This book investigates the consequences of shifting social responsibilities, new inequalities and the sustainability concerns created by the likely energy transition in Africa to end the fossil-fuel era. Focusing on the local realities in a growing coal and energy town of South Africa, Emalahleni, it explores whether a just transition from coal-generated energy is possible and what the local implications will be of this global restructuring of the energy sector.

• Made up of 4 chapters laying the conceptual framework and 14 chapters describing the local consequences of mining for a South African medium-sized town

• Analyses the current situation of the mining industry: the inequalities it creates, its role in environmental sustainability and health and the implication of mining practices for business and local government

• Discusses the possible consequences of mine closures and how a just energy transition can be ensured

• Asks why the mining industry, government and unions promote the open mining towns

Table of Contents:

1. Mining and mining towns: a conceptual framework

2. What is a just transition?

3. Mine closure in the coal industry: global and national perspectives

4. Household welfare in Emalahleni

5. Work and life satisfaction of mining employees

6. Informal settlements in the mining context

7. Coal and water: Exploiting one precious natural resource at the expense of another?

8. The health impacts of coal mining and coal-based energy

9. Sustainability reporting by collieries

10. Residents’ perceptions of coal mining and energy generation

11. Boom or bust for Emalahleni businesses?

12. Socio-economic dynamics of the informal economy

13. A more resilient policy approach to spatial fragmentation

14. Planning in the dark

15. ‘The mines must fix the potholes’: A desperate community

16. Municipal finances

17. Is a just transition possible?

Reviews:

This volume was an eye opener. The authors in this work of genuinely thorough scholarship skillfully use their South African mining story to develop bigger arguments about the complexity of transitioning away from a dominant resource economy. While the dramatic history of South Africa and its outsized mining sector is unique, the set of questions which arise is not. The town they focus on is still booming, but other communities already experience post-mining life, and, as the editors say, 'nobody plans for decline'. Planning for decline is especially hard when coping with growth requires all attention of local government, when post-apartheid elites want to finally benefit, and business people do not see an end to the boom. Envisioning what a transition would look like, and preparing for this, is hard. Turning such vision into a strategy is even harder. If we want such a transition to be more than economic survival, and more than avoiding environmental catastrophe, i.e. if we strive for fairness in the process and prosperous communities as a result, then the dimensions of the challenge are hard to overestimate. As the authors note, the reverberations of unregulated and unanticipated closure after a boom can span generations. Neo-liberal ideologies and mining companies anxious to avoid responsibility for communities they used to control, as well as workers desperately in need of opportunities, do not prevent the search for a just transition, however. The analyses in this book reveal, beyond complexity and despair, many signs of hope and pathways to brighter post-mining futures.

– Kristof Van Assche, University of Alberta

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Where is humanity going? How realistic is a future of fusion and space colonies? What constraints are imposed by physics, by resource availability, and by human psychology?  Are default expectations grounded in reality?

This textbook, written for a general-education audience, aims to address these questions without either the hype or the indifference typical of many books.  The message throughout is that humanity faces a broad sweep of foundational problems as we inevitably transition away from fossil fuels and confront planetary limits in a host of unprecedented ways—a shift whose scale and probable rapidity offers little historical guidance.

Salvaging a decent future requires keen awareness, quantitative assessment, deliberate preventive action, and—above all—recognition that prevailing assumptions about human identity and destiny have been cruelly misshapen by the profoundly unsustainable trajectory of the last 150 years.  The goal is to shake off unfounded and unexamined expectations, while elucidating the relevant physics and encouraging greater facility in quantitative reasoning.

After addressing limits to growth, population dynamics, uncooperative space environments, and the current fossil underpinnings of modern civilization, various sources of alternative energy are considered in detail— assessing how they stack up against each other, and which show the greatest potential.  Following this is an exploration of systemic human impediments to effective and timely responses, capped by guidelines for individual adaptations resulting in reduced energy and material demands on the planet’s groaning capacity. Appendices provide refreshers on math and chemistry, as well as supplementary material of potential interest relating to cosmology, electric transportation, and an evolutionary perspective on humanity’s place in nature.

