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Ebrahim Harvey walks us through the systematic collapse of South Africa.

Ebrahim Harvey walks us through the systematic collapse of South Africa.

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    Winners of 2015 Climate Solver Awards announced

    MellowCabs, Findmyway and Eco MC2 have been named winners of WWF South Africa's 2015 Climate Solver Awards in recognition of innovations that reduce carbon emissions or boost access to energy.
    Image source:
    Image source: www.wwf.org.za

    MellowCabs is a public transport solution in the form of a micro vehicle designed to provide convenient, low cost and potentially emissions-free transport in cities. The three-seater electric vehicle, which runs on hydrogen fuel cells supplemented by solar panels and regenerative braking, provides transport at a lower cost than traditional taxis.

    "Transport produces approximately 23% of global CO2 emissions from fuel combustion," says founder Neil du Preez. "One of the major impediments to widespread use of public transport in South Africa is the challenge of first and last mile transport, in other words, how does one reach the train station or bus stop from one's home or workplace? Mellowcabs aims to bridge this gap."

    Efficient transport

    Findmyway, developed by South African-based start-up WhereIsMyTransport (WIMT), is a smartphone app to help commuters find their way from A to B navigating across the various modes of available public transport in South Africa. "Our mission is to make transport in South Africa more efficient and accessible. Not only does the app inform commuters on their travel options, but it also feeds back to transport operators enabling them to improve their services going forward," explains WIMT co-founder, Devin Devries.

    The Eco MC2 from Leaper Innovate is a hydraulic energy storage system designed to store energy generated from renewable energy sources such as solar photovoltaic panels. "The major problem with any form of renewable energy has always been storage. Batteries have a number of problems; they offer limited storage, contain heavy metals and may contain substances which are limited resources. The Eco MC2 has a thirty-year lifespan and far longer storage capacity," says Leaper Innovate founder, Warwick Leaper.

    "South Africa is a nation with a history of strong innovation and entrepreneurship, but shows little support for clean-tech innovators compared to many other countries," according to WWF International senior adviser of Climate Innovation, Stefan Henningsson. "South Africa risks falling behind in job creation for global solution providers if there is no boost in public and private finance for both mature and early stage clean-tech."

    Research is lacking

    "Data from the Global Cleantech Innovation Index 2014 shows that a large country like South Africa spends eight times less in clean-tech research, development and demonstration than Finland and 100 times less than Japan. Connected to this is that South Africa currently files 60 times less environment-related patents than Germany and six times less than India.

    "However, there is an increase in the number of creative South African entrepreneurs who will have many of the solutions we need to see growing on the global market in order to simultaneously combat climate change and energy poverty in the years ahead. Attention to the needs of these solution providers by policy makers, investors and corporates is crucial to enable the growth of the clean technology sector and our global effort to disrupt the current high-carbon paradigms," Henningsson concludes.

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