Новости за 12.02.2021

The first Sustainable Energy for All (SEforAll) Youth Summit, held virtually by sustainable energy organisation SEforAll, concluded on February 11, with calls from participants for progress on clean energy and sustainable development. Further, a new SEforALL ‘Be Bold’ campaign will be launched in March to promote more ambitious progress on United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7), which aims to support access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030.

Youth employment organisation Lulaway's social impact division Lulalab Foundation has developed a youth employment initiative that trains youths to assemble, install and maintain gravity-fed solar geysers that are made from recycled materials in informal settlements. The pilot phase of the Letsatsi Water Project led to 30 households in the informal settlement Hopefield, in Soweto, having these geysers installed.

Energy management and automation multinational Schneider Electric has announced six long-term commitments to help it achieve its sustainability goals by 2025. This forms part of its new Schneider Sustainability Impact (SSI) programme, which will be implemented from 2021 to 2025.

The SharkSafe Barrier, developed by Stellenbosch University (SU) research commercialisation company Innovus, was recognised by the World Economic Forum (WEF) digital platform UpLink as one of the top ocean innovators and was chosen as one of eleven innovations that have the potential to address some of the most important challenges in the marine environment. The SharkSafe Barrier is an eco-friendly technology that combines magnetic and visual stimuli to deter shark species that are considered dangerous to humans.

The South African Canegrowers Association (SA Canegrowers) has welcomed the call by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation Address for the country's citizens and businesses to buy local sugar. The association laments that if all South Africans commit to buying local sugar, the one-million livelihoods that depend on the industry will be safeguarded.

The Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA) has announced that the head of the Air Cargo Operators Committee, Alwyn Rautenbach, died on Wednesday (February 10) following a long illness. The Committee is an associate member of AASA, and he had headed it since 2006. He was also Executive Manager: Cargo at South African regional airline Airlink, which he joined in 2005. Prior to that, he had worked for the national flag carrier, South African Airways (SAA).

Industrial maritime company Paramount Maritime's subsidiary Nautic Africa has launched its new flagship 35 m Sentinel vessel, the second of the new enhanced class, and ultimately destined for a customer in the Gulf of Guinea where it will be used for international oil company related assignments. The client is a licenced Nigerian company with a 100% indigenous holding, with a product range tailored to meet specific and general requirements of major international oil companies operating within Nigeria’s so-called “blue economy”.

The Mozambique Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Area 1 Project and financial organisation the African Development Bank (AfDB) have jointly received the Global Multilateral Deal of the Year 2020 award, from print and online publication Project Finance International (PFI). The project, the single largest foreign direct investment in Africa to date, with a value of over $24-billion, will target Mozambique’s offshore natural gas reserves.

Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA) and local electronic sports (e-sports) company ATK has announced the first-ever motorsport partnership to encompass e-sports teams, events and gaming spaces in the country.  MBSA will be the first motorsport sponsor for a South African e-sports team, entering the arena as a sponsor for the ATK League of Legends and Sim Racing teams.

This week two countries have been able to celebrate the safe insertion into Martian orbit of their space probes. And neither country had ever before launched an interplanetary mission. They are the United Arab Emirates (UAE), whose Hope (in Arabic, Amal) spacecraft entered Martian orbit on Tuesday, and China, whose Tianwen-1 (in English, ‘Questions to Heaven-1’) entered Martian orbit on Wednesday.  The UAE Space Agency (UAESA) became only the fifth entity, after its US, Soviet/Russian, European and Japanese counterparts... Читать дальше...

Canadian aerospace company Bombardier announced, during the release of its annual results for 2020 on Thursday, its latest steps to return to profitability. The company is now focused entirely on the manufacture and support of business jets, having disposed of its commercial aviation and aerostructures operations (to Airbus and Spirit Aerosystems respectively) and its ground transportation – railways, trams and monorails – business (to Alstom), to escape severe financial difficulties.  During last... Читать дальше...

The South African automotive industry faces a challenging 2021, with new-vehicle prices continuing to climb well above the inflation rate in a market already severely constrained by the financial effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.  This is according to the latest TransUnion South Africa Vehicle Pricing Index (VPI), which shows that vehicle prices rose above the inflation rate for the third successive quarter in the fourth quarter (Q4) last year, at a time when consumers are financially constrained... Читать дальше...

Work on the Selby Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) depot, which will be designated for Phase 1B and Phase 1C operations of the bus service, is progressing well, reports the City of Johannesburg. The Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA), acting on behalf of the City of Johannesburg’s Department of Transport, has been undertaking the construction of the Selby BRT depot in three phases, namely phases 2A, 2B and 2C.

Industry body the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) has called for the finalisation and speedy implementation of the Steel Master Plan, which it believes will benefit primary and downstream players in the local steel industry. It is also considered to be key to ensuring the metals and engineering (M&E) sector is able to survival, says Seifsa chief economist Chifipa Mhango.

Creamer Media's Chanel de Bruyn speaks to Engineering News Editor Terence Creamer about President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement in his State of the Nation Address that the regulatory framework governing distributed-generation power projects will be amended and how this will help South Africa at a time when it is still facing electricity supply constraints and load-shedding.

Most stakeholders agree with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s four overriding priorities of defeating Covid-19, accelerating economic recovery and reform to drive inclusive growth, and fighting corruption. However, Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA), for one, would have liked the President to have been able to announce the completion of the auction of additional spectrum and the launch of bid window five (BW5) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme by now – both... Читать дальше...

After many delayed starts and renewed deadlines, South Africa is on track to start the year-long phased switch off of analogue television (TV) transmitters in March. In his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on February 11, President Cyril Ramaphosa said he expected the province-by-province process to be completed by the end of March 2022.