Corrections and feedback can be left at https://tmurphy.physics.ucsd.edu/energy-text/ 

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This open textbook for Fundamentals of Renewable Energy was created under an Affordable Materials Grant. 

Topics covered include:

• the fundamental energy conversion principles,

• energy economics, and

• the current status of renewable sources 

(such as Hydroelectric, Wind, Solar Thermal, Solar Photovoltaics, Ocean Waves, Tidal, Geothermal, and Biomass energy). 

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How can we produce enough sustainable energy while avoiding unacceptable environmental consequences? To evaluate the various energy options, we must understand the science of each potential energy source and energy use technology. This book presents the science in an easy-to-understand way to enable readers to make informed decisions about what is possible and practical, and to choose lifestyle options to implement in their personal lives.

Future Energy: Opportunities & Challenges was originally published in 2013 by the International Society of Automation.         

Table of Contents:

Part I. GETTING STARTED

Chapter 1 – Introduction to the Energy Story

Chapter 2 – Fundamentals

Chapter 3 – Energy Production and Consumption

Part II. ENERGY SOURCES

Chapter 4 – Fossil Fuels

Chapter 5 – Renewables

Chapter 6 – Solar Energy

Chapter 7 – Biofuels

Chapter 8 – Wind Energy

Chapter 9 – Hydroenergy

Chapter 10 – Geothermal Energy

Chapter 11 – Nuclear Energy

Chapter 12 – Hydrogen

Chapter 13 – Energy Transport

Part III: ENERGY DEMAND

Chapter 14 – Population and Energy Demand

Chapter 15 – Residential Energy Use

Chapter 16 – Commercial Energy Use

Chapter 17 – Industrial Energy Use

Chapter 18 – Transportation Energy Use

Chapter 19 – Energy and Climate Change

Chapter 20 – Energy Conservation and Efficiency

Part IV: CREATING SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

Chapter 21 – Energy, Economics, and Government

Chapter 22 – Summing Up

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Heavy Metal: Earth’s Minerals and the Future of Sustainable Societies brings together world-leading experts from across the globe to reimagine the future of mineral exploration and mining in a post-fossil fuel world.

Minerals and metals – for batteries, circuit boards, wiring and other components – are essential to a digital, carbon-neutral economy. But how can we grapple with the environmental, social and geopolitical challenges caused by the extraction and use of these critical resources?

Concise, accessible, and engaging, the essays in this timely collection intertwine a broad spectrum of disciplines to help us understand and reimagine our relationship with minerals. Exploring a wide range of themes, from the colonial history of mining and Indigenous resistance, to new frontiers in exploration geology, waste management and recycling, this book draws on experts from fields as diverse as geology, mining engineering, law, economics and public policy.

The book also explores mineral resources through an artistic lens, with a collection of stunning images from the Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky, and excerpts of a new musical work, the Heavy Metal Suite.

This thought-provoking and ultimately hopeful book guides us towards a more responsible, ethical and sustainable use of metals and minerals. It is essential reading for anyone interested in how we supply the resources needed for a carbon-neutral economic future.  

Table of Contents:

Introduction  (pp. 1–8) 

      -- Philippe D. Tortell

Colonialism and Mining (pp. 9–16)

      -- Allen EdzerzaDave Porter

The Future Demand and Supply of Critical Minerals (pp. 17–30)

      -- Werner Antweiler

Where We Find Metals (pp. 31–38)

      -- Shaun Barker

Ocean Minerals (pp. 39–46)

      -- John Wiltshire

Mines in the Sky (pp. 47–56)

      -- Sara RussellRiz Mokal

Mining in Icy Worlds (pp. 57–66)

      -- Mark Nuttall, Anita Dey Nuttall

Landscapes of Extraction (pp. 67–86)

