Housing in Southern Africa October-November 2016

Lighting

City spends on 45 000 LED street lights

T hecityhassuccessfullyretrofitted 1 100 street lights as part of a R3 , 8 mi l l i on LED s t r e e t lighting pilot in Burgundy Estate, Summer Greens, Eversdal, Bothasig and Aurora. This has already lead to a 32% reduction in the electricity load usage. The energy efficiency programme has resulted in savings of more than R110 million over the past five years. Since 2010, the city has saved almost 80 000 MWh of electricity and 79 000 tons of carbon, through its municipal operations. This is the equivalent of the power needed to operate all of Cape Town’s street lights for a year. Energy efficiency is central to the city’s Energy 2040 goals, which aim T heExcellence inDesign for Great- er Efficiencies (Edge) tool from the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) is moving green building certification to a mainstream product. GBCSA Managing Executive: Resi- dential, Grahame Cruikshanks, says, “We have introduced a green resi- dential building toolkit that aims to drive the residential property market to design and build resource-efficient homes.” With almost half of all energy gener- ated in the world is used by buildings and more than half of all resources are used in construction. The mes- sage is to #Bring change home in 2016, ambitiously settings a target of 8 000

The City of Cape Town’s investment in energy efficiency has led to almost 45 000 street lights being fitted with energy-saving light- emitting diode (LED) lights.

for the overall reduction of 37% in carbon emissions of this 21% can be achieved through energy efficiency. ‘We are saving our residents money over the long-term by invest- ing in a more sustainable way of performing our core functions. At the same time, through our emphasis on procuring more ‘green goods’, we are enabling job creation in the local economy,” says City’s Mayoral Com- mittee Member for Energy, Environ- mental and Spatial Planning, Johan van der Merwe. Edge certified homes across 25 projects. For example typically a 250 unit development comprising 150 one bedroom apartments 55 m² and 100 two bedroom apartments 60m² will cost the developer an additional R121 000 or R484 per unit. Cruikshanks compares an 80W incandescent with a 16W CFL and 5 W LED, comparing the purchase price of each with the life of the bulb, average hours burned per day, num- ber of bulbs in a house; total cost of bulbs over a year, kWh consumer in a year and the total cost of electricity (R1,50/ kWh) the 80W Incandescent – costs R864, the 16W CFL – costs

“Wewill dowhatever we can to create a more financially and environmen- tally sustainable tomorrow. Given the public sector’s signifi- cant purchasing power, the City now has integrated energy efficiency re- quirements into its procurement and is using greener technologies for cer- tain projects, such as for the lighting of buildings. The City’s LED building lighting retrofits have supported the growth of a local LED manufacturer, who now employs 80 people,” says van der Merwe. ■

Lighting costs

R173; and the 5 W LED – costs R54. He concludes: “Our purpose is to inspire a built environment in which people and planet thrive. Edge de- termines the financial viability of a project’s green potential. Smart, fast, affordable Edge makes sure green homes are available to all.”

October/November 2016