This dissertation investigates the tech no economic feasibility of a large scale municipal solid waste (MSW) to energy project in the Republic of South Africa, by evaluating the feasibility of Atlantis Foundries (AF) envisaged anaerobic digestion project. Following an audit on the AF site and consultations with AF and Anaergia (PTY) Ltd (the envisaged project technology provider), the most suitable project scenarios under various assumptions were identified and used in the analysis of this study. The feasibility of 2MW continuous, 3MW continuous, 5MW continuous, 5MW peak and standard, 5MW peak and lOMW peak, MSW to energy generation project scenarios were investigated. For each scenario a basic process design was made. A dedicated techno economic model was developed, and parameters obtained from the site audit and design stages were input to the model. Results of the feasibility study were then evaluated and compared with each other. Results showed that all the project scenarios are technically feasible, legally achievable and financially feasible with payback times below 10 years and IRR above 10%. The 5MW peak and standard generation scenario is the most economically attractive option with a payback time of 5.2 years and IRR of 23%, followed by the 5MW continuous generation scenario with a payback time of 5.7 years and IRR of 21%. The 5MW peak and standard generation scenario can offset about 134,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent GHG emissions per year.

The ability to access affordable, reliable and modern energy services presents a pathway to social and economic development. Yet, the lack of access to modern energy services is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa and developing Asia. Following the declaration to achieve universal access to energy by 2030 in the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals – several tools have emerged tracking and monitoring energy access and energy poverty. Earlier efforts have focused on measuring energy poverty from a unidimensional perspective while recent efforts have focused on a multidimensional measurement. However, the growing trend in tracking and monitoring energy poverty using multidimensional indicators has been applied limitedly in the context of South Africa. Part of this has been associated with the lack of detailed and reliable survey data. With access to detailed survey data, this study aimed to evaluate household energy poverty in South Africa by using both unidimensional and multidimensional measures. This study constructed the energy budget share, also known as Tenth-Percentile Rule (TPR) (unidimensional) and the multidimensional energy poverty index (MEPI) using data from wave 1 (2008) and wave 4 (2014-2015) of the National Income Dynamic Study (NIDS) of South Africa. A 10 percent threshold was used for the energy-budget share while a 0.3 cutoff point was used for the MEPI. This study first computed national-level estimates of household energy poverty, and subsequently decomposed these estimates by province, household income poverty status and household location (urban versus rural). A sensitivity analysis was performed to test for the stability in ranking of provinces when the energy poverty threshold of the TPR was varied from 7 to 13 percent, and the energy poverty cutoff k of the MEPI was changed from 0.2 to 0.4. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient was determined for each pair of ranking of provinces to establish the strength of correlation. Based on the TPR measure, results show that 21 and 13 percent of South African households lived in energy poverty in 2008 and 2014-2015, respectively. The MEPI measure indicates that 37 and 19 percent of the households lived in energy poverty in 2008 and 2014- 2015, respectively. Limpopo province had the highest rates of energy poverty in 2014-2015 with values of 25 percent (using TPR) and 52 percent (using MEPI). This study also found that by 2014-2015, only 23 percent (using the TPR) and 46 percent (using the MEPI) of energy poor households lived below the food poverty line of R430. Further, this study found that household energy poverty has reduced in rural areas and by 2014-2015, only 18 percent (using TPR) and 49 percent (using MEPI) of households located in rural areas lived in energy poverty. The lowest observed value of the Spearman rank correlation coefficient was 0.90. It is concluded that the overall household energy poverty has reduced in South Africa between 2008 and 2014-2015. The TPR gives lower estimates of energy poverty than the corresponding values obtained from the MEPI measure. There is negligible effect of varying the threshold values (within the studied range) of the TPR and k.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has not worked for sub-Saharan Africa and its mainly small projects, delivering only 0.3% of the total CDM carbon offsets. This is thought to be because of the low intensity of the greenhouse gas reducing interventions prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, the lack of institutional capacity relating to the CDM processes, the high transaction costs of the lengthy CDM process – typically amounting to R 500 000 per project per year and taking years to complete the process. An alternative for small carbon emission-reducing projects is to register carbon reductions with the voluntary carbon market and its Verified Emission Reductions (VERs) carbon credits. By examining the carbon markets in some detail through the lens of a particular case study, this dissertation has investigated and identified the main factors affecting the cost-effective generation of small emission reduction projects in sub-Saharan Africa. The chosen case study was a small-scale South African voluntary carbon project, the Umdoni bioethanol gel fuel-switching project. Umdoni was identified as an example of a project that generated carbon revenue outside of the CDM. By assessing the manner in which this project addressed the critical requirements of the carbon market while simultaneously alleviating poverty, the study seeks to provide new insight in the components of effective carbon markets. Both the detailed understanding of the voluntary carbon market components and the exposition of an example in which this market worked effectively is considered important at a time when the efficacy of the CDM is being reviewed, casting uncertainty over the role of market based instruments in addressing the global threat of an anthropogenically warmed climate. The study has identified the main factors affecting the ability of small carbon projects to generate net-positive carbon revenue and has suggested ways a small project could exploit this information to its benefit: The type of carbon market the project operates in – the small voluntary carbon market is best, with higher prices and lower costs - The inherent attractiveness of the project to potential carbon offset buyers – small projects with strong sustainable development aspects command higher carbon prices - The registry and carbon standard through which the project trades its carbon offsets – registries and standards which measure and emphasise sustainable development benefits realise higher prices for suitable projects - The type of buyer – Corporate buyers purchasing carbon offsets for image and public relations purposes are best for small projects with good sustainable development co-benefits - The supply-demand situation in the relevant carbon markets – the voluntary carbon market has been relatively unaffected by the crash in the compliance market in 2012 - The project size and the calculation methods chosen – the volume of emission reductions is sensitive to the project scale, the emission reducing technology and the emission reduction methodologies chosen - The transaction costs – the transaction costs for a CDM project are in excess of R500 000, which is far bigger than the likely carbon revenue. Whereas some small voluntary carbon market registry costs are lower by a factor of six and yet they get comparable carbon prices.