      -- Edward Burtynsky

Black Panther and an Afrofuturist Vision for Mining (pp. 87–96)

      -- Sara Ghebremusse

The Face of Mining (pp. 97–106)

      -- Carol Liao

Indigenous Mining: Ancient Wisdom and Modern Practice (pp. 107–116)

      -- Melanie Mackay

Can Small Mining Be Beautiful? (pp. 117–126)

      -- Marcello Veiga, J. Alejandro Delgado-Jimenez

A Closer Relationship with Our Metals (pp. 127–136)

      -- Jocelyn FraserW. Scott Dunbar

A Matter of Trust (pp. 137–144)

      -- Allison Macfarlane

The Heavy Metal Suite (pp. 145–148)

      -- Philippe D. Tortell, Dorival Puccini, Jr.

Diloo (pp. 148–150)

      -- T. Patrick Carrabré

Kypros 29 (pp. 151–153)

      -- Valeria Valle

Zinc (pp. 153–155)

      -- Yao Chen

Platinum (pp. 155–156)

      -- Vuma Ian Levin

Aura Tenebris (Radiant Darkness) (pp. 156–158)

      -- Augusta Read Thomas

Iztacteocuitlatl (Silver) (pp. 158–163)

      -- Roberto Morales-Manzanares

A Lithium Fascination (pp. 164–166)

      -- Christopher Sainsbury

Silicon (pp. 166–169)

      -- Chris Chafe

The Copper Supply Gap: Mining Bigger and Deeper (pp. 171–180)

      -- Erik Eberhardt

Lithium (pp. 181–190)

      -- Lee A. Groat

Metal and Water (pp. 191–200)

      -- Nadja Kunz

Mine Waste (pp. 201–210)

      -- Roger Beckie

Microbial Mining (pp. 211–218)

      -- Gordon Southam

A New Life for Old Metals (pp. 219–228)

      -- Maria Holuszko

The End of Endlessness (pp. 229–234)

      -- Naomi Klein

About the Editor:

Philippe Tortell is a Professor of Oceanography at UBC, Head of the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, and Co-Lead Investigator of UBC’s Future Minerals Initiative. He is a sea-going oceanographer, with more than two decades of experience documenting the effects of climate change on marine ecosystems around the world. He has been a member of the College of the Royal Society of Canada, a Von Humboldt Research Fellow and past Director of the UBC Institute for Advanced Studies. He has published more than one hundred research articles, and edited three previous books, including Reflections of Canada, Memory, and Earth 2020: An Insider’s Guide to a Rapidly Changing Planet.

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This open access book charts how South Africa’s gold mines have systematically suppressed evidence of hazardous work practices and the risks associated with mining.

For most of the twentieth century, South Africa was the world’s largest producer of gold. Although the country enjoyed a reputation for leading the world in occupational health legislation, the mining companies developed a system of medical surveillance and workers’ compensation which compromised the health of black gold miners, facilitated the spread of tuberculosis, and ravaged the communities and economies of labour-sending states. The culmination of two decades of meticulous archival research, this book exposes the making, contesting, and unravelling of the companies’ capacity to shape – and corrupt – medical knowledge.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

The Gold Mines and Migrant Labour

• A Most Modern Industry: The Migrant Labour System and Crisis Management

• Mapping and Resolving a Health Crisis: 1902–1929

Science Solves Health Crises

• Identifying Risk and Compensating Tuberculosis: 1916–1957

• Lifting the Ban on the Recruitment of Tropical Labour: 1933–1945

• The Research Community, Risk and Evidence: 1912–1932

The Impact of Lifting the Ban

• Tuberculosis, Malnutrition and Mining in South Africa: 1903–1960

• Tuberculosis and Migrant Labour in the High Commission Territories: Bechuanaland: 1885–1998

• Tuberculosis and Migrant Labour in the High Commission Territories: Basutoland and Swaziland: 1912–2005

