Author:Ampofo-Anti, NDate:Mar 2014Building and construction activities consume more raw materials by weight than any other industry sector – about 50% of all the materials extracted from the Earth’s crust annually are transformed into building and construction materials and ...Read more
Author:Van Huyssteen, Elsona; Oranje, MDate:Aug 2008This chapter describes the National Spatial Development Perspective of South Africa (NSDP) District Application Project, which was initiated by the national Presidency of South Africa. In this pilot an attempt was made to test both the prospects ...Read more
Author:Van Wyk, Llewellyn VDate:Aug 2015Despite inherent definitional and interpretational difficulties the term ‘sustainability’ is widely used in contemporary economic, social and environmental discourse to describe a desirable endgame. Although the term was popularized in the ...Read more
Author:Walters, Chavon R; Steyn, MaronelDate:Sep 2022Many parts of South Africa are still staggering on the back of severe droughts experienced over the past decade. Rapid urbanization has created a plethora of water-related challenges, including environmental degradation and water scarcity ...Read more
Author:Masa, J; Ozoemena, KI; Schuhmann, W; Zagal, JHDate:2013The high prospects of exploiting the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) for lucrative technologies, for example, in the fuel cells industry, chlor-alkali electrolysis, and metal-air batteries, to name but a few, have prompted enormous research ...Read more
Author:Van Schoor, MichaelDate:Jan 2015This chapter includes a collection of additional case study examples relating to some of the most pertinent coal problems described in this book. Where possible, local coal examples were selected for inclusion, but otherwise the selected ...Read more
Author:Davis, Claire L; Engelbrecht, Francois A; Tadross, M; Wolski, P; Archer, Emma RMDate:Oct 2017This chapter presents key messages drawn from recent subsets of future climate projections for the southern Africa region. Material in this chapter is drawn from Chapter 3 of Climate Risk and Vulnerability: A Handbook for Southern Africa ...Read more
Author:Vincent, K; Cull, T; Archer, Emma RMDate:Oct 2010It is well-known that women in developing countries tend to be more dependent on natural resources than men, and that female-headed households tend to rely more on agricultural livelihoods than male-headed households. Climate change is projected ...Read more
Author:Harmse, H; Britz, K; Gerber, ADate:Oct 2018A challenge in ontology engineering is the mismatch in expertise between the ontology engineer and domain expert, which often leads to important constraints not being specified. Domain experts often only focus on specifying constraints that ...Read more
Author:Barros, E; Morris, EJDate:2014The fastest growing use of maize is for the production of fuel ethanol using the enzymatic conversion of corn starch to glucose and then to ethanol as well by converting the cellulosic (non-food) parts of maize to ethanol. However for the ...Read more
Author:Mwakikunga, Bonex W; Hillie, KTDate:Sep 2011This chapter introduces some facts about graphene, how it was discovered, how it has been realised by several approaches and how to get its identity. Its identity is seen either through cross-sectional TEM or through its unique signature in ...Read more
Author:Fasiku, F; Owonubi, S; Mukwevho, E; Aderibigbe, B; Sadiku, E; Lemmer, YolandyDate:Jun 2019Over the years, many different materials, e.g., titanium (Ti) and its alloys, have been used in biomedicine for several purposes. A common application of such materials is seen in their usage as implants. However, quite a number of graphene-based ...Read more
Author:Van Wyk, Llewellyn VDate:Nov 2010Construction is responsible for 50 per cent of all resources consumed in the world making it one of the least sustainable global industries. Although it is difficult to quantify, largely due to the highly variable amount of waste generated ...Read more
Author:Van Wyk, Llewellyn VDate:Nov 2010The pursuit of sustainable development brings the construction industry, and specifically the building industry component thereof, into sharp relief. The built environment is a major component of contemporary life. Over half the world’s ...Read more
Author:Van Wyk, Llewellyn VDate:Nov 2010Infrastructure is one of the key foundations of economic growth. South African cities have grown on the back of infrastructure investments like water, energy, transportation and increasingly telecommunications. Ultimately infrastructure ...Read more
Author:Van Wyk, Llewellyn VDate:Apr 2010Green roofs are roofs that have been covered with a growing medium, creating a habitat on what would otherwise be a bland, lifeless surface. It is for this reason that green roofs are sometimes call 'vegetated' or 'living' roofs (Cantor 2008). ...Read more
Author:Van Wyk, Llewellyn VDate:Mar 2014Green infrastructure can be defined as the design and development of infrastructure that works with natural systems in the performance of its functions. Green infrastructure recognises the importance of the natural environment in land use ...Read more
Author:Godfrey, Linda KDate:Nov 2014The Waste Sector, as with many sectors of the economy, is responding to the call to transition to a Green Economy. Globally, waste management is changing from one of ‘collect-transport-dispose’, to one of ‘secondary resource management’, ...Read more