Includes bibliography. / Limited research on dispersion modelling for the Cape Town metropolitan area has been undertaken. This thesis deals with air-pollution aspects in relation to dispersion modelling, as well as with the input requirements and application of a dispersion model in the Greater Cape Town region. An EPA approved Gaussian plume model, the Industrial Source Complex Short Term 2 (ISCST2), was chosen for the pollution simulation. The model requires one point meteorological measurements and can accommodate multiple point, line and area sources. Meteorological data used in the study were collected from D. F. Malan airport for the years 1991 and 1992. However, required parameters, such as the mixing height and the atmospheric stability class, are not readily available and thus needed to be calculated. Three methods for determining the mixing heights and three methods for determining atmospheric stability class were used in the model and the accuracy for each combination was assessed. Appropriate emission information for use with dispersion modelling is not available for the Greater Cape Town area. Therefore, the compilation of an emission inventory formed a considerable part of this study. Emission data from the large industries was collected with the collaboration of the Cape Town City Council's Air Pollution Control and of the Air Pollution Group of the Western Cape Regional Services Council. The rest of the sources (i.e. residential, vehicular and industrial), were grouped into areas, and their emissions were based on their fuel consumption.

Bibliography: leaves 108-110. / The consumption of electric power is pervasive in the lives of all of us. Electricity heats and cools homes, offices and factories. Electricity helps preserve and prepare food. It powers office machinery, and in manufacturing establishments provides energy to utilize the capital stock. In some processes electricity is a direct input into the production process.