• Contests over Labour in British Central African Colonies: 1935–1953

Manufacturing and Contesting Ignorance

• Dissenting voices: 1902–1956

• The Career of A. J. Orenstein: 1914–1960

The End Game

• Technologies, Care and Repatriations: 1926–1966

• Things Fall Apart—Independent Research, Asbestos Litigation and the Gold Miners’ Class Action: 1983–2019

• Conclusion: Records, Bodies and Contested Justice

Reviews:

This book provides the definitive study of the human costs of the world’s economic “progress” on the backs and lungs of South Africa’s miners. Employing heretofore unused archival sources, it documents the ways in which white mine owners and politicians adopted policies that led to devastating disease and early death for black miners and their families. Importantly, it will help bring crucial information about Occupational and Environmental hazards to workers and communities.   

– Gerald Markowitz, Distinguished Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and History, John Jay College and Graduate Center, USA

This highly readable and informative book pulls together an impressive breadth of materials about the exploitation of black gold miners and public health failures, spanning many decades. It is an important book on issues of historical and contemporary significance in Southern Africa, but also in countries such as India, China and Brazil – just to name a few. 

– David Rees, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa   

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This book examines how state actors and other stakeholders participate in natural resource governance initiatives and seek to promote natural resource-based development in Africa.       

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgments

Foreword

SECTION I INTRODUCTION

1 An Evolving Agenda on Natural Resource–Based Development in Africa

SECTION II GOVERNANCE FRAMINGS AT LOCAL, NATIONAL, AND GLOBAL LEVELS

2 Corporate Framing of Sustainability in the Mineral Sector: “New Governance” Insights from South Africa

3 The Resource Curse and Limits of Petro-Development in Ghana’s “Oil City”: How Oil Production Has Impacted Sekondi-Takoradi

4 Stakeholder Salience and Resource Enclavity in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Ghana’s Oil

5 Gender, Land Grabbing, and Glocal Land Governance in Ghana and Uganda

6 Governing Artisanal Commodity Extraction in Cameroon: A Comparative Analysis of the Gold and Palm Oil Sectors

SECTION III CRITICAL APPROACHES TO INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT: THE POLITICS OF RESOURCE NATIONALISM, LOCAL PROCUREMENT, AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

7 Copper Economics and Local Entrepreneurs in Zambia: Accumulation by Dispossession and the Possibility of Dependent Development

8 “The Curse of Being Born with a Copper Spoon in Our Mouths”: An Examination of the Changing Forms of Zambian Resource Nationalism

9 Promoting Mining Local Procurement through Systems Change: A Canadian NGO’s Eforts to Improve the Development Impacts of the Global Mining Industry

10 The Promises and Pitfalls of Pursuing Inclusive, Sustainable Development through Resource Corridors in Africa

11 “Community Development” in Oil and Gas Projects: The Case of the West African Gas Pipeline Project

SECTION IV LAND AND HUMAN SECURITY: CENTRAL AFRICA IN FOCUS

12 Land, High-Value Natural Resources, and Conflict in the Central African Republic

13 Copper Stakes: Exclusion, Corporate Strategies, and Property Rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo

14 China and the Democratic Republic of Congo: What the Sicomines Agreement Tells Us about Beijing’s Foreign Policy in Africa

SECTION V CONCLUDING REMARKS AND REFLECTIONS

15 Reflections on Natural Resource–Based Development in Africa in the 2020s

Contributors

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The electricity supply crisis that gripped South Africa in 2007 impacted heavily on economic productivity, political stability, and every citizen.

To date, all attempts to understand how the country’s Electricity Supply Industry (ESI) has evolved focus narrowly on Eskom. This approach has become increasingly limited over the last 15 years as the national utility continues to spiral deeper into operational failure. Yet, commentators and analysts have paid little attention to Municipal Electricity Undertakings (MEUs) – the utilities responsible for distributing electricity at municipal level – which started operating two decades before Eskom was formed in 1923.

