Physical infrastructure is required for health and security. Physical infrastructure also plays a significant role in development and economic growth. It may be seen as the foundation on which the expansion of agricultural production and subsequently industrial production takes place. Both of these are required to generate sustainable economic growth to support social welfare. This thesis examines methods of enabling low-income households and communities in low-income ('developing') countries to benefit from physical infrastructure.

The need to satisfy the increasing global demand for textile and clothing material due to population growth and changes in fashion trends have led to the manufacturing of short life span textiles. Current fabrics such as cotton and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) all have deep environmental impacts. This study examines Polylactic acid (PLA) fabric derived from corn as a contending replacement for cotton and polyethylene terephthalate. The use phase has been identified as the dominant contributor to environmental impacts and consequently this research has focused on how the laundry regime (wash performance) affects the life expectancy and the mechanical properties of PLA, PET and Cotton. This study excludes daily wear, dirt and stains. By testing the constituent fabrics after each laundry regime, the results showed a more significant level of impact on cotton than PLA fabric in different laundry treatments with or without softener. There was no effect on PET. The load-extension behaviour showed that PLA and cotton withstood ten laundry cycles before showing any significant signs of damage; however, PET fabric retained its load-extension behaviour beyond 50 laundry cycles. From a practical standpoint, the result of this study suggests that tumble-drying should be avoided; however, the use of softeners during the laundry and air-drying seems to provide stability for PLA and PET fabrics. The influence on the cotton fabric was more from the drying process than the use or absence of softener, buttressing the fact that tumble-drying should be avoided if possible. The life expectancy of PLA fabric showed a lower lifetime (35 washes/lifecycle) compared to PET and cotton (42 and 43 washes/lifecycle respectively). With these results, a comparative lifecycle assessment was conducted during the life expectancy and after a typical school t-shirt use of 75 laundry regimes, PLA offered environmental benefits compared to PET and Cotton. The result also revealed that the environmental impact of cotton decreased by 2%, PET decreased by about 1.2% while PLA increased by 3% when the laundry lifetime was increased to 75 wash cycles. The results obtained in this study showed that enhancing the fabric to increase its laundry lifetime does not automatically lessen the environmental impacts. Nevertheless, it has proven that even a small rise in the lifetime of PLA fabric can make it comparable and competitive with PET and cotton. In addition, the similarities in properties with PET makes PLA a valuable substitute, with a sustainable low environmental burden. In comparison to cotton (Energy Demand 36.5%, Water Consumption 53%, and Global warming potential Contribution 43%), PLA (Energy Demand 28.5%, Water Consumption 21% and Global warming potential Contribution 22%), demonstrates a better alternative in all aspects and is recommended as a suitable replacement due to its potentially low water and energy use, and CO2 emission.

The aim of this study was to describe the status quo of the sustainability of the Bontle ke Botho environmental projects and programmes in Gauteng Province. The research focuses on the selected wards from Mogale City Local Municipality (MCLM), in order to provide guidelines for provision of resources and support for beautification of the environment and community development. This research was conducted using questionnaires, interviews and observations. The questionnaires were distributed to the selected wards in Mogale City Local Municipality (MCLM) through the Parks Section in the municipality; the interviews were also conducted with selected wards; and observations were also carried out in these wards. Most of the respondents were engaged in the community development workers, ward committee services, womens’ groups and community based environmental projects. The findings revealed that respondents need a variety of resources for sustaining the environmental projects and programmes existing within their wards. A further finding was that respondents need continuing support from the provincial department and local municipality in order to sustain these environmental projects and programmes. The recommendations are that the provincial department and the local municipality need to become part of the environmental forums within the community level, and should not only involve the communities during their campaigns. The community also needs to be made aware of the large number of services and resources that are available from the provincial department and local municipality. It is also suggested that the provincial and local coordinators should assist the community in the development of the environmental management plans that will allow them to manage and co-ordinate a wide variety of environmental projects and programmes and access the necessary external funding for these projects and programmes. / Prof. H.G van Rooyen

