Water and Environmental Affairs Deputy Minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi has launched a R25-million clean development mechanism (CDM) project in Cape Town, aimed at job creation and training, as well as energy efficiency adaptation.

The Kuyasa project – the first of its kind in South Africa – aimed to reduce fossil fuel based consumption, and hence carbon-dioxide emissions through three interventions in low-income housing units. These interventions would include the installation of solar energy heaters, the retrofitting of compact fluorescent light bulbs, and the introduction of ceiling insulation.

More than 2 000 homes would directly benefit from this initiative.

Mabudafhasi stated that the energy savings of the project allows it to be registered as a CDM under the Kyoto Protocol. This meant it gained carbon credits.

The Department of Environmental Affairs (DoEA) noted that as part of the business plan, income generated from the CDM’s carbon emission reduction certificates allowed for the creation of a nonprofit trust for the maintenance of the solar water heaters. This created more employment opportunities in the long-term.

The success of this project was likely to lead to the retrofitting of the country’s other two-million low-cost homes and further promote energy saving, emissions reductions and the local manufacture of solar heaters.

“We simply cannot afford not to roll-out energy efficiency intervention in the low-income housing sector. Currently, an estimated three-million households make use of firewood to meet their basic energy requirements. There is huge potential to increase the contribution of renewable energy to the total energy mix. This can only contribute to improving the lives of all the people.”