Today's issues
June 30, 2010
All eyes on environmentally sustainable design
Thabang Mokopanele
Business Day
With global warming a constant threat, environmentally sustainable design will be a vital topic at the third annual Green Building Council of SA (GBCSA) Convention & Exhibition, sponsored by Nedbank Corporate Property Finance, this September in Cape Town. “Green design and sustainability are crucial topics for all built environment professions,” says GBCSA CEO Nicola Douglas. “We have hand-picked high- Profile local and international speakers to tackle our industry’s most pressing green design concerns.”
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June 01, 2010
SA ‘must boost clean energy investment’
Jocelyn Newmarch
Business Day
Regional co-operation would help business in southern African countries, including SA, tap the potential for clean development and international funds, according to a study released yesterday by the Norwegian Embassy in Mozambique. But SA’s own investment climate also needs to be improved so that it can take advantage of the United Nations clean development mechanism, an analyst said. Africa has so far not benefited significantly from the clean development mechanism, a multibillion-dollar funding tool which issues carbon credits to registered projects.
May 18, 2010
Tough fight looms over green power cake
Siseko Njobeni
Business Day
The pros and cons of various energy technologies will come under the spotlight as the development of the country’s long-term energy plan gets under way. The second integrated resource plan process, which seeks to identify SA’s future energy demand and the energy mix to satisfy it, is an opportunity for the advocates of renewable energy sources to tell the country what they can offer. And they will inevitably elbow each other out of the way. The South African electricity industry is poised for major growth and everybody wants a piece of the expanding cake. The technologies, which include solar, hydro and wind, are still on the periphery of the South African energy landscape, as coal continues to be a main source of energy.
May 04, 2010
Best carbon tax must target emissions cuts, ‘not raising revenue’
Sanchia Temkin
Business Day
The most effective carbon tax is one that forces companies to change their conduct by reducing their carbon emissions, say tax analysts. Anja Finnern, chairwoman of the carbon tax committee at the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica) and manager of tax services at KPMG, said at the weekend that the efficacy of a carbon tax should not be measured by the revenue that it raises for the government’s coffers. Rather, the best carbon tax would be one which has the most effect on reducing emissions, Finnern said.
April 13, 2010
Anglo’s use for ‘waste’ coal may be new trend
Nick Wilson
Business Day
At last, a good idea. Norman Mbazima, CEO of Anglo Coal, a subsidiary of Anglo American, said yesterday it was conceivable that his company could supply a local power producer with enough “waste coal” to provide 300MW of electricity for Anglo’s mines. This power generation capacity is not huge; the new, vast Medupi coal-fired power station, for example, will generate 4800MW of electricity. But this is waste coal left over from the processing of export coal...
April 07, 2010
Eskom’s $3,75bn loan bid battles against green lobby
Siseko Njobeni
Business Day
A loan for Eskom from the World Bank hung in the balance yesterday as three US legislators sought tighter conditions for the $3,75bn loan and fresh news reports said global non- governmental organisations (NGOs) had pressed the British government to oppose the loan on environmental grounds. SA anxiously awaits tomorrow’s decision by the bank. A rejection will frustrate Eskom’s funding plans as the economic downturn has dried up its other sources of funding. An unsuccessful application could spark higher electricity tariffs.
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May 18, 2010
Climate change ‘will hit women harder’
Jocelyn Newmarch
Business Day
Rural women are more vulnerable to climate change than men, and SA needs to take this gender effect into account in its national planning, climate change activists warn. SA is likely to feel the consequences of climate change particularly in terms of water availability and from a compounding of the effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, nongovernmental organisations say. Women are more vulnerable to climate change because they are more likely to be poor and have fewer coping mechanisms than men, and have additional responsibilities.
May 17, 2010
Wind industry wants 25% of energy to be renewable
Siseko Njobeni
Business Day
The South African wind industry has called on the government to set an ambitious 25% renewable energy contribution to electricity consumption by 2025. This is part of the industry’s contribution to the second integrated resource plan (IRP2), a government-driven process to identify future energy demand and the mix that will meet it. The industry’s call for a bigger contribution of renewable energy is an indication of the lobbying likely to characterise the IRP2 process, with representatives of the various energy technologies vying for a bigger share of the energy industry. The process will cover 25 years. SA’s current target is for a 10000Gwh contribution of renewable energy by 2013.
April 13, 2010
Investors ‘delay plans for African biofuels’
Shapi Shacinda
Business Day
European investors have delayed projects for producing biofuels in African nations due to uncertainty over land tenure and lower oil prices, a senior official of a regional political bloc said yesterday. Geoff Stiles, technical adviser on biofuels for the 15-member state Southern African Development Community (Sadc), said the investors, who he declined to name, who had partnered with oil firms to produce biodiesel from jatropha, had suspended two projects in Zambia and Tanzania. Jatropha is a nonfood crop whose seeds yield oil.
April 07, 2010
Business sets ambitious goal to cut power consumption
Siseko Njobeni
Business Day
Business Unity SA (Busa) said yesterday that its members might cut their power consumption by about 5000MW as part of a plan to assist in conserving energy. The ambitious target was part of a plan by business to achieve a 10% saving, Busa deputy CEO Raymond Parsons said. If achieved, it will help ease the pressure on Eskom’s electricity grid ahead of the commission of the Medupi coal-fired plant in 2012. The targeted saving represents about 12% of Eskom’s installed capacity.
April 02, 2010
A band aid won’t do
Charlotte Mathews
Financial Mail
Water & environmental affairs minister Buyelwa Sonjica promised last week that a decision would be taken “shortly” to resolve the problem of rising levels of polluted mine water around the Witwatersrand basin. But Sonjica’s undertaking, and her allocation of R6,9m for emergency measures to stop acid mine drainage in the western basin, is a “band aid approach”, say environmentalists and activists who have been stressing the urgency of the problem for many years. In the past few months the issue has become even more pressing, with cash shortages affecting water pumping and treatment...
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MORE ARTICLES:
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A big miner problem
April 02, 2010
Environmentalists will ‘fight hard’ against Eskom loan
March 31, 2010
Springing up all over
March 26, 2010
How green is your valley?
March 19, 2010
Learning your carbon ABCs for the green-collar future
March 11, 2010
State not changing SA environmental behaviour, say firms
March 11, 2010
Bringing more green power to the people
February 21, 2010
Looking for power that won’t run out
February 21, 2010
DBSA makes light work of power crisis
February 21, 2010
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