Smart Places

Alien plants threaten to use up half of the inflows into two important dams in SA

Up to 50% of the annual inflows into the Western Cape’s Berg River Dam catchment and Limpopo’s De Hoop Dam catchment could be used up by alien plants over a period of 45 years, if they are left uncleared. This is the warning issued by water experts Dr David Le Maitre of the CSIR; Dr James Blignau...

CSIR researchers publish book on guidelines for planning and implementing green economy projects

A team of CSIR researchers recently published a book titled Green Economy Implementation in the Agriculture Sector: Moving from Theory to Practice. The book addresses a distinct gap, as there are currently no guidelines available for planning and implementing green economy projects in the agricul...

WEF founder encourages business, government and civil society to embrace fourth Industrial Revolution

The founder and chief executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Prof Klaus Schwab, has stressed the importance for government, civil society and business to work together to ensure the benefits of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) are distributed equally in society. Speaking in P...

Can we get 100% of our energy from renewable sources? New article gathers the evidence to address the sceptics

Is there enough space for all the wind turbines and solar panels to provide all our energy needs? What happens when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow? Won’t renewables destabilise the grid and cause blackouts? In a review paper last year in the high-ranking journal Renewable and Sus...

Development of the Green Book on human settlement adaptation for climate change on track

The CSIR has completed the first stage leading up to the development of guidelines on how municipalities can adapt human settlements to withstand the impact of climate change. The development of the Green Book is a three-year project commissioned by the Canadian International Development Research...