New vision needed for conservation

A friend of mine, Mark Halle, argues that the world of conservation is going nowhere and that a new vision is needed to take it out of its maelstrom. I agree and often solutions are not found in... 

Political entrepreneurship in the energy sector

The expediency for rent-seeking that comes with large capital infrastructure projects is always lurking behind the scenes. The extent to which long fingers can grab as much as possible is largely... 

What can we tell of Eskom’s future from the Denton report?

The debate on the independent power producer (IPP) programme can serve as a useful distraction, and power utility Eskom is exploiting it to the full. The problem is not the IPPs, and they never... 

Going beyond the Limits to Growth debate

The Limits to Growth (LTG) thesis was developed in the 1970s by a group of experts collectively called the Club of Rome. They used a computer (at that time, they did not have sufficient data or the... 

Why the future need not be so bleak

Sometimes environmental dystopia can obscure progress. As the global climate negotiation process moves along, it is interesting to see how the climate change and fossil fuel debate is beginning to... 

Climate change in the Donald Trump era

Donald Trump's Presidency will, no doubt, have a significant impact on the progress on collective action on the climate change front. The US President-elect has promised to rip apart any semblance... 

Decolonisation of science – what is it?

A group of University of Cape Town students organised a panel discussion on the decolonisation of science, which is also another way of saying that science should be Africanised. The YouTube... 

Why technological transitions happen

Sustainability theorists have generally provided broad and abstract descriptors of technoeconomic transitions, as they are focused on drivers that shift the adoption of new technologies, displacing... 

The future is bright for renewables

It is hard for people to appreciate the history of renewables if they were not there from the beginning. Renewables started way before the large roll-out we have seen since 2012. Back then, it was... 

Can Europe survive without Britain?

The European project has been long in the making, starting with the formation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), which involved France, Germany, England and others and formally came... 

What next for environmentalism?

This question – What's next for environmentalism? – arose from a reflection piece (which is available on the WWF-SA website) that I wrote for the Ecomodernist Manifesto (EM), which was launched in... 

Realities of modern energy planning

Energy technologies involve two realities that influence the way we do our planning: certainty and uncertainty. There is certainty in tried and tested stuff, and this relates to our experience and... 

We need to create a twenty-first century economy

We are in an interrugnam, as Marxists would say. We are stuck in a nineteenth- or twentieth-century-type economic model that sits in the way of doing things in South Africa and contrasts with a... 

Reconceiving South Africa’s water challenge

There is water and there is no water. A physical resource may be abundant but it is scarce – through waste, poor pricing, inefficient allocation or the inability of human systems to keep up with... 

Time for tough decisions as rand weakness persists

Many years back, the rand plummeted, reaching its lowest level against the dollar – close to R25 to the US currency. This was around 2001 and  prompted the then President Thabo Mbeki to launch a... 

What now after COP 21?

The year 2015 will go down in history as the hottest on record. Bizarre weather continues to play itself out in front of our eyes. In the US, intense tornadoes, snow storms in Texas and floods in... 

Carbon tax – be careful of future trade measures

The National Treasury has released a draft Carbon Tax Bill and has invited interested parties to submit comments by the middle of this month. There are design and implementation issues with the... 

The hybrid generation system is here to stay

Schumpeter once wrote: "There is certainly no point in trying to conserve obsolescent industries indefinitely; but there is a point in trying to avoid their coming down with a crash and in... 

COP 21 and South Africa’s position

South Africa is fourteenth out of the 20 or so worst emitters of greenhouse gases. Today or historically, we account for between 1% and 2% of global emissions. Even though this may be considered... 

The capable State and inclusive economic growth

The African National Congress's (ANC's)  National General Council (NGC) discussion document was released a few weeks ago and makes for an interesting read. This article will focus on the economic... 

Carbon tax – some pragmatism is needed

The furore over the carbon tax that is playing itself out in public and behind closed doors is leading to an impasse. From the submissions made to the Davis Commission (which is reviewing the... 

International climate change bargaining disappointing

Scientific persuasion could not be more compelling than the growing evidence that climate change and variability pose the greatest threat to humanity. But whether collective political action will... 

Delinking from the minerals sector

Minerals and energy resources will continue to play an important role in South Africa’s economy. It is what South Africa does that will determine its future. While we have substantial minerals... 

We should stop building big power plants. Period!

The current crisis at at power utility Eskom is a result of policy decisions made during and after apartheid. Faulty energy paradigms, political interference and a corporatist mentality have... 

Engel’s Curve and the pollution question

Pollution remains one of the challenging issues for many emerging economies. They want growth and development before worrying about dealing with the long-term externality problems. There are... 

New approach to mining needed

There is a need for a more holistic view of mining than the current compliance mode of governance. By holistic, one means working on the full virtuous cycle in which depleting valuable resources... 

Renewables-related job creation

Most jobs in renewables are created during installation. This is not different from constructing a soccer stadium or building the next Carlton Centrehere there are foundations to be laid, cement... 

What to do about the South African economy

Improving the performance of, and labour participation in, the primary sectors of the South African and the manufacturing sector should be priority. We have had massive job losses in the mining... 

Denmark’s green technology export thrust

I was invited by the Danish Embassy in South Africa to undertake a study tour of the Nordic country with fellow South Africans. There were 12 of us from both the public sector and the private... 

South Africa in the Brics – opportunity or a lost cause?

The Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (Brics) meeting held in Fortaleza, Brazil, in July, ended with the establishment of the Brics bank, called the New Development Bank, raising not... 

Future urban centres and role of innovative city planning for energy systems

After a long process of consultation, the Integrated Urban Development Framework (IDUF) has been released for further discussion and debate. The IDUF is a slim document but contains numerous ideas... 

Living wages, living allowances and the platinum strike

Debates on living wages or minimum wages are not unique to South Africa. You will find similar debates in France, the UK and the US following a recession and growing household debt in these... 

Electricity generation and future prices

Living with an electricity monopoly mandated to provide basic services is always a double-edged sword. If it is well run and efficient, it can be a boon for consumers and the public in general. If... 

Four reasons why nuclear is dead beat

I attended a recent Academy of Science of South Africa (Assaf) conference on nuclear power in Pretoria.  It brought to fore the mountain of justification – moral, financial and technical – the... 

What should we make of the economics of US shale gas industry?

There is heightened activity on the shale-gas front. Government is pushing ahead with hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and the Department of Environmental Affairs recently completed a life-cycle... 

The impact of energy prices on food inflation

On the surface, the relation between high electricity and oil prices and food inflation can be perceived as linear rather than dynamic. There is a relation but it is more complicated. Here are few... 

The good and the bad in the latest IRP

The latest version of the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) has some interesting changes, which could have far-reaching consequences for South Africa’s electricity mix. This IRP is a vast improvement... 

Electricity price hikes and their impact on mining

The recent rise in electricity prices is eating away at everybody’s pockets. While energy-intensive users are the largest consumers of electricity, in terms of total share, they receive prices at... 

Enviro externalities and how to deal with them

All environmental externalities emanate from the economy and they also reflect the evolution and moment at which societal values are. In reality, as people’s income and levels of education grow, so... 

Time is ripe for large-scale solar photovoltaic

While the cost of electricity steadily rises and the demand for energy increases, South Africa, a country boasting abundant sunlight, continues to dig deep for high-quality coal to power the...