IRP2 launched into world of uncertainty

In March this year, the South African Cabinet approved an adjusted Integrated Resource Plan (IRP2), containing a substantial nuclear energy component at a time when one commentator observed that what is happening at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in Japan has brought the world to “the end of the nuclear era”.

Planners add carbon capture and storage and underground coal gasification to the mix

Coal will dominate the energy provision landscape of South Africa for the next quarter of a century, despite the restrictions by the Integrated Resource Plan, or the IRP 2010, and despite the South African commitment to a 34% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2020.

Slowly but surely, the government is adapting to meet the challenges of a changing global energy landscape

An announcement in December last year by the South African Department of Energy (DoE), that it received 384 responses from renewable energy developers to a request for information (RFI) issued at the end of September for the initial phase of the country’s renewable energy feed-in-tariff (Refit) programme, is but one tiny sign of the dramatic changes that lie ahead in South Africa and globally on the energy front.

It is happening and we are causing it; everything else is noise

Is climate change real? And are we causing it? Not according to some people. So how can we judge?

Offsetting carbon emissions with charcoal is a crazy idea that may make sense

According to a new study, as much as 12% of the world’s human-caused greenhouse gas emissions could be sustainably offset by producing biochar – a charcoal-like substance made from plants and other organic materials. That is more than would be offset if the same plants and materials were burnt to generate bioenergy, says the study. Additionally, biochar could improve food production in the world’s poorest regions, as it increases soil fertility.