Bibliography: leaves 75-84. / Photochemical smog is formed by the interaction of sunlight with nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons. These precursors are principally emitted by anthropogenic sources. As the major component of the photochemical oxidants is ozone, it is used as the indicator of photochemical smog and air quality standards today are therefore based on ozone. Another important photochemical oxidant is peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN). Many authors believe that PAN is a better indicator of photochemical activity than ozone, because PAN has, unlike ozone, no large natural sources. Thus, the occurrence of high PAN concentrations is unequivocally related to anthropogenic pollution. The objectives of this work are to summarise the current research on the formation of photochemical smog with emphasis on PAN and to investigate the photochemical smog situation in South Africa using PAN as an indicator.

Bibliography: leaves 94-96. / Domestic grade charcoal with a fixed carbon content of at least 80 was successfully produced from the alien species Acacia Saligna. Carbonisation was effected using a Tongan drum kiln and average yields on a dry basis of 19.1 (excluding fines production) were attained. With fines included, the yield increased to 31.4 . It was shown that the earnings of woodcutters could increase by about 25 if they opted for charcoal production using this technology. Three kilns examined in the Western Cape proved to be more financially viable than the Tongan drum kiln. The Tongan kiln was however shown to have advantages over other technologies in charcoal production from invasive alien vegetation by unskilled labour.

Bibliography: leaves 81-85. / The thesis covers the fundamentals of refining and fuel technology, engine technology as regards parameters which influence knock and the results of engine tests. Definitions of octane number and the interpretation of the system developed to establish these numbers using the CFR engine are given. The literature survey covers the fundamental refining processes which are used to upgrade gasoline components in order to raise their octane quality or to achieve a more suitable distillation range. Some of the reactions which take place are described and operating conditions for the reactions to occur are given. The chemistry of fuels which affects their octane quality is given and discussed. Generally, aromatics have very good octane values but straight chain paraffins are poor in this regard.

Bibliography: leaves 168-173. / In this thesis the energy sector of the East and Southern Africa Region (as defined by the World Energy Council) is investigated. Special attention is given to South Africa and the potential future role she could play in the region. The region is characterized by large population growth rates, insufficient economic growth, political and civil instability, massive urbanization, high illiteracy rates, a low level of development, a lack of finance and foreign exchange, and inadequate institutional structures, all of which effect the energy sector making the provision of a sustainable and adequate supply of energy difficult. On the other hand, South Africa, the economic giant of the region, has a sophisticated and well established energy infrastructure and•has the potential to play a large role in the energy sector of the region. A large portion of the region's energy demand is supplied by traditional energy sources and is consumed by the domestic sector. In many countries of the region, energy demand exceeds sustainable supply, resulting in energy scarcities and increased deforestation. These issues need to be addressed as a priority. Reforestation based on agro- forestry, was identified as the option most likely to succeed in this regard. Although commercial energy resources are abundant within the region, they are largely unexploited as a result of the lack of suitably large markets, vast distances, a lack of finance and regional instability. The promotion of the utilization of these resources, which would ease supply constraints, is reliant on regional cooperation and the trade in energy. Forecasts of future energy consumption in the region indicate that unless present constraints on the energy sector are alleviated, the adequate supply of energy, and in particular traditional energy, will be jeopardized. It is proposed that any long-term cost-effective solution for the provision of an adequate and sustainable supply of energy requires regional political stability and cooperation, institutional reform, the integration of traditional and commercial energy structures, and should address the issues of deforestation and population growth.

Includes bibliography. / The objective of this study is to compile a micro-computer based tool to aid in the evaluation of power supply options for remote sites. The options considered are stand-alone photovoltaic, diesel generation, and grid extension power supplies. The basis on which the various options are compared is the unit cost of energy expected from the system. This is determined by combining all capital costs, running costs, and other payments on a present value basis over the project lifetime. The comparison of the unit energy cost expected from each option is only meaningful if the reliability of each supply system is known. The Loss of Energy Probability of each option is therefore established to provide a common ground on which to compare these costs. •