4 research outputs found
Left out in the cold: Interrogating the inclusion of women employed in the informal sector in Lesotho into the formal Social Security System
No full textThe economic crisis in Lesotho has led masses in resorting to informal sector as an
alternative survival strategy to sustain their livelihoods. The author is human rights based lawyer and women activist who is agitated by the imbalances in both the application and/or enforcement of rights and distribution of resources within the citizens in the country. She was motivated by her experiential data as a daughter and dependant of an informal sector worker and by being sentientto the fact that in Lesotho the wellbeing of an informal worker or of his and/or her dependants is insignificant to the tax collector, what matters most is the proceeds accruing from the actual business itself leading to dichotomisation in both sectors and in the provision of social security social measures accorded to workers in each sector. Consequently, in the process, the inherent idea of human rights engrained in UDHR, ICSECR, ACPHR, amidst others, becomes delusional notwithstanding the fact that Lesotho is a signatory to various human rights instruments which entails promotion, protection and respect of human rights and has weaved her Constitution and labour regimes on the basis of
such instruments. Various methodologies including women law and legal pluralism approaches were utilised to get a full insight on the women’s lived realities and experiences. The research was based on the review of primary and secondary sources of data to assess discriminatory impact of the existing measures of social security system in relation to women employed in the informal sector. It was qualitative based research, using random and purposive sampling. The interviews were instigated mainly on the women themselves even though male counterparts were also interviewed. It exposed how institutions such as family commonly cut across the two systems compromising the position of women further by putting all the burden of care on
them. This paper concludes by making several recommendations and emphasis on possible reforms on the existing laws and policies.,NORA
Publisher Correction to Quantifying intra-urban socio-economic and environmental vulnerability to extreme heat events in Johannesburg, South Africa(International Journal of Biometeorology, 10.1007/s00484-025-02971-y)
No full textIn the originally published version of this article, Aakin Bobola, was mistakenly listed as an author. This was an error introduced during typesetting and has since been corrected. The correct list of authors is: Craig Parker, Craig Mahlasi, Tamara Govindasamy, Lebohang Radebe, Nicholas Brian Brink, Christopher Jack, Madina Doumbia, Etienne Kouakou, Matthew Chersich, Guéladio Cissé, and Sibusisiwe Makhanya for the HE2AT Center Group Springer apologizes for the oversight and any confusion this may have caused. The original article has been corrected.</p
Optimal energy management of hybrid energy system for a commercial building
No full textThesis (Phd: Engineering: Electrical Engineering)--Central University of TechnologyHigh consumption of electricity in commercial buildings, is a global challenge, faced by many countries in the world. The high consumption of purchased electricity from the utility, results in high electricity bills for commercial consumers. The cost of energy consumed by the commercial buildings is high as an optimal power flow strategy to the load is not applied. The optimised on-site grid-tied hybrid renewable energy system under time of use tariff, has been found as the attractive option for solving this problem. As a result, this research work has focused on the development of an optimal energy management model, to minimise the electricity cost of a commercial building supplied by the on-site grid-tied hybrid photovoltaic-battery-diesel generator (PV-Battery-DG) hybrid renewable energy system (HRES), under time of use tariff. The selected solution methodology has consisted of a review of related literature, selection of an appropriate case study, optimal sizing of on-site grid-tied HRES, using Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER), development of on-site grid-tied HRES model and simulations using realistic and measured data, as well as an economic impact assessment of scheduled grid load shedding, on commercial consumers. The optimum sizes are 18 kW for the PV, 18 kW for the DG, 6 Surrette 6CS25PS batteries and 15 kW for the bidirectional converter. The most economic NPC for the gridtied PV-Battery-DG configuration, obtained in this study, is 169/kWh and the operating cost is $5212, for 25-year period. The daily economic analysis results, indicate that the optimal energy management of the hybrid system has a potential daily savings of 49.51%, based on the data provided and the assumptions made. Results have shown that the proposed grid-tied hybrid PV-Battery-DG HRES has the potential of mitigating the South African scheduled load shedding for a commercial consumer’s building. The optimal energy management of the proposed hybrid energy system under TOU has minimised both the grid consumption, as well as the consumer’s bill and the diesel fuel for running the DG. The main benefit of reduced electricity purchased from the grid, is the reduced electricity bill for the commercial consumers. Daily scheduled grid load shedding impacts differently on commercial consumers; this is due to the available renewable resources, battery SOC, as well as the amount of DG energy used. The author anticipates that, in future, Smart grid technologies will have a positive impact on commercial demand side management. These technologies may consist of communication systems, monitoring systems, control devices and on-site HRESs. They will enable a sustainable, efficient and secure electricity supply to a commercial building
Technoeconomic analysis and life cycle assessment of the sorption-enhanced chemical looping gasification of waste bagasse biomass to produce hydrogen and transportation fuels
No full textThis is an author's accepted manuscript of an article published by Elsevier on 05/03/2026, available online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2026.125486
The accepted manuscript may differ from the final published version.Sorption-enhanced chemical looping gasification (SECLG) offers an effective solution for in-situ carbon capture, reduced nitrogen dilution, and low tar concentration in the syngas, thereby significantly reducing economic costs in biomass gasification. In this work, we evaluate the techno-economic performance and life-cycle environmental impacts of SECLG to produce hydrogen and petroleum from waste bagasse biomass. Here, ilmenite-supported nickel oxide and calcium oxide are used to facilitate lattice oxygen transfer and CO2-capture. The results indicate competitive capital investments of US58.3 million for the hydrogen and petroleum plants, respectively. It is worth noting that levelized costs of hydrogen and petroleum, at US0.56/L, were essential in delivering these estimates. According to a sensitivity analysis, the oxygen carrier and sorbent have a less significant impact on overall profitability of the plants. Regarding the LCA, sulfur and CO2, amounting to 0.009 kg and 91 kg, respectively, were identified as major concerns while associated human health outcomes and non-renewable energy consumption impacts per unit of hydrogen and petroleum produced remained low. These findings highlight the tremendous potential of SECLG to offer a robust, low-carbon, and economically viable route for waste bagasse valorization into hydrogen and liquid fuels.The authors would like to acknowledge the funding from the Global Excellence and Stature (GES) 4.0 scholarship of the University of Johannesburg. The corresponding author also wishes to thank the National Research Foundation of South Africa and the University of Wolverhampton for the FSE Visiting Research Scholar Grant (2023–2024) and for supporting this collaboration.Accepted versio
