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October/November 2016
Lighting
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
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.
City spends on 45 000 LED street lights
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.
“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.
■
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
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
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.”
Lighting costs