Bibliography: leaves 58-60. / The objective of this study was to investigate the use of solar water healers (SWH) in South Africa, and identify policies and measures that would promote their use. It has been found that conditions are appropriate for the development and use of SWH in South Africa. but the current market for this technology still remains small. The findings of survey data collected in Lwandle shows that the interviewees appreciate the use of SWH technology provided by the local authorities. However, they complained of problems during winter, as there was no backup system for these units. This was considered as one of the limitations of the project. A comparative analysis between solar home systems (SHS) and solar water heaters in South Africa was made. The findings showed that SHS is well disseminated compared to SWH. The electrification programs in the country accelerated the dissemination of SHS. Government and Eskom are fully committed to the project with significant investments on the electrification in the remote areas. On the other hand, SWH were not financially or subsidised by the government. International donors and NGO's are still promoting the use of this technology. These two technologies are still expensive for many people in South Africa. Furthermore, SHS were subsidised while SWH were not and this has affected the dissemination of SWH in the country. This study gives some recommendations for policies and measures for the future wider dissemination of SWH in South Africa.

Includes bibliographical references. / Renewable energy is becoming a key policy issue in the energy sector in most countries in the world. Considering various energy options, renewable energies are seen to be ecologically sustainable and they contribute towards conservation of fossil fuels as well as the environment. The use of renewables on a more significant scale than at present is very likely to replace a further significant proportion of fossil fuel use, thereby reducing the associated environmental impacts. The renewable energy sources of importance to South Africa are solar, wind and hydro-energy and energy derived from biomass. The focus of the paper however, is on domestic PV -based Solar Home Systems (SHSs). This is mainly because the principal technology being considered for household electrification in the remote rural areas at present in South Africa remains SHSs. Previous studies, however, indicate that for a variety of reasons, large-scale SHS implementation has been very difficult to achieve in South Africa. For a number of years, extensive efforts have been made in the research and implementation of solar energy technology, and it was widely anticipated that the actual numbers of installations would have assumed very high figures by now. But this has not been the case. The largest obstacles to the wide dissemination of SHSs have been singled out, namely: the high capital investment often required tor installation (which makes it very difficult tor the rural households to afford the systems); and the expectations for grid electricity. The paper argues that although affordability and grid expectations, no doubt, constrain the wide dissemination of SHSs. other factors play an equally important role. It is argued that a plethora of interlocked and mutually inclusive factors constrain the widespread use of SHS. These include factors such as: negative perceptions amongst potential users - arising from lack of system maintenance and consequent system failure; and socio-cultural dynamics. These had not been given much attention in the literature on SHS applications and programmes. yet they have enormous impact on the daily use of energy.

Bibliography: leaves 65-70. / Low access to electricity is a problem in Africa. Apart from South Africa and Mauritius access to electricity generally falls below 30% of the population. The situation is even worse in the rural areas which housed about 70% or more of the population and whose access to modern energy services in these areas is between 5%-10%. Hence, this work aims at providing means of increasing access to electricity for the larger portion of the continent. This work looked at the potential of using bagasse, a waste from sugar production, to produce electricity beyond the sugar factory to the national grid. It shows that bagasse generated electricity can contribute to increasing this access in Africa as a whole by as much as 9.4 TWh, using Condensing Extraction Steam Turbines. However, this increase varies among countries with the highest being Swaziland, 67%, and the lowest South Africa, 1.5%, due to the current capacity. The actualization of this technical potential, however, can only come about with proper application of relevant policies and measures that need to be in place for Africa in general and South Africa in particular as more detailed work was done on the latter. Due to limitation in scope, this work did not cover the social, financial and agronomic aspects and neither was optimization of sugar considered in evaluating electricity from bagasse.

