Five of South Africa’s largest environmental justice organisations have come out strongly against Eskom’s further round of multiple applications to postpone compliance with air pollution standards. Allowing Eskom to continue with its pollution will mean that at least 2 200 people in affected areas will die premature deaths every year as a result of exposure to this … [Read more...]
Nuclear mud dumping has begun in Wales
Opponents to a controversial scheme to dump mud from a nuclear plant off the coast of Cardiff have launched a last-minute legal challenge. About 300,000 tonnes will be dredged from the seabed near the Hinkley Point C building site in Somerset. The Campaign Against Hinkley Mud Dumping submitted an application to the High Court in Cardiff on Monday seeking an interim … [Read more...]
Understanding the implications of SA’s coal phase-out plan
South Africa is highly coal and energy intensive, and has an economy characterised by extremely high levels of inequality and poverty (with more than half of the population living in poverty). In the long run, sustainable growth and development in South Africa will depend crucially on the transition away from a coal-intensive energy system and economy. This study has … [Read more...]
South Africa’s transition out of the nuclear era
Prof. Emeritus Anton Eberhard from the University of Cape Town’s graduate school of business provides a view from a South Africa perspective in his foreword to Mycle Schneider Consulting’s highly acclaimed World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2018. The report provides a comprehensive overview of nuclear power plant data, including information on age, operation, production and … [Read more...]
SA makes positive step by dropping nuclear expansion plans
Environmental NGOs welcomed South Africa's decision to scrap the plan on boosting energy supply from nuclear plants, and expressed hope that further steps will be taken by the country in embracing renewables, in comments to Sputnik. On Monday, Energy Minister Jeff Radebe released the draft Integrated Resources Plan (IRP) for South Africa for the period up to 2030, which … [Read more...]
Two new water-intensive coal plants will cost SA billions
The inclusion of new coal in the updated draft Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity (IRP) will cost South Africa close to R20 billion more than we need to spend, and will make electricity more expensive for all South Africans. If the Department of Energy were to publish the least-cost plan that civil society organisations have been demanding, it would not include any new … [Read more...]
SA’s energy vision for 2030: integrated resource plan finally released
The long-awaited Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) envisages the energy mix in 2030 will consist of almost half coal power, with gas and wind being the next most important contributors. "A ‘just transition’ requires that while we move with speed to respond to the changing landscape, we take calculated steps to ensure we leave no one behind," energy minister Jeff Radebe … [Read more...]
Oppose these mining applications and defend your rights to a healthy environment
Eskom has once again announced that it will not meet pollution standards for 14 of its coal power stations. Although Eskom has already been given permission to postpone its compliance with the Air Quality Act’s minimum emission standards, and despite overwhelming evidence of the devastating health impacts of its emissions, it now plans to ask the Department of Environmental … [Read more...]
Older than dinosaurs: last South African coelacanths threatened by oil exploration
Bright blue, older than dinosaurs and weighing as much as an average-sized man, coelacanths are the most endangered fish in South Africa and among the rarest in the world. Barely 30 of these critically-endangered fish are known to exist off the east coast of South Africa, raising concern that a new oil exploration venture in the area could jeopardise their … [Read more...]
The oil and gas industry and ocean protection divide
South Africa currently has a network of 23 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) covering only 0.4 % of the oceans around South Africa. This is far short of the global target of at least 10% protection of the oceans by 2020 - to which South Africa has committed to as a member of the United Nations. In 2014, as a first step towards reaching this target, the President announced that … [Read more...]
The world’s largest solar farm rises in the remote Egyptian desert
In 1913 on the outskirts of Cairo, an inventor from Philadelphia named Frank Shuman built the world’s first solar thermal power station, using the abundant Egyptian sunshine to pump 6,000 gallons of water a minute from the Nile to irrigate a nearby cotton field. World War I and the discovery of cheap oil derailed Shuman’s dream of replicating his “sun power plant” on a grand … [Read more...]
Allow nuclear waste disposal under national parks, say MPs
Highly radioactive nuclear waste could be permanently buried under national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs), under government plans backed by a committee of MPs. Deep geological burial is seen as the only permanent solution for nuclear waste that will remain radioactive for many thousands of years and is currently stored at surface sites across the UK. … [Read more...]
Tell SA’s biggest investment funds to help us divest from coal
South Africans are threatened by climate change, by the health and environmental impacts of fossil fuels – coal, gas and oil – and by the role of parts of the fossil fuel industry in state capture and in holding back wind and solar energy development. To build a just, sustainable, and healthy future for all South Africans, we need ethical savings and investments in our economy … [Read more...]
