After nearly three years of discussion and negotiation, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) informed the Sustainability Institute this week that funds have been approved for a study of various sustainable infrastructure options and strategies for Cape Town. This project is a joint venture with E-Systems Foundation (Holland) and the City of Cape Town.
Funding will be made available for three separate but related projects. Firstly, it will possible to build on past work in order to develop future scenarios for how Cape Town can facilitate the design and construction of sustainable energy, water and waste infrastructures. Secondly, funds will be allocated to designing and establishing ESCOs (Energy Service Companies) that will provide a wide range of energy services to households and businesses, including energy generated from renewable sources. Thirdly, funds will be allocated to detailed technical research on sustainable housing designs for SI projects, in particular Philippi, Oude Molen and Lynedoch. This last project will build on what the SI has learnt from the Lynedoch project and extend this to larger scale projects.