South Africa’s performance on renewable energy and its relative position against the OECD countries and the rest of Africa

Renewable energy has been a "hot topic" since the increased awareness of the consequences of climate change. Africa is vulnerable to such climate changes and, hence, should be more aware of the impact of fossil fuel generation on the environment although it has coal in abundance. South Africa is among the countries who negatively contributed to the pollution of the environment in recent years especially as nearly 90% of its energy is produced from coal. We position South Africa with regards to renewable energy supply, usage and intensity both among other African countries and among more developed countries, such as the OECD group. The findings show that South Africa is not the best performer regarding renewable energy among African countries, despite its main economic position in the continent. Furthermore, the comparison of South Africa to OECD countries shows that South Africa has a long way to go to achieve a sustainable environment.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/rser2017-04-30hb201

Predicting BRICS stock returns using ARFIMA models

This article examines the existence of long memory in daily stock market returns from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) countries and also attempts to shed light on the efficacy of autoregressive fractionally integrated moving average (ARFIMA) models in predicting stock returns. We present evidence which suggests that ARFIMA models estimated using a variety of estimation procedures yield better forecasting results than the non-ARFIMA (AR, MA, ARMA and GARCH) models with regard to prediction of stock returns. These findings hold consistently for the different countries whose economies differ in size, nature and sophistication.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rafe202016-02-27hb201

Demand Side Management potentials for mitigating energy poverty in South Africa

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd South Africa is severally posited to be Africa's most industrialized nation with an economy heavily reliant on energy. With depleted electricity reserve margin which led to massive load shedding and rationing of electricity in 2008, Eskom has stepped up the construction of additional power plants to cover for growing supply deficits. Emerging trends however favour Demand Side Management (DSM) initiatives as alternatives to building additional supply capacity due to environmental and economic constraints. This research evaluates the electricity per capita for 2007, 2011 and 2016 on provincial basis assuming 100% and 36.8% residential sector consumption of generated electricity to show declining electricity per capita values. A scenario simulation (for 100%, 50% and 30% household participation) of cloth washers and cloth dryers optimal dispatch is then modelled to show the enormous DSM potentials in terms of electricity cost reduction and supply flexibility. A modified genetic algorithm (MGA) is used in the dispatch of participating loads on the Medupi power plant which has been modelled to operate with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology. DSM potentials of 6938.34 MW, 3469.18 MW and 2081.51 MW are computed for 100%, 50% and 30% household participation for cloth washers and cloth dryers

Analysis of Self

Life is a revolving door that opens and closes at every reasonable time, and it comes unexpectedly to some, and to others, it looks like orderly chaos. But as the saying goes, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade or leave the lemons alone. Sometimes, it is to take the easy route and protect your peace of mind. As I have discovered in these last few years, If circumstances permit, I choose to leave the lemons alone because it is not mandatory to solve all the problems I face. Choosing my peace of mind is always my goal in every situation. But the uncertainties of life have obligated me to become the best that I could be in my meaningful relationships. Self-awareness has allowed me to explore the inner me and care for my mental health, improve my professional self, have positive regard for others, and have humanity in my approaches and interactions with issues. Keywords: Mental Health, Self-awareness, Becomin