The University of Cape Town had an institution-wide energy-efficiency plan in place in 2024, embedded within its annual carbon-management process and targeted at reducing electricity demand across its campuses.

UCT prepared and submitted a detailed energy management plan to the Department of Higher Education & Training in 2023, which explained in detail what UCT’s plans are for energy management and energy efficiency (this is equivalent to an energy plan).

For existing buildings UCT has standard operating procedures in place as part of regular maintenance to replace all equipment when it needs to be replaced with the most energy efficient option available on the market at the time. This includes lighting, HVAC and water heating systems, for example. 

UCT’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy (ESS) provides the institutional framework that guides all energy-efficiency and carbon-reduction initiatives. The ESS commits the university to becoming a net-zero carbon/energy campus by or before 2050, with energy reduction and cleaner energy sourcing positioned as central pillars of this goal. Within the strategy, UCT identifies energy consumption in buildings as the largest contributor to its carbon footprint and therefore prioritises measures such as reducing grid-electricity demand, improving building performance, expanding on-site renewable generation, and ensuring that all new capital projects meet enhanced green-building standards. These commitments are operationalised through actions such as energy metering improvements, efficiency upgrades in lighting and HVAC systems, shifts from fossil-fuel-based heating (e.g., LPG) to electric heat-pump technologies, and the phased rollout of solar PV infrastructure. The ESS therefore provides the overarching policy direction that links UCT’s long-term decarbonisation target with practical, measurable energy-efficiency interventions across its campuses.

All new buildings and major refurbishments are required to achieve at least a 4 Star Green Star rating, whcih requires these buildings to consume substantially less energy than the national minimum for energy efficiency. There are 5 buildings that have been built and a acheived a Green Star rating, including the 6 Star rated d-school.  

The 2024 Carbon Footprint Assessment Report identifies electricity consumption—particularly on Main Campus, which accounts for 64% of all purchased-electricity emissions—as the university’s largest controllable energy demand and therefore the central focus of UCT’s efficiency strategy.

The report’s Carbon Management section explicitly recommends that UCT prioritise “energy efficiency initiatives throughout its campuses for lighting and air conditioning,” noting that reductions in grid electricity use represent the greatest opportunity for lowering emissions and overall consumption. UCT is actively implementing this strategy: the university has progressively replaced LPG water heaters with heat-pump systems, resulting in a multi-year decline in LPG use; improved its building-level metering to enhance consumption tracking; and continued with the planned rollout of solar PV installations, which complement energy-efficiency measures by reducing reliance on grid electricity.

The report also records that UCT’s new and refurbished buildings are being aligned with improved performance standards, and that the institution is preparing for a transition to wheeled renewable electricity from 2027, which is integrated with efficiency planning to minimise future grid demand. These measures demonstrate that UCT not only has a documented energy-efficiency plan but is implementing it through targeted operational changes, infrastructure upgrades and continual monitoring to reduce overall energy consumption.