The eThekwini Energy Office and the Imagine Durban project jointly hosted a renewable energy seminar on 26th May 2010.  The seminar provided an opportunity for local stakeholders to hear presentations on a range of projects being initiated by the Energy Office such as the LED Street Lights project and wind mapping research.  The energy office presentations were followed by an overview of the work being down by the UKZN Sustainable Energy Research Group.   The power points of the various presentations are available for download at the end of this article.  

After the presentations the participants agreed to form a forum that could meet on a regular basis and provide an opportunity for others present on their renewable energy research and implementation projects.  The Energy Office and Imagine Durban agreed to develop a draft terms of reference that could be debated at the next meeting of the forum.

• Click here to download the presentations ...

Europe could switch to low carbon sources of electricity, with up to 100% coming from renewables by 2050, without risking energy reliability or pushing up energy bills, according to a major new study, Roadmap 2050: a practical guide to a prosperous, low-carbon Europe, developed by the European Climate Foundation (ECF) with contributions from McKinsey, KEMA, Imperial College London and Oxford Economics. It says that a transition to a low- or zero-carbon power supply based on high levels of renewable energy would have no impact on reliability, and would have little overall impact on the cost of generating electricity.

Matt Phillips, a senior associate with the ECF, said: “When the Roadmap 2050 project began it was assumed that high-renewable energy scenarios would be too unstable to provide sufficient reliability, that high-renewable scenarios would be uneconomic and more costly, and that technology breakthroughs would be required to move Europe to a zero-carbon power sector. Roadmap 2050 has found all of these assertions to be untrue.” (As quoted by BusinessGreen.com).

ECF claimed that the widely held assumption that renewable energy is always more costly than fossil fuels is increasingly outdated, arguing that while the initial capital investment needed for low carbon energy infrastructure is more than for conventional high carbon system, the long term operating costs for low carbon energy will be lower. As a result of this, the reduction in use of increasingly expensive fuels and the gradual adoption of more efficient energy generation and using systems, it says that, although initially the GDP might be depressed very slightly, from 2020 it would rise and in the 2030 to 2050 period, the cost of energy per unit of GDP output could be about 20 to 30% lower.

Read the full article on Environmental Research Web.

As the 2010 World Cup soccer fever grips South Africa, the Durban Tourism Unit has created a huge brand marketing presence to showcase its products and attractions during the event as a strategy to attract and increase the percentage of visitors, both foreign and domestic, to the City.  The strategy also involves showcasing previously disadvantaged areas and increasing the spread of visitors and tourism benefits to previously disadvantaged areas.

To ensure that positive benefits are achieved and negative impacts are avoided, the Durban Tourism Unit has embarked on Community Tourism Awareness programme to promote tourism culture and inculcate responsible tourism in communities.