In this present world order of growing information, communication and technological advancement, it is primordial that climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts seeks to make people resilient to inevitable climate inconsistency through the exploitation and development of renewable energy sources. Though climate impacts are global, the population most at risk is predominantly from developing countries, particularly poor communities who have experienced multi-layered threats from floods, droughts and energy supply, just to mention a few. This explains why sustainable development is at the heart of all development trajectories in the world today, specifically the post-2015 development tenets. Climate change adaptation and mitigation requires international collaboration from all nations in order to get an effective and unified response to climate change. Building a critical mass for action and an institutional memory to sustain policies and efforts is crucial. A resilient-based approach to climate mitigation and adaptation founded on a crisis-driven reaction to communities vulnerable to climate threat will boost quality of life through the provision and safeguarding of safety nets for the poor. Solar water heaters, a renewable energy source, are here considered as a critical option to South Africa’s coal-driven economy as a means of alleviating energy poverty in rural and low-income communities, to be more precise. Therefore, SWHs have become the epicentre of sustainable development policies and climate change mitigation efforts in South Africa. So far, this device has attracted the attention of local governments in the country who view it as a game changer in the field, particularly towards greenhouse gas emission and energy conservation. The contour of this thesis is to assess the impact of solar water heaters on sustainable development. Although it is generally difficult to assess the real impact of technology on people, that of SWHs was established by asking questions about livelihood before, during and after the introduction of this device.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:9238 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Mbeng, Regina Nso |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MA |
| Format | x, 77 leaves, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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