Saliem Fakir - Low Carbon Future
Realities of modern energy planning
By: Saliem Fakir 3rd June 2016 Energy technologies involve two realities that influence the way we do our planning: certainty and uncertainty. There is certainty in tried and... →
We need to create a twenty-first century economy
By: Saliem Fakir 6th May 2016 We are in an interrugnam, as Marxists would say. We are stuck in a nineteenth- or twentieth-century-type economic model that sits in the way of... →
Do we really need nuclear programme?
8th April 2016 The debate about whether or not we need nuclear power is raging among energy experts and policymakers. Sometimes it feels like it is a done deal... →
Reconceiving South Africa’s water challenge
By: Saliem Fakir 4th March 2016 There is water and there is no water. A physical resource may be abundant but it is scarce – through waste, poor pricing, inefficient allocation or... →
Time for tough decisions as rand weakness persists
By: Saliem Fakir 5th February 2016 Many years back, the rand plummeted, reaching its lowest level against the dollar – close to R25 to the US currency. This was around 2001 and... →
What now after COP 21?
By: Saliem Fakir 22nd January 2016 The year 2015 will go down in history as the hottest on record. Bizarre weather continues to play itself out in front of our eyes. In the US,... →
Carbon tax – be careful of future trade measures
By: Saliem Fakir 4th December 2015 The National Treasury has released a draft Carbon Tax Bill and has invited interested parties to submit comments by the middle of this month. There... →
The hybrid generation system is here to stay
By: Saliem Fakir 6th November 2015 Schumpeter once wrote: "There is certainly no point in trying to conserve obsolescent industries indefinitely; but there is a point in trying to... →
COP 21 and South Africa’s position
By: Saliem Fakir 9th October 2015 South Africa is fourteenth out of the 20 or so worst emitters of greenhouse gases. Today or historically, we account for between 1% and 2% of... →
The capable State and inclusive economic growth
By: Saliem Fakir 4th September 2015 The African National Congress's (ANC's) National General Council (NGC) discussion document was released a few weeks ago and makes for an... →
