Brussels – European Union leaders agreed on Friday to contribute to a €50bn annual aid fund that would help developing nations adapt to climate change – but failed to set a firm figure for exactly how much the EU would pay.
Source: News24: SciTech
Archive for October, 2009
OK, let’s be real. It took years for businesses to evolve into the resource-hungry, environmentally blithe entities that they are. Why should managers be charged with fixing things overnight, especially if you are a multi-branch, multi-warehouse, multi-whatever sort of operation.
A London businessman, James Doran, has embraced an idea to spread sustainability principles across his company in a phased approach, without biting off more than his team can chew. Doran, who is managing director of fire, security and electrical testing company First Choice Facilities, began running his Loughborough, Leicestershire, office in 2008 as what he calls an “Environmentally Managed Unit (EMUs).” Here’s the general statement about how his company using EMUs in its operations.
An EMU basically allows individual locations and staff to make decisions that are guided by environmental and business practices. The renewable energy resources available in one location, for example, are likely to be different than in another location. So, why should one office be forced to do something that doesn’t make sense?
The Loughborough office is a carbon-neutral operation located on a site developed by Beacon Energy that features multiple interlinked sources of renewable energy. The office is using biodiesel fuel in its vehicles and its striving also to be paperless.
Source: smartplanet
President Obama tried out a bit of political jiu jitsu last Friday, reframing the climate change debate from “green” to “competitive.”
In his MIT speech the President talked less about polar bears and more about markets such as lighting, solar panels, batteries and turbines, markets that can be retaken with the right incentives.
Don’t say green, say competitive.
Speaking this language is essential because former Bush DoE official Karen Harbert, now heading the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Energy Institute, continues pushing climate change as a business vs. government divide when it is increasingly a battle between industries.
Source: smartplanet
Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) offer consumers lighting through lamps that have a longer life and consume considerably less energy than conventional incandescent globes. As part of their strategy to introduce these globes, Eskom embarked on a national programme to exchange incandescent globes with CFLs in selected areas.
Since the programme began in 2004 more than 18 million CFLs have been exchanged for incandescent globes. The national programme was recently implemented in the Western Cape, Northern Province, Gauteng and Free State where four million CFLs were exchanged for incandescent globes.
The programme has reached more than 315 000 households and continues to reduce the energy demand from the household sector.
Source: Eskom
Power
- Solien
- Imison
- (re)SA
- National Energy Regulator of South Africa
- Loadshedding
- ESKOM Demand Side Management
- Engineering news – solar
- Global Carbon Exchange
Government departments
- National departments
- Department of Minerals and Energy
- Gauteng Department of Housing
- Science & Technology
- Mineral Resources
Other
- Sustainable Energy Africa
- Energy Research Centre
- African Energy News Review
- South African National Energy Research Institute
- Association for Renewable Energy Cooking Appliances
- The Southern African Association for Energy Efficiency
- Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies
- Human Settlements
- The Carbon Protocol of South Africa
- Cape Town Green Map
- Green Building
International
A public-private partnership (PPP) between the Central Energy Fund and the National Empowerment Fund, and private investors, such as petrochemicals giant Sasol and the University of Johannesburg (UJ), has been set up to commercialise superthin solar technology in South Africa, as well as in Germany.
UJ department of physics professor Vivian Alberts said on Monday that Thin Film Solar Technology (TFST) had procured land in the Western Cape to build a facility that will produce thin-film solar modules.
Late last year, the European Investment Bank announced that it had agreed to invest €40-million in the South African plant, which will be located in Paarl.
Source: Engineeringnews
South African petrochemicals group Sasol has announced a R3-million, five-year sponsorship of solar thermal energy research at Stellenbosch University’s Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering.
The money will be used to appoint a senior researcher to lead the research effort, and to purchase new equipment for the University’s Solar Roof Laboratory.
The funding is in addition to a R4-million investment by the university on expanding the research facilities and appointing support staff in the solar thermal energy research group, Sasol said in a statement last week.
Source: Southafrica.info
Developing greener energy strategies is vital in South Africa as the cost of electricity and the environmental hazards linked to traditional power sources continue to rise.
Source: Mail & Guardian
The Solar World Congress has called on governments to urgently implement the most effective and efficient policies for the rapid transition to a renewable energy world.
The International Solar Energy Society (ISES) Solar World Congress unveiled its 2009 resolution at the closing ceremony of the four-day conference in Johannesburg, yesterday.
“The global target of 100% renewable energy is both attainable and necessary by the middle of the next century. This is motivated on the grounds of ecological, economic and social sustainability,” states the resolution.
Source: IT Web
Welcome to GloTec we specialise in photovoltaic solutions with a focus on CFL-DC, LED and cooling technologies.
Our unique CFL-DC technologies allows for standard 220V CFL globes to be powered via DC without the need for converters which results in up to 15% higher efficiency compared to inverter based solutions.
We will launch our new LED lighting technology within the next few weeks that will feature street and spotlights as well as retrofitting existing street lights that will result in up to 90% reduction in electricity costs.
For off-grid cooling, our 12V or 24V DC motors with very efficient compressors are ideal for applications where only sunlight or batteries are available.
Visit our products section to learn more about our unique range of sustainable lighting and cooling solutions.