South Africa: Inception workshop on energy efficiency campaign held in Pretoria
The Danish Energy Agency attended an energy efficiency campaign inception workshop in South Africa in October, with the purpose of sharing Danish experiences on energy efficiency campaigns.
With support from the Danish-South African energy programme, the South African Department of Energy is in the formative phase of developing a campaign that will focus on energy efficiency in buildings.
The campaign will aim to promote and motivate for the adoption of energy efficient technologies and for measures that will improve energy efficiency. To launch the campaign development process, a campaign inception workshop was held in Pretoria where advisors from the Danish Energy Agency and key stakeholders were invited.
The Deputy Director General for Energy Policy and Planning in the Department of Energy in South Africa, Mr. Aphane, was very enthusiastic about the campaign initiative:
“The most efficient fuel is the one conserved or saved, that is why we call energy efficiency; the first fuel. Saving energy means saving money. We are very happy to start the creation of this Energy Efficiency Campaign targeted buildings and the timing is perfect as there are significant saving potentials within energy efficiency in South Africa, and with the raising energy prices there are much money to be saved and many jobs to be created.”
The Danish Energy Agency attended the workshop to present Danish experiences on energy efficiency campaigns. According to Michael Reuss, advisor at the Danish Energy Agency, the most important lessons learned from Danish energy efficiency campaigns are:
“1) Knowledge building and campaigns are efficient measures when combined with regulations and economic incentives
2) To get stakeholders on board and actively work to promote energy efficiency solutions is key to secure a lasting effort
3) To provide information, inspiration and tools, takes campaign messages a long way further in supporting target groups to act.”
The workshop was a success with good discussions and input from South African key stakeholders. The Danish presentation and experiences will hopefully strengthen South Africa in identifying their own energy efficiency potentials, key actors, supportive policies etc.
Energy efficiency is a tool towards increased security of supply
South Africa is currently going through a critical energy crisis. Since 1994, the share of the population that has gained access to electricity and gas increased from 34% to 88%, which has increased the demand of electricity and put the generation of electricity under huge pressure. As a result, South African households and business’ frequently experience electricity black-outs during peak hours, which affect the South African economy significantly.
South Africa is soon to renew its 2005 Energy Efficiency Strategy with a new post 2015-2030 strategy, which will play a crucial role in lowering the energy consumption of the country in order for the demand to match the installed energy capacity and to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Denmark has successfully been able to lower energy consumption in buildings with 40% since 1975 and has reduced energy consumption in industry with more than two percent every year over the past ten years. Energy efficiency improvements have been crucial for the Danish energy transition towards lower carbon emissions and have assisted the deployment of renewable energy throughout the country. It is the lessons learned throughout this process that Denmark is now sharing with the South African government.
Read more about the Danish-South African cooperation here.
About the Danish-South African cooperation, Information materials on the Danish-South African cooperation
Presentation - DEA EE campaign, Presentation - Grounded media inception, Presentation - EE campaign
Helle Momsen Fredslund
FuldmægtigCenter for Global Rådgivning og Forhandling
Tlf.: 25 72 82 91
HMF@ens.dk
Steffen Nielsen
Specialkonsulent
Center for Global Rådgivning og Forhandling
Tlf.: 33 92 66 96
srn@ens.dk