The Western Cape Government (WCG) and City of Cape Town (CoCT) are jointly implementing the Energy Security Game Changer. The CoCT has already been doing significant work in the energy efficiency area.
The CoCT has made a commitment to lead by example and improve the energy efficiency and management of energy consumed for Council operations, thereby reducing its environmental impact improving resource efficiency and avoiding excessive electricity costs, especially in light of Eskom's tariff increases and South Africa's electricity supply shortages.
It is estimated that buildings make up 27% of electricity consumed in City Council operations. Making administrative buildings more energy efficient not only reduces costs, but also often improves the quality of the working environment. Over the last few years, the City has been actively involved in driving energy efficiency and is running a successful Building Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme. To date, retrofitting has taken place in 26% if the City’s large buildings through the investment of R60 million into the Retrofit Programme. The City is installing smart electricity meters (AMRs) in its 90 largest administrative buildings, with 65% of the installations already complete. The programme has resulted in energy savings of approximately 1068MWh and carbon emission reduction of 1058 tCO2e.
Street and traffic lights make up 33% if all electricity consumed in the City’s own operations. This has provided an enormous opportunity to save money and ensure resource efficiency. Over the past 3 years the City has been in the process of retrofitting its traffic and street lights. All 1500 traffic intersections which contained incandescent and halogen bulbs have been replaced with Light Emitting Diode (LED) builds, resulting in energy savings of approximately 27 977 MWh and 27 679 tonnes in total carbon emissions annually. 25 210 street lights have also been retrofitted, resulting in 19 718 MWh and 19 520 tonnes of carbon emissions saved per annum.
In an effort to encourage others to begin implementing energy efficiency measures, the CoCT established the Energy Efficiency Forum for the commercial sector in 2009, in partnership with Eskom and the South African Property Owner’s Association. The Forum aims to provide a platform for information sharing and learning, providing practical knowledge and a networking opportunity. The EE Forum has been highly successful with over 1000 registered members and an average 120 members attending the three Forums a year. In order to recognise the leadership and motivation amongst business to reduce energy consumption, the partners have instituted the Energy Efficiency Forum Awards.
We look forward to the growth and expansion of the City’s energy efficiency drive as part of the Energy Security Game Changer!