The winners of the 2013 Eskom eta Awards were announced at the University of Johannesburg in December last year. Entries were accepted in eight categories and the winners in each category received a cash prize of R30 000 while runners-up received R5000 each. The awards recognise and reward excellence in energy efficiency.
The winner in the individual young designers category was Aritia Reyneke who developed a bio-fuel cooking solution using 85% ethanol to water. In the young designers group category, the Clarendon High School Coelacanth Enviro Club took the honours for their investigation of more energy efficient approaches to cooking by comparing an induction cooking system to traditional cooking methods.
Karebo Systems was the winner in the residential category for its mass rollout programme to reduce 80 MW worth of peak load through energy efficiency installations. It achieved an 86 MW reduction in peak energy demand and donated their winnings to the finalists in the community category.
The winner in the commercial category was Makro, which implemented energy management systems across six stores and decreased its demand by 36% with a monthly saving of 219 000 kWh.
Glencore Merafe and ArcelorMittal Saldanha Works were joint winners in the industrial category. The former improved the energy efficiency of the ferrochrome furnaces at its Rustenburg plant, resulting in savings of 150 711 MWh. ArcelorMittal was honoured for its operational efficiency innovation, which enabled a 40% reduction and a R170-million saving over three years.
The winner in the innovation category was welding solutions company Shield Technologies for its innovation which reduces the amount of spatter caused during welding. In this category, a special award was conferred to AngloGold Ashanti for savings of 2,5 MW on the water reticulation network at a mine.
Don Boroughs won the energy saving in household category for the 75% savings at home while, in the energy efficiency awareness category, the City of Cape Town’s Electricity Savings Campaign and the Energy Efficiency Leadership Network were both recognised for their contributions to energy efficiency awareness. A special award went to Lorraine Jenks for her work in educating the tourism and hospitality industries on taking a greener approach to business.
The Green Building Council of South Africa won the “Energy efficiency projects in local communities” category for its Cato Manor Green Street community project.
Contact Annamarie Murray, Eskom, Tel 011 800-2847, murraya@eskom.co.za