Tag Archives: Africa

Green Lighting

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Efficient, eco-friendly LED technology – the future of green lighting

Improving energy efficiency and reducing consumption is a growing concern in South Africa, driven not only by dramatically increased utility costs but also by a global trend towards environmental consciousness.

(credit Fred Mitchell, LED Product Specialist at Drive Control Corporation (image: DCC))

Lighting is one area that consumes a large amount of electricity, and since compact fluorescent light bulbs have become increasingly popular because they offer improved energy efficiency. However, due to environmental concerns around these lamps, Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps are beginning to come to the fore as the most eco-friendly, energy efficient solution for lighting.

Lighting is undeniably an area for improvement when it comes to optimising energy consumption, as up to 50% of industrial and 25% of home power usage can be attributed to this. As a result, one of the easiest ways to lessen energy consumption and reduce carbon footprints both in homes and commercial spaces is to switch out standard light bulbs for more efficient, lower consumption lamps.

Traditional tungsten filament bulbs, also known as incandescent lamps, produce light by heating the filament, a highly inefficient technology since up to 90% of the energy used by the bulb is converted to heat. Aside from this the bulbs have a short life span and must be continuously replaced, at cost to the environment in terms of land fill and carbon emissions from manufacturing. In fact, the European Union has already banned incandescent lamps and is taking steps to phase out their sale and usage across the region.

Compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs have been touted as a replacement for tungsten filament; however they are far from ideal. While it is true that CFLs are far more efficient, using less than a quarter of the power to run, and can last up to ten times longer than filament bulbs, they also contain mercury, a toxic substance that is harmful to people, animals and the earth. This mercury is essential to CFL technology, and although only a small amount is used in each bulb there is still reason for concern.

While the mercury is contained within the glass, there is no risk. However light bulbs are easy to break, and once these are broken the mercury vapour is released into the environment. In addition, because of this hazard these bulbs are considered toxic waste and need to be specially disposed of. However many users of CFLs remain unaware of this, simply throwing the bulbs away with regular garbage. This garbage ends up on landfills, where the mercury has a cumulative effect, polluting the earth, the air and potentially the water, exposing people to this harmful gas.

CFL bulbs may be energy efficient, but they are not environmentally friendly. On the other hand, new technology in the form of LED lamps that can directly replace both incandescent and CFL bulbs is both highly efficient and environmentally friendly.

LEDs are diodes that convert energy directly into light through the movement of electrons in the semi-conductor material. This means that they lose far less energy to heat than other light technologies – they are up to 85% more efficient than filament bulbs, and even around 5% more efficient than CFLs. They do not produce a significant amount of heat, so cooling requirements in lighting intensive environments are reduce, and they contain no poisonous gasses, so are eco-friendly.

Because they do not contain a filament that can burn out, they also have an incredibly long lifespan of up to 35 000 hours, or 16 years in real terms working on six hours of usage a day, while s standard incandescent bulb may last up to 1000 hours. Over the course of 16 years, the succession of standard bulbs would have consumed 1400 kilowatt hours, compared to just 350 for the LED bulb, translating into far higher energy costs. The cost of 35 standard light bulbs over the years also far outweighs the higher cost of the LED bulb, and the carbon emissions produced from one LED bulb are just 175kg over its lifespan, compared to 700kg produced by 35 incandescent bulbs

Aside from this, once they do eventually reach end of life, LED lamps can be easily recycled along with ordinary glass, and if they end up in landfills they will not cause lasting environmental damage due to toxic chemicals. Improvements to the technology also mean that the white light emitted by LEDs can be produced in warm, cool and neutral tones to adapt lighting scenarios as needed.

For both consumers and business, in light of an increasingly eco-conscious planet and the need to optimise energy consumption, LED lamps offer the best of both worlds, delivering superior energy efficiency, incredible lifespans and an environmentally friendly lighting technology.

Africa’s greenest cities

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African Green Cities Index rates Accra high

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Maxwell Awumah, GNA Special Correspondent, Durban, South Africa (Courtesy Siemens Africa)

Durban, Dec. 6, GNA- Accra city has a strong position on good governance and environmental performance as well as structures to work with the national government in implementing policies.

This makes it the only sub-Saharan city that placed above-average in the category of the African Green Cities Index.

This was the conclusion of the African Green City Index, a unique study commissioned by Siemens and conducted by the independent research organization, Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Siemens is a global powerhouse in electronics and electrical engineering, operating in the industry, energy and health care sectors.

Cities from the North and the South of Africa deliver the best environmental performance of all major African cities.

During the past months, the EIU analysed the aims and achievements of 15 major cities in 11 African countries with respect to environmental performance and policies.

Accra, Ghana, as well as Casablanca and Tunis from the North and Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg from the South ranked above average in the overall city index results.

Those in the average band are Addis Ababa, Alexandria, Cairo, Lagos and Pretoria.

