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Bill Clinton will be
in town next week to celebrate the City's launch of its energy efficiency
programme. Expect solar power in council-owned buildings.
Former US President, Bill Clinton, will be in town next week to celebrate the City's launch of its energy efficiency programme
(Photo: Franke James )
J
OBURG is
taking energy saving to a new level with an energy efficiency programme that
will be launched on Wednesday, 18 July.
The former
US president and founder of the Clinton Foundation, Bill Clinton, will attend
the ceremony, to be held at Museum Africa, in Newtown. Executive Mayor Amos
Masondo, and representatives from national and provincial government and the energy
industry will also attend.
"The
ceremony is a follow up to the Large Cities Summit on Climate Change held in
New York City on 14 to 16 May this year, where the City signed certain
agreements pertaining to climate change," says Nthatisi Modingoane, the City's
spokesperson.
The Clinton Foundation set up the Clinton Climate
Initiative, aimed at fighting climate change across the world in practical and
measurable ways.
Earlier
this year, the foundation approached the City to form a partnership on climate
change. Joburg was invited to join 40 of the world's largest cities at the New
York summit, to try to address the effects of climate change.
At that
gathering, Clinton announced a landmark programme to reduce energy use in
buildings worldwide, as buildings contribute 40 percent of global
green house gas emissions. In keeping with that announcement, Johannesburg has
initiated a programme to retrofit five council-owned buildings with energy
saving products like solar powered lighting and geysers.
Joburg has pledged to use energy efficient appliances in its buildings
At Cosmo
City, in Jozi's northwest, the City has installed solar geysers, using an
alternative source of energy to heat water, at 170 households. Solar street
lights have also been fitted in Zandspruit, an informal settlement in the west
of Johannesburg.
The City is
also investigating a gas-to-energy project at five of its biggest landfill
sites that will help displace methane, one of the most dangerous greenhouse
gases.
"Clinton's
visit is also a way to enforce and strengthen ties between [his] foundation and
the City. Already, the foundation is funding specialist studies on how we can
leverage opportunities for climate change in the implementation of the Bus
Rapid Transit system," Modingoane explains.
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