Latest News Archive
Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
![]()
Watch the livestream
Safety Week is here, and you are invited to attend the series of events which are taking place on the Bloemfontein and South campuses from 3 to 6 September 2018.
Issues to be discussed include the handling of sexual assault, gender equality, mental health, personal and road safety. Representatives from, among others, the Sector 3 Community Policing Forum, South African Police Services, Mangaung Local Municipality, Embrace A Sister organisation, Next Chapter organisation, and the Gender and Sexual Equity office will deliver keynote addresses.
Bloemfontein Campus:
3–5 September 2018
12:30–15:00
Thakaneng Bridge
South Campus:
6 September 2018
13:00–15:00
Southern Café (cafeteria area)
Great prizes will be given away. Don’t miss out!
Click here for the programme:
UFS takes the lead in solar heating in the Free State
2010-06-03
 |
In the “engine room” of the solar heating system of the Vergeet-my-nie Residence with the big hot water tanks in the background. From the left are Mr Anton Calitz, Electrical Engineer of the UFS, and Mr Nico Janse van Renburg, Manager: Physical Planning at the UFS.
Photo: Leatitia Pienaar |
The University of the Free State (UFS) took a further step in reducing its carbon footprint and its dependency on coal fired electricity with the installation of a solar heating system at one of its residences. The contractor handed the system over to the UFS on Wednesday, 2 June 2010.
The system installed at the Vergeet-my-nie Residence is the first commercial solar water heating project in both Bloemfontein and at the UFS. It is estimated that it will provide in 70% of the residence’s energy needs and save approximately R101 000 per annum in electricity cost. The project was completed at a cost of R2,4 million.
More residences at the UFS will be refurbished with solar systems as the existing heating systems in the rest of the twenty residences are due for replacement.
The energy crisis of 2008, and the challenges and necessity to reduce the use of electricity, sparked the initiative around the installation of solar heating systems at the UFS. The UFS is the second largest energy user in Bloemfontein.
Mr Nico Janse van Rensburg, Manager: Physical Planning at the UFS, says the management of the UFS saw an opportunity in the crisis and pro-actively embarked to become a market leader. Solar heating would not only alleviate the electricity problem of South Africa, but will impact the ever increasing electricity bill of the UFS.
“Protecting the environment and being on the cutting edge of technology are core issues to the UFS,” says Janse van Rensburg. “We are an educational institution and take pride in practicing what we preach.”
Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication (acting)
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl@ufs.ac.za
3 June 2010