Seventeenth conference of the parties on climate change (COP 17) in Durban

Thu, Aug 18 2011 02:50 AM | Permalink

South Africa will host the seventeenth conference of the parties (COP 17) in Durban, under the UNFCCC, this year. Once again 195 member parties will attempt to reach agreement on climate change issues. The magnitude of the challenge at COP 17 is illustrated by the Carbon Tax proposals of the Labour Government in Australia which threaten to do be their demise at the next election. It is still seen and treated by the sections of both the public and private sector as a political issue, not a common sense issue. We do know that CO2 emissions are detrimental to our environment's sustainability; we don't really know if what we're calling 'climate change' is just part of 100,000 years of weather patterns and sun spot activity, or whether the apparent correlation to CO2 emissions means CO2 emissions are the cause of the acceleration. The point remains however, reducing CO2 emissions is a critical objective for the 21st Century. The fence sitting nations at COP 17 need to drop their political agendas and at least adopt some components of a global carbon reduction strategy.

MrSav

Restor (Africa)

17th conference of the parties (COP 17) on climate change in Durban, Nov/Dec 2011

Wed, Jul 20 2011 04:43 AM | Permalink

The 17th conference of the parties (COP 17) on climate change convenes in Durban in November 2011.

So much is at stake, primarily the survival of the Kyoto Protocol, which commits signatories to CO2 emission reductions. The fact that no-one has achieved much since Kyoto is not the issue – if the Kyoto Protocol is not continued, we will lose decades of time we don’t have to ultimately transition our economies to a low-CO2 emission future. We won’t know in our lifetimes whether or not the extent of climate change we’re seeing is simply part of galactic reality, or the result of man’s total disregard for our environment. What we do know is that life on earth will increase its sustainability count if we reinforce the ideals of Kyoto and Cancun at the COP 17 in Durban. Come on USA, China, Russia, Canada and Japan........stop holding us to ransom!

MrSav

Restor (Africa)

Carbon Tax in Australia

Tue, Jul 19 2011 02:35 AM | Permalink

Australia's proposed carbon tax framework has now been released into the public domain. Already, the old, brown coal thermal power stations are contemplating closing down and taking the carbon credit due to them in the process. It illustrates the problems in transitioning to a carbon-reduced economy. Close them down, sure, but where does the grid get replacement power from in the same time frame. Where does the Government get the funds to pay to the power producers closing up shop? Feed-in tariffs for renewable power producers also need to be structured to incentivise the transition. And what of the USA and China – the biggest polluters just carry on regardless!

MrSav

Restor (Africa)

Mercedes-Benz innovation reduces fuel consumption

Tue, Jul 19 2011 02:29 AM | Permalink

Not quite renewable energy, but Mercedes-Benz' new C-Class, manufactured in East London, will include new engines using 29% less fuel than pervious models. Along with numerous other improvements, this is a phenomenal achievement for a modern, mainstream, luxury motor car. It does pose the question how much further we can go in optimising the fossil fuel efficiency in current technologies?

MrSav

Restor (Africa)

Department of Energy (DoE) Policy Adjusted IRP (Integrated Resource Plan)

Sun, May 22 2011 04:11 AM | Permalink

The Adjusted IRP (Integrated Resource Plan) was released by the Department of Energy in South Africa at the end of March 2011 and has conservatively not accounted for Energy Efficiency increases in the plan. Market analysts Frost & Sullivan note that while the potential exists to increase energy efficiency targets from 3,420MW to over 6,000MW, any failure to meet these targets would weigh heavily on existing power generation capacity. So, instead of fronting up to what is required to sustain energy efficiency gains in industrial, commercial, agricultural and residential operations, we've backed off and put the focus on new capacity (albeit with a huge PV target). In tandem, Eskom commenced the withdrawal of the Solar Water Heater rebates.......what a cop-out. Every three or four houses with a SWH effectively takes one house off the grid and offers effectively 20 years of virtually maintenance-free, sustained off-sets – what is it that the authorities cannot grasp here?

MrSav

Restor (Africa)

Hydropower Plant in Zambia

Sun, May 8 2011 04:19 AM | Permalink

Zambia should commission their Itezhi-tezhi hydroelectric project by 2015, which will add 120MW of peaking power to the national grid. Increasing demand for copper has led to increased electricity demand from new and expanded mining operations, necessitating new power generation capacity. Thankfully, Zambia's power company Zesco has not taken the route of a coal-fired station, and deserve full credit for partnering with Tata Africa in developing a renewable energy source. Good news in a world still ruled by oil, coal and natural gas.

MrSav

Restor (Africa)

UN Climate Congress 2011, Durban

Sun, Apr 10 2011 03:32 AM | Permalink

So, the world's nations, 'The Rich', 'The Poor', 'The Developed' and 'The Developing' have finally agreed on the Agenda for the UN Climate Congress scheduled for Durban in November 2011. By all accounts, the talks were tough, frustrating delegates with the focus on what was already agreed on in 2010 in Cancun, Mexico. Accepting the consequences of climate change, if not the reasons for it, seems to elude us, meaning we never get to agreeing on how to mitigate these consequences. We are tied, in a hangman's noose, to an economic system built on competition, that cannot implement the unified position required of a global response to climate change. When the forces of Mother Earth manifest, our perilous, fragile status here is ruthlessly exposed, as in Japan on 11 March 2011. Climate change is no less a force........we need to act and now!

MrSav

Restor (Africa)

Electricity Prices and Renewable Energy Technologies

Tue, Apr 5 2011 02:53 AM | Permalink

The significant increase in electricity tariffs is old news, but households seem ill-informed about what they can do to offset the significant impacts on household budgets. One obvious step is to install a solar water heater, which, depending on the hot water demand characteristics in the house, and various installation variables, should have paid for itself within 5 years. It's a no-brainer!

On another matter, Alstom have increased their investment in BrightSource Energy by $75-million. This will make Alstom a major player in the solar thermal power plant market. What it also confirms is the move of the big players into the renewable energy market – if it makes business sense for them, why are so many households still undecided about the change?

TheSav

Restor (Africa)

Eskom's 49M Energy Saving Campaign

Sun, Mar 20 2011 03:45 AM | Permalink

Eskom and its partners have launched the nation-wide '49M' energy-saving campaign aimed at reducing national power consumption and South Africa's carbon footprint.

Essentially part of the Demand Reduction strategy which Eskom has been running with for some years, this will hopefully mobilise the conscience of householders, business owners. farmers, etc., as well as big industry (yes, all 49 million of us!). As every drop counts in water management, so does every kilowatt hour in energy management. Why not start the process with a solar water heater?

While on the subject of new initiatives, Cabinet's IRP2010 electricity plan presents the capacity taregts for new renewable, nuclear, coal, hydro and gas projects up to 2030. The good news for the solar industry is the target for renewable sources of 42% (17,000 MW) of the new generation capacity. As solar water heaters off-set electricity demands from the grid, we're a small, but important part of that target! Hopefully some of the capital required for the new generating plants will be set aside for subsidies of solar water heaters.

TheSav

Restor (Africa)

Power outages in South Africa

Fri, Mar 18 2011 04:09 PM | Permalink

Engineering News reports that the second phase of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Centre for Transportation and Logistics Global Risk Survey has found that the risk of extended power loss was five times higher in South Africa than the global average. Surely the economic cost of this risk (and the outages when they happen) should be factored into the incentives for solar water heaters, given that every 3 to 4 houses with a solar water heater takes the equivalent of one house off the grid (in reference to daily power consumption)?

SavMan

Restor (Africa)