Saliem Fakir - Low Carbon Future
Alternative renewables ownership models come under the spotlight at Numsa conference
By: Saliem Fakir 2nd March 2012 The National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa) recently hosted an international conference on alternative models of ownership for renewables other than... →
What should be done about concentrating solar power
By: Saliem Fakir 10th February 2012 For a long time, concentrating solar power (CSP) was seen as a cutting-edge renewables technology that would best meet South Africa’s energy... →
Will the planet be saved?
By: Saliem Fakir 20th January 2012 Fourteen days of deliberations at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change seventeeth Conference of the Parties (COP 17)... →
COP 17 – waiting for light at end of tunnel
By: Saliem Fakir 2nd December 2011 Some predictions are easy and others require a savant’s wisdom to penetrate the unseen world. One can be sure the outcome of the United Nations... →
Learning from the Chinese approach to carbon taxation
By: Saliem Fakir 25th November 2011 The Australian government recently just managed to squeeze through carbon tax legislation. The Australian system starts off with a fixed price,... →
Thinking of value-add in a way that guarantees future of sustainability
By: Saliem Fakir 7th October 2011 The world was once run on three big economic engines: Europe, North America and Japan. These engines of growth are slowing down but three or four... →
Perennial doubters and future of renewables
By: Saliem Fakir 2nd September 2011 It is somewhat tired argument to suggest that renewables will make no progress as a technology and that they will never compete with coal or nuclear. →
There are still many unknowns about shale gas extraction in the Karoo
By: Saliem Fakir 5th August 2011 I recently attended what is probably the most insightful conference I have ever attended – not because it was attended mostly by industry players... →
SA needs an independent system operator
By: Saliem Fakir 8th July 2011 Previously, I noted some reservations about the idea of an independent system and market operator (ISMO). →
Do green jobs threaten other jobs?
By: Saliem Fakir 10th June 2011 You have probably heard this before: green industries will steal jobs from other sectors. Superficial logic invites superficial conclusions. But... →