Geospatial assessment of rooftop solar photovoltaic potential for university campus decarbonization in hot-arid environments

University campuses in hot-arid environments combine high solar irradiance, large underutilized rooftop areas, and cooling-dominated electricity demand that align closely with peak solar generation. Yet campus-scale assessments in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region remain scarce, and existing studies rarely integrate actual building-level electricity consumption, including parking shade structures as co-equal deployment surfaces, or apply multiregional input–output lifecycle carbon accounting. This study addresses all three gaps through a geospatial assessment of rooftop and parking-lot solar photovoltaic potential at Qatar University, combining high-resolution LiDAR-derived digital surface models with six years of building-level electricity consumption data. Solar radiation modeling in ArcGIS Pro with slope, aspect, and irradiance threshold filtering identified 21 suitable buildings and their associated parking canopy structures. Photovoltaic performance was modeled using temperature-corrected efficiency at 22% for monocrystalline silicon modules, a performance ratio of 0.86, and Qatar-specific climatic parameters. Campus-wide deployment could generate 330,587 kWh annually, split between building rooftops (58%) and parking canopy structures (42%), against a total campus demand of 318,184 kWh, yielding a Campus Self-Sufficiency Ratio of approximately 103.8%. Nine buildings achieve self-sufficiency ratios above 80%, with several reaching net-positive annual energy status. Direct operational CO 2 emissions are avoided, totalling approximately 144.8 tonnes annually. MRIO lifecycle analysis using the EXIOBASE 3 database yields a net carbon footprint reduction of 0.475 kg CO 2 -eq/kWh and a campus-wide lifecycle reduction of approximately 157.0 tonnes CO 2 -eq annually, equivalent to the sequestration of approximately 6,652 mature trees. Eleven high-priority buildings achieve 6 to 7-year payback periods under cost-reflective pricing. These findings provide a replicable framework for institutional decarbonization in hot-arid regions where dust accumulation, temperature-induced efficiency losses, and cooling-driven demand patterns differ fundamentally from temperate contexts.