Includes bibliographical references. / Harald Winkler's thesis examines "Energy policies for sustainable development in South Africa's residential and electricity sectors: Implications for mitigating climate change". The research question asks whether there are energy policies that will make South Africa's energy development more sustainable economically, socially and environmentally, especially in the context of the local environment. Energy policies for sustainable development are explored as an approach to mitigating climate change. A methodology combining three major components is developed - modelling, evaluation of indicators of sustainable development and policy analysis. The analysis explicitly starts from development objectives. 'Backcasting' from development objectives has been not been implemented in national energy models in developing countries. Within the modeling component, the residential sector is disaggregated into six household types for the first time in a national energy model for South Africa. Energy policies for sustainable development in two sectors are identified to meet the c0untry's development objectives. Making residential energy more sustainable includes cleaner and more efficient ways of providing energy services - lighting, water heating, cooking and heating. The thesis also analyses four major electricity supply options - renewable energy, nuclear, importing hydro or natural gas. The thesis develops an analytical approach that for considering energy policies that incorporates environmental concerns. Identified policies are quantified in an energy-economic modeling framework. A wide variety of data sources is used, drawing on statistical information, official energy data, utility statistics, journal articles and research reports. Indicators of sustainable development provide a framework for assessing the suitability of suggested policy cases, while policy analysis considers their implementation for both energy and climate policies. A contribution of the thesis lies in combining these analytical tools to identify energy policies that promote both local sustainable development and mitigate climate change. The thesis finds solar water heating and efficient housing rank higher than alternatives in all dimensions of sustainable development for the residential sector. These policies provide cleaner energy services, reduce fuel use and yield cost savings for households. The latter is significant in reducing the electricity burden, particularly for poorer households. A more equitable distribution of energy services favours social sustainability and reduces inequalities. Emissions in the order of 1- 10 Mt CO₂-equiv/year can be avoided. The investment requirement is relatively modest. However, the residential sector will not deliver the largest absolute energy savings and associated emission reductions.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-94). / Growing concerns regarding climate change, energy security, long-term carbon price exposure, fuel price risk and fossil fuel depletion have continued to drive growth in wind energy globally over the past decade. In spite of South Africa’s renewable energy target and feed-in tariff for renewable energy, the current deployment of wind energy in South Africa is extremely low. Consequently, as the country embarks upon promoting the development of renewable energy, it is important to consider the challenges facing the wind energy industry in South Africa.

The desalination process requires large amounts of energy, either in the form of waste heat or grid electricity. If conventional grid electricity sources are used to power desalination plants, the burning of fossil fuels will contribute towards the release of greenhouse gasses.

Includes bibliographical references. / Lack of experience in wave energy conversion locally leads to uncertainty in the implementation process for the Stellenbosch Wave Energy Converter (SWEC), which is the cause of many developmental hindrances in terms of determining cost estimates, the potential site specific environmental impacts and the required permits. Cost estimates based on assumptions of capacity factor, inflation extrapolated component costs, show that with significant learning rates and reduced risk the SWEC may become cost competitive with current prices of wind and solar energy. The establishment of a full array of SWEC devices carries significant threat to coastal process, marine flora and fauna, ecosystem dynamics and functioning. Mitigation is required to be incorporated into the design and layout of the plant particularly to conserve wave energy to drive coastal processes. A considerable number of permits and permissions are required for the Development of the SWEC, with the National Environmental Management Act forming the base for the majority of permitting procedures. Complexity is added through the coastal leasing policy relying on two different Acts, and policy reform is required to encourage the uptake of wave energy conversion technologies in South Africa as current energy policy acts as a barrier to adoption. Expected environmental impacts are ranked, required permits are listed resulting in the formulation of a simple implementation plan.

