Efficient energy now a necessity for success in the city

Durban - Sustainable energy interventions, such as solar power, efficient public transport networks and building regulations, could reduce South Africa's carbon dioxide emissions by up to 864 million tons over the next 20 years.

To achieve this goal, local governments need to be at the forefront of promoting the efficient use of energy, through awareness campaigns, conversion to solar water heaters and energy efficient building regulations.

This is the view of The State of Energy in South African Cities 2006: a review conducted between April 2005 and September 2006, funded by Sustainable Energy Africa, Danida, the Wallace Global Fund and the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership. The report was released yesterday.

"Huge carbon dioxide savings can be realised from sustainable energy interventions in South African cities (of) between 119 million and 864 million tons in the next 20 years," says the report. "Carbon dioxide reduction targets of between 15 and 20 percent over 20 years appear to be manageable for cities through efficiency and renewable interventions."

Carbon dioxide emissions from the 15 cities reviewed totalled 156 million tons in 2004, according to the report. This does not include emissions from the manufacture of liquid fuels from coal and natural gas, which would increase the total by two or three times.

The average carbon dioxide emission per person in South Africa's six big cities is 6.5 tons - higher than the global norm but below European and North American averages.

The per capita emission in 2004 for Saldanha Bay in the Western Cape was as high as 49 tons; in uMhlatuze in KwaZulu-Natal, it was about 47 tons.

But these figures do not give an entirely comprehensive picture of carbon emissions, since these areas have much smaller populations than, say, Johannesburg, where emission levels average to about 6.5 tons per person.

Nevertheless uMhlatuze, which is home to some of the country's largest industries, such as BHP Billiton's aluminium smelters, is aware of the challenges it faces.

Tonie Heyneke, the chief executive of the city of uMhlatuze, said yesterday: "We are looking at the environmental impact of further industries.

"If we want to expand, existing industries will have to cut emissions."

But cutting emissions is not just about cleaning up dirty industry. Transport accounts for 56 percent of urban energy consumption.

The report acknowledges that shifting residents from private vehicles to public transport will require substantial investment, but it notes that a city's fleet of trucks or buses can be made more fuel efficient.

The 15 cities in the study - including Cape Town, Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and eThekwini - account for 40 percent of national energy consumption and 60 percent of gross domestic product.

Despite their wealth, they are also home to many who live in poverty. The report says that 16 percent of residents in these cities do not have access to energy that is safe, clean, affordable and reliable.

In fact, their health is compromised by poorly heated homes and by burning wood, coal or paraffin indoors. These fuels are also dangerous.

The energy consumption of South African cities "tends to be unsustainably high for a small minority and unsustainably low for the vast majority", the report says. It adds that reliable, sustainable energy must be extended to all residents so they can participate in the economy.

The risks of relying on a centralised power system have already become evident from the recent power cuts countrywide, and Eskom's warnings that more cuts might follow due to its capacity constraints.

These problems are only likely to be alleviated from about 2010, when extra capacity is added to the system.

Local authorities are beginning to play a role in energy efficiency. The eThekwini municipality has fitted about 1 million energy efficient, compact fluorescent lamps into its low-cost houses.

Sandile Maphumulo, the head of electricity at the eThekwini municipality, said: "We realised some time ago the need for energy efficiency. We are setting up a team which will look at energy efficiency."

The municipality has also launched a project to convert methane gas from landfills to electricity. The city of uMhlatuze has commissioned the University of Zululand to submit an energy sector plan by June, covering all aspects of energy and how it is consumed.

The City of Cape Town has signed a 20-year agreement to source wind power from a project in Darling. Brian Jones, the manager of green energy at electricity services in the City of Cape Town, said: "It is a small amount of electricity, but it is a start."

One option for cities is solar power - an expensive route compared with the cheap coal-fired electricity South Africans are used to.

But Jones said the City of Cape Town was planning to introduce a bylaw that all new buildings must be fitted with solar water heaters. The cost could be between R6 000 and R20 000, depending on the heater's size. Each heater would have an electric backup.

Mike Sutcliffe, eThekwini's city manager, said such a move would require an assessment on whether the appropriate technology was available and affordable. He added that eThekwini had already introduced energy efficiency in its municipal buildings.

The report says it will take more work to see how far cities are going in using long-term energy management as a foundation for economic development. "The evidence suggests that efforts by South African cities to diversify energy usage and energy sources in their infancy," it says.

But if cities do not play such an active role in managing both energy supply and use, then their own economies are unlikely to succeed, it says.