The academic research into Project Finance lags far behind the practice of it. Project Finance, with limited or non recourse debt as its defining characteristic, has been growing tremendously since 2001 and is set to grow even further. This is due to the massive spend in infrastructure both globally and in South Africa, the need for private sector involvement and the limited capacity of corporations‟ balance sheets to fund such projects. Given this setting, this research aims to act as a catalyst for the development of a theoretical foundation of Project Finance in South Africa and to encourage further research. There were two phases to the research. The first phase consisted of an analysis of twenty two case studies on international projects that have used Project Finance, with the aim of extracting theories, principles and lessons that can be used to form a theory base. The second phase consisted of sixteen interviews with South African Project Finance industry experts, based on the theory from phase one, with the aim of exploring the current state of South African Project Finance. The first phase resulted in a broad description of the theory of Project Finance that can be used as an introduction to Project Finance or as a base for further research. The second phase produced a portrayal of South African Project Finance as it relates to the theory with specific recommendations for further research into Project Finance in South Africa. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The intent of this thesis is to conduct an empirical study of social capital in a single resource dependent fishing community, Petty Harbour, Newfoundland. The community under study, Petty Harbour, has a 335 year attachment to what was its primary fishery, Northern cod (Gadus morhua). This ended in 1992 when the Canadian government implemented an indefinite moratorium on Northern cod. Historically the community has exhibited high levels of activism aimed for the most part at protectionism of its primary economic mainstay, the fishery. Social capital by definition implies available resources embedded in social structures such as informal networks that can be accessed and mobilized by individuals or groups for either personal or communal gain (Coleman, 1988; Putnam, 2000; Krishna, 2002; Onyx, 2005). High levels of social capital can lead to collective activism, which according to some, is the single most important contributing factor to sustainability because without activism, an outcome of social capital, there maybe no hope for recovery and sustainability. My hypothesis is that the extent to which one is socially connected through network ties to close friends and/or family (structural social capital) and the level of trust in neighbors (cognitive social capital) will positively correlate with their involvement with activism. Leadership and sense of ownership are introduced as additional independent variables to further explore explanations for the community's level of collective activism and stewardship of the resource. Treating activism as a dependent variable, I am going to examine social capital indicators, suggesting network ties (weak, strong) as independent variables that can partially explain the historically high level of activism. I am also going to propose that the independent variables leadership and sense of ownership will also positively correlate with activism. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

This research project aims to assess development projects in the energy sector with its focus on the shale gas exploration in the Karoo. The assessment is based on a critical analysis of the concepts and principles of sustainability, complexity and the National Environmental Management Act, using a critical hermeneutics methodology to develop an assessment criterion. Critical hermeneutics is the science and art of interpreting texts, challenging the status quo, its influences and assumptions. Hermeneutics is the reaction to enlightenment fundamentalism, which is an over-reliance on rationality and the scientific method as a primary means of obtaining truth. Hence this research has adopted a triangulation of ideas and concepts derived from sustainability and complexity to find the truth about the sustainability of development projects (Cilliers, 1998; Deleuze & Guattari, 1994; Byrne, 1998). The Central Karoo is situated in the North Eastern part of the Western Province. It is characterised by dry, arid conditions with highly environmentally sensitive land. Central Karoo has the smallest concentration of people in the Western Cape (Van Vuuren, 2008). This research project offers an assessment that will help governments determine the feasibility of energy sector projects since it discusses the impact of exploration for shale gas in the Karoo and explains the process, recommendations and the environmental legislature required for any project to take place in South Africa. Further, it highlights the environmental damage caused by the shale gas exploration as well as the positive economic impact that it could have on the country. For this research, hermeneutics has offered a framework rather than a system; it is a research philosophy that places human experience at the forefront as it honours a variety of interpretations.

Sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia), is a traditional forage legume whose agricultural use has been in constant decrease in Western Europe since the 1960's. However, growing evidence suggests that it may be of great interest in the context of sustainable agriculture, thanks to numerous beneficial properties (nutritional, environmental and anthelmintic). In the frame of a large project network, an extensive O. viciifolia (and other Onobrychis species) germplasm has been gathered and several accessions were grown in small plots on an experimental field at NIAB, Cambridge. Measurements of morphological and agronomical traits were performed on these plots. Cytological and molecular genetics studies were also carried on the germplasm.Accessions were found to be highly variable in their agronomical traits, with differences in productivity. It was observed that O. viciifolia was relatively resistant to diseases, but that persistence was the main difficulty to overcome. O. viciifolia accessions were also found to be variable in their morphological traits. Statistical analyses on both morphological and agronomical traits showed strong links with accessions' geographic origins. The most important trend observed is a general distinction between Western European accessions and accessions from the rest of the world.It was found that most O. viciifolia were tetraploids, suggesting that agricultural domestication led to polyploidy. Other Onobrychis species were found to be either diploid or tetraploid with varying basic chromosome numbers, which tends to confirm the assumption that an aneuploidy event occurred in Onobrychis genetic history.AFLP and SSR fingerprinting were attempted to investigate O. viciifolia genetic diversity. The potential of these techniques was shown, but the latest improvements needed to obtain solid data were not achieved during this study. Still, it was shown that molecular marker assisted breeding programmes can be elaborated for O. viciifolia.Phylogenetic analyses were performed through sequencing of different DNA regions. Substantial genetic diversity was observed among O. viciifolia accessions, with again a general distinction between Western European accessions and accessions from the rest of the world. A clarification of the Onobrychis genus is suggested, as it appeared that many species must be synonyms, and that many taxonomic sections are weakly supported.Overall, it appeared that O. viciifolia potential has probably not been fully exploited, and that there is an important potential for improvement in the gemplasm studied here. Due to its superiority in animal husbandry and agroecologic impact, O. viciifolia improvement can be suggested as a valuable alternative to extensively used forage legumes.

