South African Business 2018 edition

SPECIAL FEATURE
committed investments into mostly solar and wind
power. The programme stalled when energy utility
Eskom baulked at paying for power it said it didn’t
need but the programme will restart in late 2017.
Nobody does renewable energy more enthusiastically
than Denmark and South Africa has entered
into multiple agreements with the northern European
country. Denmark is the world leader in wind power
and a trend-setter in energy-efficiency building codes.
According to the Danish Energy Association, the
best instruments to achieve energy efficiency are
building standards, equipment standards, obligation
schemes for energy utilities, energy audits and tax
rebates, and taxation. Architects and builders often
get ahead of targets: in 2013, 30% of all new floorspace
in Denmark was built to 2015 standards. In terms of
energy per square metre, if the country continues to
meet its targets, it will soon be at 6% of the norm in the
1970s. When a Danish building is finished, an energy
audit is done before it can be used.
The Energy Efficiency Directorate in the South
African Department of Energy aims to optimise the
energy sector through efficient use, production and
consumption of energy resources. A Draft National
Energy Efficiency Strategy was published in December
2016.
Among the directorate’s collaborations is one with
Danish Energy Management and the International
Energy Agency (IEA). An advisor from the Danish
Energy Association has been seconded to South Africa
as part of an inter-governmental energy partnership.
The Danes have created an export industry out of
their expertise in energy: in 2015 it was worth about
R140-billion and they want to expand it to “at least”
R280-billion by 2030.
GreenCape’s report on South Africa’s waste market
includes some references to broader economic opportunities
in the sustainable economy. Some examples:
Agriculture: solar-powered irrigation (SA market,
R2.9-billion)
Energy services: energy efficiency retrofitting; solar
PV systems; local manufacturing
Utility-scale renewable energy: independent power
production; rest of Africa; local manufacturing
Waste: private-public partnerships, construction
and demolition waste; growing reuse and
recycle market
Secondary materials: growing market for plastics,
metals and e-waste
Water: industrial water reuse; recycling and
resource recovery
Food value retention: better cold chain management
and waste reduction; solar thermal (in agri-processing,
the SA market potential is R3.7-billion); biogas.
TRANSITIONING INDUSTRY TO
A LOW CARBON ECONOMY
The Century City
Conference Centre in Cape
Town was host to more
than 400 delegates from
industry, business and
government who gathered
in September 2017 to discuss how to make
industry and commerce cleaner, greener and
more resource efficient.
The biennial Industrial Efficiency Conference
of the National Cleaner Production Centre
South Africa (NCPC-SA) had as its theme,
“Transitioning industry to a low carbon economy”
and offered workshops, presentations
and panel discussions on a range of resource
efficient and cleaner production (RECP)
methodologies.
The two-day programme offered information
on better use of energy, water, materials and
waste, as well as analysis of legislation and
policy that may affect business operations.
The presentation of successful case studies
formed an integral part of the conference.
The NCPC-SA is a national programme, funded
by the National Department of Trade and
Industry and hosted by the Council for Scientific
and Industrial Research (CSIR). It exists to support
industrial companies to reduce their environmental
impact through the use of RECP.
The biennial conference is offered as one
of these support mechanisms, which is why
there is no cost for attendance. Both days included
a non-commercial exhibition, allowing
delegates to interact with government and
industry programmes that may be of assistance.
SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2018
32