EcoWorldly

Eskom, the South African state owned electricity generator, recently announced that it has budgeted a billion dollars over the next ten years for a demonstration and pilot concentrated solar power (CSP) plant. However, moving from budget to implementation is proving more difficult!

Why Concentrated Solar Power

Two of the widely used alternatives for collecting the suns energy are the concentrated solar power (CSP) plant where sunlight is focussed on a receiver in which a circulating working fluid is heated and used as the heating media for a conventional power station and the photo voltaic (PV) plant where sunlight is converted directly into electrical energy. Read the rest of this entry »

The South African government and the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) have signed an Memorandum Of Understanding to develop a plan, before year end, to establishment a Solar Park in the Northern Cape.

If the black areas above were covered with PV panels, it would provide all the world’s energy needs.

The Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) is convinced that the contribution of solar energy to the world’s energy needs is about to boom. It is already developing projects in India, Australia and in the South Western States of the US. Now it is co-operating with the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) to develop a Solar Park in the Northern Cape that would speed up South Africa’s uptake of renewable energy. Read the rest of this entry »

Additional field rangers and the military are part of Kruger National Park’s plan to fight commercial poaching - which has led to the death of 94 rhinos in South Africa this year.

KNP Chief Executive Dr. David Mabunda declared war on poachers with the appointment of 57 field rangers and the return of the military to protect the park’s precious wildlife from the onslaught of unprecedented killings.

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14 critically endangered black rhino have been released into an undisclosed location as the WWF-EKZNW range expansion project continues.

Thanks to the project partnership between the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (EKZNW) to protect and expand black rhino populations, 14 additional black rhino are now in their new home.

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Hyenas are not as numerous as you might think: Poison, guns, snares, sport hunting, and habitat loss due to human expansion are taking their toll on the misunderstood hyena.

Hyenas are the subject of perhaps more myths than any other African animal, which has unfortunately led to decades of persecution against these unusual creatures. The rapid expansion of human population into remaining hyena habitat - and the intentional killing of hyenas by humans - will eventually prove to be more than this resilient species can tolerate.

To help raise awareness of hyena conservation, here are 12 surprising things you didn’t know - plus a compilation of beautiful photos. Enjoy! Read the rest of this entry »

Imagine a spider about the size of a standard-sized CD!  Researchers have discovered a rare super-sized spider.

Once thought to be extinct, the first Nephila komaci spider was first found in an old museum collection in South Africa in 2000.  A few years later, another specimen was found at a museum in Austria.  No other specimens were found until two females and one male were found in the Tembe Elephant Park in Africa.  The discovery is the first new Nephila species since 1879. Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks to the controversial approval of a one-off ivory sale, illegal trade in ivory has been reinvigorated - and 100 elephants a day are being slaughtered.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) approved a one-off elephant ivory auction in 2008 of 119 tons (108 tonnes) - representing over 10,000 dead elephants - and this decision is believed to have stimulated the growing illegal ivory market.

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Yearly, 1.8 million people will die due to waterborne diseases.  Sadly, most of these deaths are children under the age of 5, at rate of 5000 children a day.  There is a way to reverse and end this tragedy. The Water Solution is available and saving lives in Africa.  Imagine a small, portable, straw-like device that hangs around the neck of a child and each straw can save a child’s life for one year.

“WATER IS LIFE!” a child exclaims as he sees his siblings live instead of die. Genius inventions like these are changing the world on a global scale — saving lives and bringing children and families back into healthier states.

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A novel conservation project in Kenya’s Maasailand is employing the lion’s greatest enemy to conserve, rather than kill, lions.

In Maasailand, the biggest threat to lions is retaliatory and traditional spearing by Maasai warriors. However, an innovative approach to lion conservation is now paying Maasai warriors to protect lions.

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A young African white-backed vulture is preparing to undergo cataract surgery in hopes of restoring his eyesight.

In the first operation of its kind on any African vulture species, an 11-month-old Gyps Africanus diagnosed with advanced cataracts will hopefully be able to see the world around him, thanks to the vets at Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute.

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