Close to 400 industry jobs have already been lost just two months after at COP17 South African financial services group Investec and the European Investment Bank (EIB) had confirmed the establishment of a €100-million renewable energy fund to promote clean energy generation and energy efficiency initiatives in South Africa.

About 77% of the country’s primary energy is provided by coal. Of that, 53% is used for electricity generation and 15 of the utility’s 27 existing and incomplete power stations are coal fired. South Africa’s dependence on fossil fuels is fast depleting our energy sources and is slowly resulting in a substantial depletion.

The world has no chance of sealing an emissions cut deal unless companies lobby their governments for an accord, the UN climate chief told the global business elite in Davos.

The Africa Energy Indaba is coming! Check out this youtube video that they put together for the event.

South Africans have flooded social networks after rumours that an approaching solar flare was deadly.

Not nuclear or coal, but the sun could power up the whole of South Africa. After the Sahara and some parts of Australia, The Rainbow Nation has the most stable and reliable solar radiation output in the world and is blessed with ample space and plenty of solar hours.

Powertech IST Otokon was awarded the Energy Project of the Year at the Southern African Association for Energy Efficiency’s (SAEE) Awards Ceremony last night.

An abattoir in Nairobi converts waste, using a biogas plant to produce about 30 Kilowatts of power to run the electricity in the abattoir.

Globally governments influence energy and climate change policy by either taxing the excessive use of energy, or granting tax rebates on reduced energy demand.

In recent months South Africa has seen a dramatic change in its energy policy as the Department of Energy, NERSA and Eskom have taken steps to move to a renewable energy future.

In Part 2 of the CSP Today South Africa Guide, we look at how South Africa should be readily embracing concentrating solar power (CSP) as a low-carbon, sustainable, base load energy alternative to coal. So why do its energy authorities remain unconvinced?

The Centre for Energy and Electric Power (CEEP), Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at Tshwane University of Technology, announces its inaugural annual workshop on Energy and the Environment for Africa's Public Officers.

Greenpeace Africa's quirky new renewable energy campaign, Use Me More, is a plea from the South African sun and wind to be used more as renewable energy sources. Instead of letting them blow away dandelions and give us a tan, we'd like them to power our country!

At a demonstration given recently by the Vuka Energy Savings Team at the RDP Centre in Zwelihle, Hermanus, a very appreciative audience thoroughly enjoy the presentation given by Florentina Radebe (pictured), with Anton Boshoff of Blue Moon, Stanford, showing his latest Rocket Stove, which generated much interest from the men attending the morning's offerings.

Today, 550 members from 61 countries are working together to accelerate the uptake of renewable energy in urban and rural Africa in order to improve peoples' livelihoods and to protect the environment.

What would you do for One Trillion Rand, or ZAR 1,000,000,000,000? Or perhaps I should rather ask these questions: What would Companies do to take a slice of a ZAR 1,000,000,000,000 cake? What would politicians do ensure some gravy from a ZAR 1,000,000,000,000 train?

The 1st Southern African Solar Energy Conference (SASEC 2012) will be held from
the 21st to the 23rd of May 2012 at the Protea Hotel in the Technopark, Stellenbosch.

In the red: We've already eaten into - and substantially so - our future carbon budget, explained Prof Harald Winkler of UCT's Energy Research Centre in his inaugural lecture, 'Climate Change Mitigation in the Context of Development'.

Understanding solar geysers is one of the new life skills we all need to acquire in our society's leap from fossil to solar energy. As a next installment in our series on solar geyser systems, here is what Tasolsolar has on offer.

What if you as a consumer could gain greater insight into how and when you use electricity?

Energy continues to be big news. In South Africa, there's a focus on our future energy mix: that is, to say how much energy we should be generating from fossil fuels, nuclear or renewable energy resources. It's a critical issue, not just from an environmental perspective but also from an economic viewpoint. Surprisingly, we've heard little from business on the issue and arguably current Government deliberations aren't to business's liking.

The Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), Government's framework for meeting SA's future energy needs, is being finalised. Under this scenario SA will require far more energy than is currently available and, the IRP proposes, up to 70% is to be sourced from fossil fuels (primarily coal-based energy), 14% from nuclear and 16% from renewable sources by 2030.

While the reduction of fossil fuels from its current 95% of SA's energy sources is to be applauded, there will still be an increase in fossil fuel usage in absolute terms and a concurrent increase in associated greenhouse gases. Eskom's two new coal-fired power stations ' Medupi and Kusile ' will provide an additional 9 500MW of energy to the grid. Medupi alone will be the world's fourth largest coal-fired power station. Antiquated stations such as Komati, Grootvlei and Camden are being revived, indicating that Eskom remains well wedded to coal to meet SA's future energy demands.

business needs to be challenged

Business needs to be challenged on whether that's in its best interest. There are numerous reasons why I'd argue it is not. First, Government committed SA to conditional, but ambitious, greenhouse gas reduction targets at the Copenhagen climate change talks in 2009. Against a 'business as usual' growth trajectory, SA aims to reduce greenhouse gases by 34% by 2020 and by 42% by 2025. With the help of some innovative legislation, Government must expect business to meet these targets on its behalf. This will be difficult if SA brings on line additional fossil-fuel based electricity.

Second, Government appears set on the idea of carbon taxes. A discussion paper released by the National Treasury in December last year mooted levies from R75/t of CO2, rising to as high as R360/t. Business will find that expensive, especially when bolted to increased electricity costs.

Third, companies are setting their own carbon reduction targets. Some of these are in absolute values, such as FirstRand's 11% reduction between 2008 and 2011. Those targets are publicly declared and in this day and age of integrated reporting are gaining prominence. Such targets will be difficult to achieve without significant reduction in fossil-fuel based power and the availability of alternate clean resources.

meeting reduction targets

Finally, business faces various forms of compliance, including the submission to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) of their carbon footprints and achievement (or not) in meeting reduction targets. The CDP has proven extremely successful in publicising business's performance and that's often picked up by the media. There's an inherent reputational risk for companies whose carbon footprints increase but are unable to achieve stated reduction targets.

So why the muteness from business when the issue of carbon and energy is of such direct concern to it? One could surmise it's because business believes it's more beneficial to engage with Government behind closed doors. However, that would strike a blow for transparency and misses the opportunity to join forces with other clean energy voices.

Cynically, perhaps, it's because fossil-fuel based energy is perceived as the cheapest alternative ' which it currently is ' and business wants the least expensive option, even if that's contrary to national or corporate carbon targets. But such a viewpoint would be short-sighted of business. With taxes and other instruments in the offing, fossil fuel energy will become increasingly expensive and, if climate change is a concern, then business should be unequivocally calling for a rapid replacement of such energy with cleaner alternatives.

By Alex Hetherington. Source

Energy crisis ' we hear these words every day but what does it mean? Are we tired and worn out?

The German Ministry of Economics and Technology will provide a German pavilion to specifically promote the participation of German companies in the Africa Energy Indaba 2012.

Measurement and verification professionals will now be regulated and accredited by a new body to assist the roll out of tax incentives for demonstrated energy savings.

The Southern African Association for Energy Efficiency (SAEE) has joined forces with Gareth Burley, a radio presenter on Kingfisher FM in Nelson Mandela Bay, in starting a national conversation about energy efficiency.

There is a love affair that most people have with the familiar incandescent light bulb, also known as the tungsten.

South African Energy and Public Enterprises Ministers, Elizabeth Dipuo Peters and Malusi Gigaba are both speaking at the opening session of the upcoming Solar Energy Africa conference in Johannesburg from 19-20 September.

Climate change will be the focus on Wednesday, 14 September, when Al Gore follows up his award-winning film 'An Inconvenient Truth' with the Climate Reality Project, a 24-hour campaign aimed at revealing the complete truth of the climate crisis.