The key stakeholders to the Tsilitwa Project in Mhlontlo Local Municipality have a consistent understanding of what a sustainable community is and their understanding is generally consistent with the widely used and acceptable definition of sustainable community, except that the stakeholders to this project do not seem to attach any value to ecological integrity. They all believe that central to the development of a sustainable community is an active participation of the community itself in determining their destiny. However, there seems to be a disagreement on whether the project was implemented in accordance with their understanding, with others blaming the implementing agent on one side and others believing that the original budget was not sufficient on the other. Even though some stakeholders are optimistic about the sustainability of the project, they all seem to agree that for the project to be revived and become a sustainable initiative some funding from either government or other partners is necessary. The participation and/or involvement of other partners such as other government departments, development finance institutions, etc is also seen as one thing that would boost the project further. The current state of the project and the associated facilities is not a good sight and there is clear evidence of deterioration of the cooperative, guesthouse and other facilities. The provision of water has been a challenge to the whole community due to non-payment of an electricity bill for the water supply facility, and this has led to ESKOM cutting the power supply. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology / Unrestricted

To achieve the goal of sustainable development, the building energy system was evaluated from both the first and second law of thermodynamics point of view. The relationship between exergy destruction and sustainable development were discussed at first, followed by the description of the resource abundance model, the life cycle analysis model and the economic investment effectiveness model. By combining the forgoing models, a new sustainable index was proposed. Several green building case studies in U.S. and China were presented. The influences of building function, geographic location, climate pattern, the regional energy structure, and the technology improvement potential of renewable energy in the future were discussed. The building’s envelope, HVAC system, on-site renewable energy system life cycle analysis from energy, exergy, environmental and economic perspective were compared. It was found that climate pattern had a dramatic influence on the life cycle investment effectiveness of the building envelope. The building HVAC system energy performance was much better than its exergy performance. To further increase the exergy efficiency, renewable energy rather than fossil fuel should be used as the primary energy. A building life cycle cost and exergy consumption regression model was set up. The optimal building insulation level could be affected by either cost minimization or exergy consumption minimization approach. The exergy approach would cause better insulation than cost approach. The influence of energy price on the system selection strategy was discussed. Two photovoltaics (PV) systems – stand alone and grid tied system were compared by the life cycle assessment method. The superiority of the latter one was quite obvious. The analysis also showed that during its life span PV technology was less attractive economically because the electricity price in U.S. and China did not fully reflect the environmental burden associated with it. However if future energy price surges and PV system cost reductions were considered, the technology could be very promising for sustainable buildings in the future.

The purpose of this thesis was to explore the behavior in power sharing and control of Hybrid Motor Drives. In this research, a solar-based hybrid adjustable-speed pump, which has been developed in the laboratory, was used to investigate the power-sharing in hybrid (dual-input) motor-drive systems. The laboratory test setup contained a DC-DC module connected to the DC-bus capacitors of a 2.5hp 230V PWM-based adjustable-speed motor-drive. The experimental results demonstrate that the power-sharing of a Photovoltaic (PV) array/DC-DC converter is not a function of motor speed in hybrid solar-based motor-drives, as long as the power contribution of the AC-grid stays above zero. In these conditions, the PV-DC-DC module behaves like a current source, and the dynamic behavior of the motor is decoupled from the dynamic behavior of the AC-grid, given that the PV-DC-DC module can provide the motor load.