Future of Engineering in South Africa: Sustainability

Our modern life is rooted in the way we have designed our buildings, cities, and the infrastructure around us. Drastic climate change, air pollution, increasing competitiveness, and connectivity, this has forced us to look at innovative solutions that benefit both humans and the planet. These days, sustainable development is at the forefront of all industries and is necessary to ensure our future survival.

Green construction has grown more every day because it is more than just an environmental movement. Many companies prefer green buildings for financial reasons such as lower operating costs and lowered energy savings.

With its ninth year running, the Green Building Convention finally decided to come to Johannesburg, and what better place to have it than the hub of green developments, the Sandton Convention Centre. This event will take place from 26-29 July 2016.

The purpose of this convention is said to not only bring together industry leaders for a meet and eat kind of event, but aim is to stimulate awareness, ambition, and action to design, build and operate better buildings.

Where is South Africa with green buildings?
Sandton is home to possibly the largest collection of green-rated buildings of any CBD in Africa, with more than 20 certified projects by the GBCSA. Apart from Sandton, across South Africa, green buildings are being constructed in Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Durban, Franschhoek, and the Karoo to name a few.

The construction industry has changed considerably over the last couple of years with more and more focus on green buildings. This is evident as we currently have 62 certified green buildings complete and operating and an additional 150 buildings in the pipeline. Creating these buildings requires skilled workers such as architects, construction managers, and civil engineers who have knowledge of sustainable practices and green construction techniques.

What is next on South Africa’s radar when it comes to green building?
Green building has dramatically changed our workplaces, but the potential for growth is so much more. How we live and get to work can also change for the good. The possibilities for South Africa as a country and a nation are unimaginable. Some of the trends to look out for in the future include:

Technology and construction unite 
With the technology used to connect and enhance many of our basic services like water, electricity, road works, billing services, to name a few. Building owners and companies will start managing larger buildings remotely, using software platforms that provide performance monitoring, data analytics, visualization, all using the cloud.

Alternative energy for transportation
It seems clear that it is necessary to develop alternative energy sources for transportation to replace fossil fuels since transportation accounts for 25% of all energy consumption worldwide. In the last decade of the 20th century, some car manufacturers developed hybrid vehicles and Toyota has successfully accomplished this.

Two promising technologies are electric vehicles (EVs) and fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). Developing these two key technologies in the next five years will have a decisive impact on our future and will help lower carbon dioxide and alleviate climate change, achieving sustainability for our planet.

Developing alternative energy for transportation, in sum, will stimulate competition among fuels, keep fossil fuel prices at reasonable levels, and slow climate change. Therefore, the technologies making this possible must be further developed.

Looking at the bigger picture, engineers of the future will need to come up with innovative ideas that limit the environmental impact by conserving as much energy and water as possible.

The demand for engineering skills changes as the industry focuses more on sustainability. With these developments taking place, finding the right talent can become even more challenging.

Communicate Recruitment is able to supply suitable engineers in various specialist technical fields, where skills are vital while presenting great opportunities on offer in the market to our candidates.

Contact us today and we will work for hand in hand with you to find you the best engineering talent.