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To measure is to know, to know is to manage
There’s an old management adage that states what you do not measure you cannot manage. And as John Reh, a leading American management consultant, says, ‘Measuring allows you to know if the situation is getting better or getting worse.’
Various financial and property management systems available in the public sector allow accurate and detailed measurement of details per property or account. Through linking data fields and interfacing the data between respective systems, municipalities have access to a wealth of information to manage their ‘businesses’.
Accurate reporting enables management to take appropriate strategic decisions that can improve a municipality’s financial position, enabling it to provide better services in the short and long term. Pictures speak louder than words, and the use of a GIS platform to map reports allows management and council easy access to this information. Through linking data fields in the billing and valuation or property management systems, consumption may be measured and tracked per property or per account holder. Services and rates arrears can be mapped per district, per ward or per street as required. Arrears, bad debts and the write-off of bad debts can be better managed, pre-empted and avoided.
There’s increasing awareness of the urgent and critical requirement to save our planet, to secure the environment for our children and future generations. The Big Green Dictionary, available online, provides a comprehensive catalogue of all ‘green solutions’ in South Africa. If you enter ‘municipality’ you get ‘no results found’, and ‘public sector’ returns the same dismal result. Does this mean that municipalities are not participants in these initiatives?
There are various innovative and exciting solutions out there, all begging for implementation. These include water-saving and energy-saving solutions, grey-water solutions, recycling projects, solar power, and green building methods and products.
All these products have a positive impact but who is measuring? Currently the owners of ‘green’ businesses, registered as Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), are measuring. For example, the Wonderbag is a heat-retention cooker that reduces energy use for cooking by as much as 50%. It reduces a household’s carbon footprint by 500kg per annum and qualifies for carbon credits through the UNFCCC and access to the European Carbon Credit Exchange.
In an independent survey of 90 households conducted over a three-week period in 2009, it was established that one Wonderbag reduced cooking fuel consumption by 30-50%. This translates into a saving of approximately 15kilowatt hours of electricity and 1,5litres of paraffin per week.
Here’s an opportunity for municipalities to adjust the manner in which they deliver services to their communities. Instead of free basic services, how about a mix of free services and energy/water-saving devices? The Washezi is a portable, manually operated washing machine. It is an energy- and water-saving eco-friendly product offering users a cost-effective washing solution in that it uses no electricity and minimal water.
Municipalities have a unique handle on measurement. They can measure consumption per household of electricity and water (if they are the relevant service providers) across the entire municipal jurisdiction. All interventions can be measured before and at regular intervals to measure the impact of the initiative through savings or reduced consumption. Savings earn carbon credits, carbon credits are tradeable. This will improve the situation of beleaguered municipalities twofold: first, the consumption of water and electricity will be reduced and, second, income may be generated for the municipality through earning carbon credits.
The time has come for creative private-public partnerships, for municipalities to offer corporate social responsibility effective and accurate measurement of their contributions. The net result is a win-win for all concerned, with the planet being the biggest winner. Through the application of specifically designed software, these measurements are possible and will achieve improved long-term sustainability which is to the benefit of all stakeholders.
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The Wonderbag™ heat-retention cooker was South Africa's first programmatic CDM project registered by the UNFCCC, and one of the first in Africa. This is but one example of how municipalities can reduce energy consumption within their jurisdictions. For more information and purchase details on this innovative product go to www.naturalbalancesa.com |
