As the last instalment which looks at the impact being made by some of our Flagships towards meeting their commitment statement, we take a look at what some of them have been up to.
Green Cab’s The Green Drive
The awarding of an operating tender to a national Tour Operator has seen a growth in the fleet capacity of ‘greened’ vehicles fitted with the Diesel Polishing Devices (DPD) from 4 to 15 vehicles. The reported fuel savings from the DPDs is between 15% and 24%. These vehicles have been used at major national events by:
- WWF for Staffing Transport
- Nedbank for African Mining Indaba
- Ernst & Young for African Utility Week
- The World Economic Forum on Africa
The DPD’s have also being trialled in two delivery vehicles for Amarex International/Berco Courier Company and on five tractors, as shown in the image below, for fellow 110% Green Flagship the Department of Agriculture at their test farm at Elsenburg.
Deploying the DPD has found to result in a reduction of carbon monoxide by 35%, nitrogen oxides by 26% and hydrocarbons by 34%.
Lenteguer Hospital’s Green Hospital Project
The Hospital’s Green Resource Centre was launched on the 12th of July 2013 with partners such as the City of Cape Town, The Department of Environmental Affairs, Afristar Foundation, Green Office, PETCO, BEN Bikes, Eskom and M49, Birdlife SA and Food and Trees for Africa, among others exhibiting in the centre. One person has been employed to manage the Resource Centre.
Over 100 trees have been planted around the Hospital through support from GreenPop. In March of 2013 a partnership with Food and Trees for Africa was established for the implementation of our Landscape Masterplan and the development of food garden projects using permaculture; both of which are making good progress. The Hospital will be receiving shredded garden waste which is removed from municipal dumpsites as well as kelp by-products from Kelpack for use in the soil enrichment programme. A partnership has been established with Petco for the development of a PET recycling facility which is being developed by our Occupational Therapy Department as a psychosocial rehabilitation project.
Vineyard Hotel & Spa’s Water and Energy Savings Project
The Hotel has achieved a 6.9% energy saving for the first 3 months of 2013 thus exceeding their target of 5%. This is as a result of the new efficient laundry system and the 4500 LED lights that have been installed which has brought a 34.5% saving in the Hotel’s energy and water consumption. The installation of LED lights also saw the creation of 7 additional jobs.
The installation of efficient showerheads has been done in a phased approach with over 200 already being installed. When this process is complete, it is expected to result in a 12% saving in energy use.
All of these efficiencies have resulted in a reduction of the Hotel’s carbon footprint of 76kg of carbon per bed per night using the 2011/2012 financial year data.
Well done to all of the 30 founding Flagships on their hard work and commitment to building a dynamic Green Economy in the province!