Luanda and Nairobi fell in the below average category with Dar es Salaam and Maputo making it into the well below average group.

The goal of the African Green City Index is to provide insights into the strengths and weaknesses of each city and start a dialogue about best practices in the area of green policies and infrastructures.

“With the Environmental Portfolio and the new Sector ‘Infrastructure & Cities’, Siemens is in the best position to support urban areas in Africa with green infrastructures,” said SiegmarProebstl, Chief Executive Officer of Siemens Africa.

Delia Meth-Cohn, Editorial Director in-charge of continental Europe, Middle East and Africa noted that no city made the “well above average” indicating more work in the environmental and urbanisation footprints.

Edna Molewa, South African Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs said grassroots participation in the local governance structure by the people would engender innovation, inclusiveness towards saving tomorrow today.

The African Green City Index examines, for the first time, the environmental performance of African cities in eight categories: energy and CO2, land use, transport, waste, water, sanitation, air quality and environmental governance.

Whereas North African cities are strong in connecting residents to basic infrastructures like water and electricity Southern African cities scored high on governance and implementing policies.

In contrast, all sub-Saharan cities, except South African cities and Accra, struggled in the Index.

Their immediate focus on providing basic services tends to prevent a focal point on long-term sustainability.

However, experts agree that sustainable development policies at city level are far from being a ‘nice-to-have option’, but must go hand-in-hand with solutions to the continent’s social and economic problems.

Africa is the fifth region to be analysed for Siemens by the EIU, which began in 2009 and identified Copenhagen (Denmark) as the greenest metropolis in European Green City Index, followed by Curitiba (Brazil) coming tops in 2010 for Latin American Index with Singapore as well as San Francisco being published as Asian and the United States and Canada Green City index for this year.

Africa’s greenest building

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Vodacom unveils Africa’s greenest building

Vodacom today unveiled the completed Vodafone Site Solutions Innovation Centre, the first ever 6-star Green Star SA rated building in South Africa, at its head office in Midrand. The Green Building Council of South Africa rating validates the centre as the greenest building in Africa.

Speaking at the official launch of the building, Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys highlighted the opportunity for companies to use their own sector technology and expertise to find solutions to meet critical social, environmental and governance challenges.

The centre is a carbon neutral building that will house a team of 12 experts who will look at technological ways to reduce the company’s carbon footprint across the globe as well as reduce the cost of rolling out and maintaining cellular networks.

The concept started with an idea to create a centre to speed up the development of Vodafone’s sustainability goals to meet the group’s target of reducing global CO2 emissions by 50% by 2020, and to achieve a 20% carbon intensity reduction target for emerging markets by March 2015.

Vodafone chose to create this Innovation Centre in South Africa because it is, in many respects, both an emerging and developed economy. This particular location would help the group achieve its targets in a more consolidated and focused manner.

“Our objectives really address two core strategic deliverables; one being our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint and the other to reduce operational costs while increasing enterprise value across the company. We firmly believe that the Vodafone Site Solutions Innovation Centre will drive the delivery of these objectives, not only for Vodacom in South Africa, but also for the broader global group,” says Uys.

What makes this building so environmentally ahead of the curve are the following elements:

Recycling: Wherever possible, demolition material from the site has been reused or recycled.

Structure of building: The project reduced the amount of concrete used in the foundations and sub structure by 34%.

Energy efficiency: Usage of the Solyndra photovoltaic panels reduced the wind load, absolute weight and ultimately the total amount of wood and structural material required for the roof.

Water efficiency: Efficient water fixtures and fittings have been installed resulting in significant savings in water consumption.

Indoor environmental quality: The mechanical air conditioning, heating and ventilation system is designed to deliver 2 500 litres/second of fresh air to the office during normal operations, and 1 250 litres/second of fresh air in heating mode.

Emissions: The chiller uses Lithium Bromide as the refrigerant which has both a zero Ozone Depleting Potential (ODP) and a zero Greenhouse Warming Potential. All thermal insulants have an Ozone Depleting Potential (ODP) of zero.

As a proof point of its commitment to developing sustainable technology that remains at the forefront of the mobile industry, Vodafone and its local partner Vodacom, have already started making some significant inroads.

In November last year, they developed an environmentally focused hybrid cell tower that uses a combination of solar, wind and fuel cell technology. This cell tower was used to connect delegates at COP17 in Durban late last year.

A community power programme was also launched that showed how mobile operators can bridge the energy divide in communities without power, by oversupplying base stations in that area with renewable energy which can be diverted to critical points within the community.

The community power initiative could become a game changer for rural areas that have no access to power. As power is being supplied to the community high school, it also increases the quality of education in an area.

Both projects are a good example of how a sustainable approach can reduce both environmental impact and operational costs while increasing the tangible and intangible value of a company.