Gcxafrica

Renovagen, a solar energy company from the UK has developed the Roll Array, a high powered Solar PV (Photo Voltaic, powered by sunlight) type of carpet. It is a completely flexible, easy to transport, all in one microgrid.

As we all know we have inherited fossil fuels as the life blood of the global economy. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution which started in the late 18th century, the fossil fuel –namely the “oil and coal economy” started to emerge.

Available drinking water is something many of us take for granted, for some it is a challenging part of life that takes up many hours of precious time. Millions of people in developing countries struggle finding safe drinking water.

A world first, one of South Africa’s biggest pork abattoirs based in Cape Town has been given the green light to convert all of its waste to a biogas facility.

Coffee pods have changed the way we drink coffee. This tasty convenience, however, has an unsustainable downside being that the pods themselves are not recycled after use. European market leader Keurig brand’s K-Cup has particularly come under fire.

GDP (Gross Domestic Product) remains the main benchmark for countries measuring their success. In recent years new and alternative measures have been developed to measure societal success.

The technology of using captured greenhouse gasses from the air to make plastic polymers was developed by California startup Newlight Technologies and used commercially by Dell Computers on its laptop sleeve covers.

A lot has happened since the 74 year old highly acclaimed physicist and cosmologist Professor Stephen Hawking’s quoted in 1988 that “We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe.

The Philippi Horticultural Area (PHA) on the Cape Flats has become a scene of controversy regarding new proposed developments on the sensitive farmland/wetland catchment area of the Cape Flats Aquifer. The Cape Flats Aquifer is a massive integrated groundwater system which is estimated to be 630km2 - enough to supply a third of the City of Cape Town’s freshwater supply.

In rural parts of Nigeria several communities have started building houses made from empty plastic bottles collected for free. The process is as follow: 1) bottles are collected, 2) filled up with soil and compacted, 3) the bottles are then stacked and layered on each other with clay, 4) the necks of the bottles are secured and connected with string 5) followed by a final layer of clay.

Plastic rubbish will outweigh fish in the oceans by 2050 unless the world takes drastic action. This finding was revealed at the World Economic Forum at Davos 2016 by a global study done by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation - a foundation which promotes the circular economy such as recycling.

According to a recent Oxfam report revealed at the World Economic Forum 2016 in Davos, the top 1% wealthy elite now owns more wealth than the entire bottom 99% combined. The report further reveals that only 62 individuals own more than the bottom 50% of the world which is about 3.6 billion people.

Be it extreme droughts, flooding, winds, heatwaves, wildfires, South Africans and the rest of the world are experiencing increasing and more frequent incidents of extreme weather events and consequences.

Rooibos is a household name that South Africans love and take pride in, claiming it as unique species which only grows in the Clanwilliam area of the Western Cape, South Africa.

Over 200 nations have come together in Paris for a common cause - COP21 saw top level participation, as senior heads of state including the US president Barak Obama and China’s General Secretary Xi Jinping participated in the talks.

In 2011 an article by IOL featured a story with a quote by the Environmental and Conservation Association: “by 2015, 80% of South Africa's fresh water would be so badly polluted that no purification process in the country would make it fit for consumption.”

Kevin James from GCX Africa spoke at the annual Green Building Convention about the measurement and matrix of corporate sustainability. The event seems to be gaining popularity with an exponential growth of attendees and rolling out of green buildings. Over 900 people attended this year’s event and a growth of more than 100% of new certified green buildings was announced.

Kevin James of GCX Africa was a speaker at the recent Metro Advance Forum at Arabella on the 3rd and 4th of November. The event was hosted by Nomadic Verve and was attended by predominantly the public sector including several executive mayors.

The Greenbuilding Council of South Africa (GBCSA) hosted its annual convention from the 2nd to 6th of November 2015 at the CTICC. The convention showcased companies doing work in this area and new innovations to lighten the footprint of the built environment.

France and Russia are the latest European countries to opt out of the European Union’s decision to allow GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) to be produced in Europe. This follows Germany, Scotland, Latvia and Greece who have already opted out.