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As a follow-up to an earlier blog that considered the energy efficiency performance of the South African economy from 2000 to 2012, this blog looks at the electricity intensity of the economy from 1995 to 2015. The data not only tells an interesting story, but also highlights the dangers when using nominal data to consider the relationship between variables.
Mine closures can be associated with a number of environmental and socio-economic impacts: pollution, adverse effect on human health and loss of jobs. Often mining rehabilitation is viewed as a burden by mining companies. The growing evidence of the development of renewable energy on old mining sites highlights an opportunity to re-use such spaces for positive impact. Deploying renewable energy on old sites can generate revenues, produce clean energy and create greener jobs for local communities. There are a number of international examples of successful projects developed at old mines, and South African has an abundance of old mines that could thus potentially be put to good use once again.
The blog aims to highlight inconsistencies in Eskom’s newly introduced bill estimation policy observed from the writer’s household bill. It highlights the non-transparent manner in which this policy was introduced and raises questions about Eskom’s underlying motives for doing so. Eskom’s residential customers are urged to carefully assess their energy usage and if necessary direct any questions to the utility.
Energy efficiency has traditionally been associated with energy interventions and policy. The multiple benefits approach seeks to broaden our understanding of energy efficiency by highlighting the wider social and economic gains that can be achieved by government and business through energy interventions. Given the current energy crisis in South Africa, and the country’s sluggish growth performance, it is important that we look beyond conventional supply measures, and also consider the immediate and wider benefits from energy efficiency that might be derived from demand-side management tools.
The discourse surrounding the possible exploitation of shale gas from the Karoo Basin has focused on emphasising its likely benefits (trumpeted by government and energy sector insiders) and costs (the focus of environmental groups and concerned citizens). A rigorous assessment of these expected costs and benefits, however, is currently lacking. On the benefits side, two factors in particular, namely the size of the shale gas resource and the impact of the possible greater integration of the South African market for natural gas with international and regional markets, do not seem to have received sufficient attention.
A cost-benefit analysis is only as good as the assumptions that underlie it. If a rigorous assessment of the relative merits of exploiting Karoo Basin shale gas is to be undertaken, it is important that these two factors (amongst other critical assumptions – on both the cost and benefit side of the analysis) are considered in detail.
The National Energy Efficiency Strategy (NEES) released in 2005 set a national target for energy efficiency improvement of 12% by 2015 compared to a 2000 baseline. This monitoring system envisaged to accompany the roll-out of the NEES, however, is still under development and there has been no monitoring of the NEES to date. This makes it difficult to rigorously assess progress towards meeting this target. Consequently this blog provides a non-rigorous glance at what the available data can tell us about South Africa’s energy efficiency performance between 2000 and 2012.Over this period, energy intensity decreased by 13.2 percent and electricity intensity by a whopping 25.4 percent.
Over the same period, the contribution of the tertiary sector (which is typically less energy-intensive than the primary and secondary sectors) to GDP increased by 8 percent (to 69.6 percent), while the contribution of the primary sector fell by almost a third (to 7.9 percent). It is clear that the energy intensity picture in South Africa is changing over time. What is not clear yet, however, is whether this is predominantly due to increased energy efficiency and decoupling between economic growth and energy use, or whether this is being driven by structural changes to the South African economy.
A cost-benefit analysis is only as good as the assumptions that underlie it. If a rigorous assessment of the relative merits of exploiting Karoo Basin shale gas is to be undertaken, it is important that these two factors (amongst other critical assumptions – on both the cost and benefit side of the analysis) are considered in detail.