Reducing carbon footprint: Eskom’s successful household emissions project

An Eskom household emissions project to improve indoor air quality in the Ezamokuhle community in Amersfoort, Mpumalanga is starting to pay off with participants swapping wood-burning for electricity and gaining upgrades to their homes in the process.

The Masibambisane Air Quality Offset (AQO) project is part of a broader initiative by Eskom meant to reduce particular matter emissions in households situated near their coal-fired power stations.

According to Eskom, the project has been instrumental in reducing indoor air emissions and improving the overall quality of life for low-income households in the area.

Eskom is attempting to move families away from coal and wood-burning by providing education programmes, insulation retrofits and clean energy sources like electricity and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). This is meant to improve both air quality and indoor thermal comfort.

Eskom says so far they have upgraded 91% of the targeted homes in the community of Ezamokuhle, which falls within the influence of the Majuba power station.

“The programme allows qualifying households to swap their old coal stoves for new electric and gas hybrid stoves. As part of the package, the beneficiaries also receive a gas heater and two filled 9kg cylinders. 

“In addition, the house is draft-proofed and given a new ceiling sprayed with fire-retardant insulation material. The final house is issued with a certificate of electrical compliance. In houses that are identified to have asbestos roofs, these roofs are replaced,” they said. 

The power utility told ESI Africa that 3,201 households in Ezamokuhle and other settlements have participated in the programme thus far. In Kwazamokuhle (near Hendrina power station) 1,918 households have been upgraded.

Eskom says they intend to roll out the programme addressing household emissions to a total of 36,000 households in Mpumalanga by 2028. 

Monitoring the carbon emissions reduced so far

Touching on the indoor air emissions that have been achieved through this project and the impact, the power utility said independent service providers for Eskom have undertaken an indoor air quality measurement at both Kwazamokuhle (37 homes) and Ezamokuhle (26 homes). 

“The monitoring was conducted for 6 weeks in winter. This included a 3-week window before intervention and a 3-week window post-installation of the Eskom AQO intervention (ceiling retrofit, rewiring, stove replacement, and LPG heater).

“The monitoring shows a substantial decrease in the levels of particulate matter in the houses post-intervention. 

“The scale of the actual decrease is dependent on the conditions of the house to begin, but indoor particulate matter can be reduced by up to 50% on completion of the interventions,” explained Eskom. 

The power utility says they have established an ambient air quality monitoring network of 19 stations across the region. This includes settlements, such as Ezamokuhle, which are taking part in the offset programme. The goal is to monitor long-term air quality trends.

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Monitoring and communication

“During the offset project implementation, additional temporary ambient monitoring stations were installed in the settlements during the winter and summer to allow pre- and post-implementation monitoring.

“In addition to the ambient monitoring station, Eskom also installed several indoor monitoring stations to assess the impact of air quality within the household pre- and post-intervention.”

To involve the community, Eskom said the project was initiated through stakeholder activations and awareness programmes. A local stakeholder reference group was established and met regularly. 

“Awareness sessions were also held with local schools. Eskom required the service providers to employ local labour, with 139 people employed through the project.”

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Addressing household emissions through electricity and cleaner cooking

Detailing how the project enhances the general quality of life for the community, the power utility stated: “Emissions from coal burning at Eskom stations enter the atmosphere and contribute to the total pollution load the area experiences.

“However, multiple independent studies have shown that a significant source of particulate matter that causes non-compliance with the ambient air quality standard is low-level emission sources such as communities’ burning of coal for cooking and heating (other sources include dust from roads, arable land and veld fires). 

“Using coal in old stoves also causes significant indoor air pollution and has the most significant impact on health due to the level and concentration of exposure.

“The offset programme reduces household coal burning and thus reduces the emissions communities are directly exposed to in and around their houses, in addition to reducing the total emission load in the area.

“This has a direct impact on the well-being of the households.”

 ESI.