its various green initiatives around
environmental education, climate
justice, sustainability and youth development. The university’s GCI
chapter has over 2000 student volunteers that actively participate in
various campus clean ups, creating
residence vegetable and indigenous
gardens, participate in formal green
talks and debates, host green/dark
religious services (to raise awareness of saving electricity), and assist
with school greening projects. UWC
is home to a 30ha private nature
reserve conserving the endangered
Cape Flats Dune Strandveld and the
critically endangered Cape Flats
Sand Fynbos. Students are actively
involved in managing the reserve
through eradicating alien vegetation and maintaining fire breaks.
UWC’s Recycling Initiative recycles
an average of 70 tons of recyclables
each month and through this initiative creates employment opportunities for 120 previously unemployed
people. The University also benefits
financially by selling recycled materials to companies. It is estimated
that UWC is able to reduce its annual CO2 emissions by about 840
tons. More unique though is the
university’s use of solar and hydrogen fuel cell (all produced on the
campus) powered golf carts instead
of cars for travelling distances
across the campus. The hydrogen
fuel cell batteries were the first to
be developed anywhere on South
African soil. The battery vehicle,
built by local South African company Melex Electrovehicles in association with HySA Systems, is being
used to investigate the viability of
hydrogen in transport applications
in South Africa. The range of the
golf cart is approximately doubled
by the use of hydrogen fuel cells,
the vehicle is virtually silent in operation, can reach speeds of up to 50
km per hour and is pollution free;
the only emission from this golf cart
is water! The university’s latest in-
Plan: City of Cape Town
The Human Settlements Contact Centre, Manenberg has been designed
and landscaped for the enjoyment of the Manenberg community.
novation during 2014 is the powering of about 25% of its nature reserve office complex through a dedicated hydrogen fuel cell power
generator.
The Kirstenbosch Centenary Tree
Canopy Walkway. Kirstenbosch
National Botanical Garden is one of
the most beautiful botanical gardens in the world. To celebrate its
Centenary in May 2014, a new
130m treetop walkway, which in
places rises 12m above ground, was
opened to the public. The walkway,
nicknamed ‘the Boomslang’, winds
its way through a section of
treetops within the gardens, providing beautiful panoramic views of
the gardens, the mountain and out
across the city. The curved steel and
timber treetop walkway is wheel-
chair friendly, low-maintenance,
and has been designed to have a
low impact on the surrounding
landscape.
Acknowledgements
The following organisations, institutions and persons are thanked for
their valuable contributions: the
Western Cape Government (Kobie
Brand, Karen Shippey, Lauren Hermanus, Steven Marks); CapeNature
(Sheraaz Ismail, Samantha
Kershhoff); and the City of Cape
Town (Peter Henshall-Howard).
Original Article
Maneveldt G.W. 2014. Green design: Joining forces to save resources in the Western Cape. Veld &
Flora 100(3): 128-131.