In South African urban-informal contexts characterized by high levels of unemployment, women still have a close relation to the household. Females shoulder most of the burden associated with fulfilling domestic energy requirements. Despite this, energy-poverty policies like the Free Basic Alternative Energy Policy of 2007 ignore the specific challenges faced by women such as the financial implications of procuring daily domestic energy. This study adds insight to this issue by adopting two approaches: firstly, this study explores views captured in twenty semi-structured interviews from a sample of 12 females and 8 males living in an informal settlement, located north of Durbanville in the Western Cape Province. This thesis relies on a case study design based on this informal settlement to describe the nuances and gender specific experiences which exist in managing domestic energy. Secondly, an unobtrusive research approach is taken, relying on an analysis of secondary data from online media and academic platforms. The data is analysed using Bachrach and Baratz (1962) guide to uncover power dynamics veiled in the formal processes of energy-poverty policy development in South Africa. This thesis asks how energy-poverty policy can contribute to addressing the so-called gender-energy-poverty nexus, recognising that social constructs of gender and policy formulation processes may be under-pinned by dynamics of non-decision-making. The main findings of the study show that attributes of non-decision-making which feature in both the formal and informal power dynamics perpetuate female hardships in energy management. Social norms (informal power dynamics) influence the division of household labour including domestic energy management, which renders energy a major pre-occupation for women particularly. Furthermore, not recognizing informality in energy-poverty policy (formal power dynamics) negatively impacts women's well-being as women are dissatisfied with poor performing cooking and lighting fuels which negatively impacts young children's health, including inadequate options for food storage due to limited appliance use in the un-electrified informal settlement. Recommendations for the Free Basic Alternative Energy Policy to address energy-poverty in a gender-sensitive way may help to alleviate the negative impacts of securing daily energy on female informal settlement dwellers.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / The Climate System Analysis Group (CSAG) at the University of Cape Town produces provisional global and Southern African seasonal wind forecasts generated using the United Kingdom Meteorological Office Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM) HadAM3P (non-standard version of HadAM3). This study examines the quality of the seasonal wind speed forecasts through a forecast verification process for continuous variables using reanalysis products of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction and the Department of Energy (NCEP-DOE) as observations data. The verification analyses are performed using summary measures Mean Error (ME), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Mean Squared Error (MSE), correlation coefficients, Linear Error in Probability Space (LEPS) and exploratory methods, scatter and conditional quantile plots. These methods are used to determine the aspects of forecast quality namely, bias, accuracy, reliability, resolution, and skill over a 20 year period (1991 to 2010). The results of the study have determined that the use of both accuracy and skill measures for the verification analyses provide more information about the quality of the forecasts, as opposed only one of these. In all provinces, the highest quality seasonal wind speed forecasts are made at 500 hPa and the lowest quality forecasts at 1000 hPa. Furthermore regions, pressure levels, and seasons with the highest forecast quality share the common characteristic that their wind speeds are relatively high. The forecasts add value to the climatology and thus are a useful tool for wind assessment at a seasonal scale. It is suggested that adding spatial resolution to the forecasts through downscaling may prepare them for use in applications such as wind power output forecasting.

Includes bibliographical references. / Farmworker families that live and work on commercial farms are amongst the poorest people in South Africa. Poverty is experienced in several dimensions, including low cash income, poor access to services, isolation, intermittent and insecure employment, dependence on employers, and limited social, economic and political power to improve their conditions. This study investigates the worker households' access to and use of energy, in order to identify their domestic energy needs. An evaluation of energy supply, including all fuels used by workers, is undertaken. Guidelines for strategies to improve farmworker households' access to energy services are proposed. The research relied on the analysis of empirical information from both primary and secondary sources and placed this in an integrated energy planning framework. Primary data included a national postal survey of farmers (3000 questionnaires were sent, 575 returned) and interviews with worker families in the West Cape.

A number of studies assessing the environmental impacts of print media systems in comparison to digital media systems offering the same services have been conducted in United States of America (USA) or Sweden. The most notable are studies done by Kozak (2003), Gard & Keoleian (2003), Enroth (2009), Moberg et al. (2011) and Achachlouei et al. (2013). However, no studies have been conducted in South Africa. The main purpose of this study was to compare environmental impacts and cumulative energy demand of electronic books (e-books)read from a Tablet personal computer (PC) or Apple Air iPad, the digital system, with the equivalent printed paper books (print system) in South Africa, and establish which of two systems has less of an environmental and energy demand impact. The study was aimed at creating awareness amongst consumers and producers about the environmental and energy impacts of both systems. The study also included scenarios which investigated the effect that changing the energy mix as planned in the 2010 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) has on the environmental impacts and cumulative energy demand of both systems, and the effect of multiple users per system. The initial hypothesis of this study was that reading 21 e-books from a Tablet PC would have a lower environmental impact and cumulative energy demand than reading 21 printed books. The time period of the study is four years, the length of time for completing a commerce university degree. During this period each learner will purchase 21 books, either in the form of printed paper books or as e-books that can be read using a Tablet PC.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-98).

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-111). / Since the early 1980's, a number of countries have been undertaking power sector reform. Very often the drivers for change included the need to reduce reliance on public finances and to obtain foreign capital, either to service loans, or for investing in new capacity. Latin American countries were the forerunners in this regard, with Chile amongst the first. The other main driver was to improve the financial and technical performance of the electricity industry. The rationale for this initiative could also be found in other factors, which are discussed as the countries are dealt with individually later in this document. One important aspect thereof is clearly the 'public benefit' implications of power sector reform, which are more pressing in developing countries. Until the 1980's, the electricity industry was viewed as a natural monopoly, and the concept of economies of scale reinforced this point of view. However, with dramatic technology improvements, it became possible to generate electricity competitively in smaller power plants, and thus alternatives to monopolistic industries were increasingly feasible. Competition is now possible in generation and supply. Developers other than the state can participate in the industry either as Independent Power Producers (IPPs) or as distributors and suppliers of electricity. According to the principle of competition, the introduction of new players into the market should lower electricity prices. This study investigates if this holds true in developing countries and whether power sector reform slows down or accelerates electrification access for the poor.