Best Policy Practices

Best Policy Practices
Retrofit of the Parow Municipal Building
City of Cape Town, South Africa
A city leading by example, demonstrating
how to save energy and lower the energy
bill with simple measures.
Problem statement: The City of Cape Town itself is a large
user of energy through various energy intensive activities and
a great number of municipal buildings and facilities. Energy
consumption of municipal owned buildings is estimated to
account for 16% of the total greenhouse gas emissions of the
municipality as a whole.
The city employs over 20 000 municipal staff. It can significantly
influence the on-the-job behaviour of energy users by
supporting the staff working in the buildings and facilities and
promoting their active involvement in contributing proactively
towards improving the energy efficiency of the municipality.
This will have positive implications further down the line, for
example, in their communities and private homes.
Main objectives: Implementation of a public sector-led demonstration
project to encourage the shift towards more efficient
and sustainable energy use in buildings and the positive
benefits thereof.
The intervention: The retrofit of the Parow Municipal Building
(which previously housed the city’s environmental department)
showcases the positive human, environmental and economic
benefits of energy efficiency in buildings. The intervention
involved:
• Replacing existing incandescent lightbulbs with the
installation of 600 energy efficient compact fluorescent
lightbulbs (CFLs)
• The installation of solar water heaters
• Staff awareness campaigns to encourage cooperation and
participation, and to ensure human actions and behaviour
that contribute improving energy efficiency and conservation.
• Initiating behaviour-changing programmes to improve
personnel use of air conditioners, lights and computers
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