2007. Qatar's oil reserves estimated 33 billion barrels (bbl) in 2008 (EC Energy Market Observatory, 2010), but Qatar Petroleum (QP) has concentrated on extending the operating life time of their oil fields and, therefore, planned the expansion of the natural gas production during the next years (Langdon, 2007). Enjoying growing prosperity, the energy demand of Qatar has grown rapidly during the last years and is expected to rise at double-digit rates by the end of 2012. The country covers its domestic energy consumption substantially by natural gas (74.6 % in 2008) and oil supplies (Fig. 1).