Universities globally are realising the potential they have in shaping the future workforce to deal with a variety of environmental issues, such as efficient resource use and sustainable development. The University of Cape Town (UCT) has committed to a number of environmental sustainability goals and is a signatory to international sustainable campus charters. This dissertation analyses the progress of sustainability levels of buildings on campus. A case study of three recently built buildings was undertaken, the last of which attained a 4-star green rating by the Green Building Council of South Africa. A detailed analysis was conducted through semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders at the university and others, including architects and sustainability experts. This study specifically evaluates the institutional structures, organisational culture and decision-making processes that have enabled, promoted or hindered sustainable buildings at UCT. One key policy was established in 2012, which stated that all new buildings at UCT will be constructed to be 4-star rated at a minimum. The decisions leading up to this policy were analysed and they highlight the enabling mechanisms within the university. However, a number of barriers and challenges were found that hindered progress. Many challenges are not unique given the similarity of university structures and governance globally, such as lack of: resources, awareness, motivation and coordination. However, there are local and contextual challenges, especially lack of funding and competing priorities, that need to be addressed before sustainability is fully integrated into UCT. Moreover, inertia of large institutions, difficulty in shifting organisational culture, and complex and lengthy decision-making processes make change difficult at a university. Nevertheless, some strategies are explored that are likely to be effective in promoting increased sustainability levels, especially of buildings on campus.

Alleviating energy poverty requires innovative and sustainable business models for delivering energy access. Social enterprises have entered off-grid clean energy access markets, pioneering innovative energy access business models, many of which involve the participation of local micro-entrepreneurs. This research study explores the synergy between social enterprises and local micro-entrepreneurs, specifically in terms of the business models used to incorporate local micro-entrepreneurs into off-grid clean energy value chains and the stages of the value chain in which the local micro-entrepreneurs participate. It furthermore identifies key enabling enterprise ecosystem conditions. A qualitative research methodology and a multiple case study design was used. The sample consisted of 11 respondents, selected through purposive sampling. A semi-structured interview served as the primary data collection instrument and a thematic within-case and cross-case analysis was carried out. This research study represents a pioneering effort, contributing to a growing body of knowledge on innovative participatory business models for energy access.

Bibliography: leaves 86-89 .

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / This paper reviews how incentive mechanisms impact solar water heater (SWH) technology adoption under both monthly payment scheme (MPS) and non-monthly payment scheme (non-MPS) conditions. The key research problem is to try understand why consumers1 have not installed SWHs under non-MPS conditions and whether a MPS can generate better installation rates. SWHs generate clean energy by using the heat of the sun instead of electricity to heat household water. On average, SWHs displace 30 % of household electricity usage, decreasing both household electricity costs and national electricity supply. South Africa has favourable solar conditions and encouraging policy support in the form of long term targets and subsidy incentive schemes. However, it appears that these mechanisms are unable to rapidly incentivise South Africa’s mid to high income households to install SWH units. This paper reviews the MPS incentive mechanism, to examine if it can create a larger scale adoption of SWHs, with the key research question being: ‘How does the monthly payment scheme influence consumer behaviour and their likelihood of adopting solar water heater technologies in the City of Cape Town?’ An important corollary of the research is to gain an understanding of the nature and successes of MPSs in other SWH markets and industry environments. This paper uses case studies to examine successful MPSs in the US PV residential market and in Tunisia’s state-supported SWH program. In order to determine the likelihood of SWH adoption in Cape Town, existing consumer sentiment towards SWHs must be properly understood. Consumer attitudes, awareness and drivers to adopt SWHs will inform the likelihood of adoption, both under MPS and non-MPS conditions. Therefore, this paper investigates the three variables of attitudes, awareness and drivers and the ultimate likelihood of SWH adoption through a questionnaire targeted at respondents from mid to high income households in Cape Town.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 212-224). / In recent months there has been an increased interest in the potential for a wind power sector in South Africa. This is in response to broader climate change commitments by government and the potential inclusion of independent power producers (IPP) in the South African generation capacity. In support of this the government has set policies that indicate their support for the inclusion of renewable energy into the mix. However, this policy does not send a clear signal of certainty to investors, especially with regard to the implementation. This thesis set out to review how investors and financiers have responded to these signals and how they set the cost and availability of project funding based off the uncertainty due to the gaps in the enabling environment.

Bibliography: leaves 77-81. / This dissertation highlights the links between energy, informal sector and urban household livelihoods. The critical argument is that energy is a key input in some of the informal sector activities such as street food vending which is dominant in urban environments. The energy needs of the street food vendors are easily visible to the eye, because street food vendors are found everywhere on the street comers, taxi ranks, and other places where there is a proven flow of people. Despite this, the energy needs for informal sector activities are not well integrated into policies and strategies aimed at supporting the development of the informal sector. To address this situation, it is recommended that energy policy makers need to revise the current conceptualisation of the household sub-sector in order to incorporate energy planning for income generation.

Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references.