Through a detailed historical account, Running to Stand Still shows how MEUs have contributed to the country’s broader ESI. The book disentangles the complex linkages that have developed between Eskom, MEUs, and the three spheres of government. In doing so, it examines two fundamental but diametrically opposed government objectives. First, the ideal of having financially self-sufficient municipalities that in reality are over-burdened and have to rely heavily on revenue from electricity distribution to cross-subsidise their operations. And second, to have a national utility that generates electricity at the lowest cost to provide the country’s energy-intensive economy with a competitive advantage.

These path-dependent practices have endured for more than a century and have cemented institutional lock-in that blocks much-needed sectoral reform. This is aptly demonstrated through the case study of the country’s most powerful financial centre and largest MEU, Johannesburg, which is currently in a state of crisis.

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South Africa's ambition is to build a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable economy. This ambition depends on the extent to which the country is able to shift from its heavy dependence on coal to low-carbon activities and to address the growing risks presented by climate change. This low-carbon path and adaptation must be people-centered, creating jobs and protecting the poorest in the most unequal society in the world. All of these require policies and actions with inevitable tradeoffs and some synergies. The South Africa Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) provides analysis and recommendations on integrating the country’s efforts to achieve rapid growth, higher employment and lower inequality with the pursuit of a low-carbon and climate resilient development path. 

The CCDR provides a summary of key challenges and opportunities for the country's transition to a low-carbon economy in a just way. The report also provides assessment of what it takes (in terms of technical, financial and institutional and governance framework) for South Africa to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 without undermining its development ambitions. The report examines ways in which South Africa could adapt and build resilience to a changing climate. Finally, the report provides priority packages of policy recommendations that South Africa could implement to achieve its just transition to a low-carbon economy and society by 2050.

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Who Has the Power? South Africa’s Energy Profiteers is Open Secrets’ first report examining  the energy sector and climate crisis. The report shows who holds the power in South Africa’s energy sector and spotlights the key private players in the coal, gas, diesel, and renewable energy industries—who we call ‘energy profiteers’. We identify the private corporations that stand to benefit from maintaining the status quo, i.e. a reliance on fossil fuels, in South Africa’s energy sector. We also identify the corporations that stand to benefit from South Africa’s transition to new energy sources.

              We focus on corporate actors deliberately, to demonstrate that South Africa’s energy and climate crises are not solely the fault of the state and the result of the collapse of Eskom. In doing so, we hope that the report contributes to the ongoing conversation on the climate crisis and energy transition in South Africa and helps identify those corporate interests that may stand in the way of a just transition. Challenging these, we argue, is fundamental to challenging South Africa’s role in the planetary climate crisis.

 The report is structured as follows:

• Section 1 maps the private actors and state institutions that dominate the energy sector in South Africa. It looks both backwards and forwards, exploring those companies that have interests in activities linked to coal, diesel, gas, and renewables. These sectors are large and complex, and so we limit our scope to those private actors linked most closely to the energy sector and the provision of power in South Africa’s energy mix.

• Section 2 explores the ongoing debate around what a ‘just transition’ would be in South Africa. Borrowing heavily from the work of others in defining a just transition, we seek to show how the actors identified in section 1 loom large as obstacles to such a transition, albeit in different ways. This section looks at global and local experience of large corporations seeking to block efforts to reconstruct energy industries in cleaner, more equitable, and more inclusive ways.

• Section 3 and 4 conclude by looking at which corporations and politicians are currently poised to control and profit from South Africa’s energy transition. And provide recommendations about how to challenge these corporate interests and ensure that the transition serves the public interest.

Open Secrets is committed to investigative work on private actors who profiteer in South Africa’s energy sector. If you have information that you think would help us, particularly information linked to any allegations of wrongdoing or corruption, we encourage you to get in touch with us: https://www.opensecrets.org.za/contact/ 

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