People & Planet
For the people & the Planet
Why innovations in green technology are critical to the well-being of future generations
Create a centre of economic activity around technologies and products that benefit the environment, speeding their implementation and creating new careers that genuinely protect the planet.
The late John McCain once said: “Suppose that climate change is not real and all we do is adopt green technologies, which our economy and our technology is perfectly capable of. Then all we’ve done is given our kids a cleaner world.”
Our lives have become dependent on continuous advancements in technology in areas such as food production, agriculture, travel and transport, lifestyle, construction, infrastructure, mobile and ICT, among others. We seek out disruptive innovation, the ‘next big thing’, that will make our lives ever more comfortable and convenient. In producing and utilising this tech, however, we need to be able to sustain society and preserve our environment for future generations.
As cities grow larger to accommodate burgeoning populations, buildings need to become more cost- and energy-efficient with green construction methods and materials; transport systems should be upgraded with better public options that are also fuel-efficient, and more bike lanes introduced; while urban areas require water management and drainage systems, low-irrigation landscaping and power from renewable energy sources.
What is green technology?
Green technology (also called clean technology or environmental technology) is described as technology used with the intention to mitigate or reverse the effects of human activity on the environment. According to www.green-technology.org, the goals that inform developments in this rapidly growing field include:
● Sustainability—meeting the needs of society in ways that can continue without damage or depletion of natural resources, meeting society’s present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
● ‘Cradle to cradle’ design—ending the ‘cradle to grave’ cycle of manufactured products, by creating products that can be fully reclaimed or reused.
● Source reduction—reducing waste and pollution by changing patterns of production and consumption.
● Innovation—developing alternatives to technologies, whether fossil fuel or chemical-intensive agriculture, that have been demonstrated to damage health and the environment.
● Viability—creating a centre of economic activity around technologies and products that benefit the environment, speeding their implementation and creating new careers that genuinely protect the planet.
Awareness, improved policies and development would go a long way toward supporting the local green technology sector. Furthermore, an increase in public-private partnerships and investments can positively contribute to stimulating innovation and technology transfer and in areas such as:
• Sustainable energy, to continue efforts to harvest potential natural energy sources to produce energy without degrading the environment.
• Agriculture technology, to avoid environmental degradation in agricultural processes.
• Industrial automation, to develop industrial processes that are environmentally friendly.
• Information and communication technologies, to create and utilise environmentally friendly, recyclable electronic and computer components.
• Food processing, to avoid carbon emissions and environmental degradation in all food packaging processes, and to eliminate poisonous content in food.
• Potable water, to filter used water and seawater on a large scale through green processes without environmental degradation.
• Consumer products, to produce a variety of new-generation items that do not degrade the environment in either manufacturing or packaging.
• Automobiles, to increase efforts in research and production of energy-efficient, zero-emission vehicles using renewable energy processes.
• Construction, to build environmentally friendly, energy-efficient ‘smart’ buildings.
• Education, to promote the use of green technology in all education services.
• Health, to encourage and promote the use of green technology and green processes in all health and medical services.
• Aircraft space and travel, to encourage and promote the use of green energy and materials as well as environmentally friendly processes in air and space travel.
Despite a few promising innovations in South Africa, the green technology sector is still lagging, stymied by various complexities.
According to Francois Malan, a director at Stellenergy and executive director of products at Savant Technology Incubator, the main challenges for innovation in specifically renewable energy solutions have been costs and lack of investments. “The costs are higher for renewable energy compared to non-renewable—in comparison with coal-based power generation, specifically.
Other barriers hindering the development of new green technology include: uncertainty about the future of Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme (REIPPP) projects; availability of project finance and interest from international project developers; and funding support for the local development of clean technology, especially at the later stages of development and commercial proof-of-concept, before commercial investors or project financiers get involved, says Malan.
Brandon Paschal, incubation manager at tech incubator LaunchLab, highlights limited resources; lack of proactive, forward-thinking policies; and intervention initiatives as the main contributors to the innovation lag. “Our resources are limited. We need impactful and sustainable solutions that are forward-looking—with the view that resources like water, energy and mining are finite, not infinite,” he says. Cognitive assessment and understanding the impact of today’s actions on our children’s future will promote employability and quality of life.
Paschal adds that the current model for clean technology is labour-intensive, and there’s room for skills development in green jobs—not in the fossil fuel economy. Technology transfer plays a key role, as universities are at the forefront of producing green innovations that are mostly funded by the government; he cautions, however, that the red tape and reporting on the funding can be cumbersome.
Thanks to South Africa’s technological innovation, entrepreneurial spirit and business support opportunities, the local green tech landscape holds much promise. Savant’s vision is to continue focusing on solar power generation projects and commercialisation, fostering a thriving green sector and continuing to build sustainable technology businesses that are internationally scalable and that contribute to a sustainable society. “Savant is always on the lookout for innovative technologies that solve real problems, have a competitive advantage through its intellectual property—formal or informal—and have large market appeal,” says Malan.
LaunchLab works closely with its innovation partners and will continue doing so. The incubator recently launched Makerspace to facilitate prototyping and experimentation where engineers, designers and creatives can collaborate to produce products and solutions. “We support clean technology innovators, inventors and green entrepreneurs by enabling an environment that provides them support for commercial success and exposure to our partners. We continue working alongside Innovus, Stellenbosch University’s technology transfer office, to support the university’s commercialised technology entities,” Paschal reveals.
Improved government policies can support research and adoption of green technologies, technology transfer, and better educational efforts in promoting the use of this tech in day-to-day life.