Board Members

Prof. L.J. Grobler, (Ph.D.) has been active in the energy field for the past 21 years and has been a member of the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) since 1997. Prof. Grobler was the President of the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) in the United States of America for the 2008/2009 office term.

In 2010 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award as part of the the etaAwards 2010 for his extensive involvement in energy efficiency through measurement and verification, his visualisation programme to show energy consumption in buildings, and for setting the benchmark for training and development of energy engineers.

In 2011 he was unanimously elected at the Annual General Meeting of the South African Academy of Engineering (SAAE) to become a Fellow of the Academy. The Academy provides professionals with a forum for sharing their abilities and eminence in the profession in promoting the aims and objectives of the Academy for the benefit of all society in South Africa.  Academies of Engineering fulfill a critical investigative and advisory role in many winning countries in an environment of continuous global technological change.

Prof. Grobler is certified by the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) as:

• Certified Energy Manager (C.E.M.)
• Certified Measurement and Verification Professional (C.M.V.P.)
• Distributed Generation Certified Professional (D.G.C.P.)

Prof. Grobler is also active in providing training in the Certified Energy Management Training Program (CEM) and Certified Measurement and Verification Program (CMVP) since 2001.

Prof. Grobler is the AEE Chapter President of the Southern African Association for Energy Efficiency (SAEE) and the Association have received several awards from the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE):

• Best International Chapter Program Award (2002)

• Best International Chapter Newsletter Award (2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2005, 2004)

• Best International Chapter Website Award (2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005)

• Most New AEE Members International Award (2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005)

• Best International Chapter Meeting Award (2006)

• Best Overall International Chapter Performance Award (2011, 2004)

Prof. Grobler is a professor in Mechanical Engineering at the North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa. Apart from lecturing, he also mentors students that are busy with their Master and PhD Studies. He has authored or co-authored more than 60 articles on energy related issues in local and international journals and presented or co-presented more than 80 papers at local and international conferences. He also serves on the Technical Committee of the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMVP). In 2009 he was elected to the Council of Measurement and Verification Professionals South Africa (CMVPSA).

Prof. Grobler is Director of Energy Cybernetics, a company specializing in delivering energy solution services. He has personally performed more than 50 industrial and commercial energy audits. He serves on the steering committee responsible for developing the Measurement and Verification (M&V) methodologies and procedures to Measure and Verify the impact of Eskom's Demand Side Management (DSM) program.

Mr. Karel Steyn, Pr Tech (Eng), Pr Techni (Eng), C.E.M. and C.M.V.P., has been managing the Measurement and Verification (M&V) function on the Eskom* Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management (EEDSM) program, on behalf of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA), since 2005. He is certified by the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) in the USA, as a Certified Energy Manager (C.E.M.) since 2002 and a Certified Measurement and Verification Professional (C.M.V.P.) since 2006. He is registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) and has formal qualifications in Marketing. He also sits on the Southern African C.E.M. Evaluation Committee, the Southern African Association for Energy Efficiency (SAEE) Scholarship Committee and chairs the Eskom M&V Steering Committee. He is also being trained and developed to do Technical Assessments for the South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) on those organisations who apply for accreditation to perform Measurement and Verification (M&V). 

He is currently a board member of the Southern African Association for Energy Efficiency (SAEE), a board member of the Council for Measurement and Verification Professionals for South Africa (CMVPSA), a member of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAiEE) and participates in various technical, evaluation and standards committees related to Energy Efficiency and M&V.

Karel has been active in the energy field for the past 22 years. His initial focus was on the Agricultural sector and thereafter the commercial and industrial/mining sectors. During this period he received more than 12 awards for work done as an energy advisor, being a high performer, as well as awards for innovation. Karel also spend a very short period assisting some of his family members, worldwide specialists in continues emissions monitoring and solutions, who is working from the USA.

He already made numerous presentations related to energy efficiency, energy management and M&V to all types of audiences. He has a passion for energy management and energy efficiency, the M & V thereon and related aspects such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), etc.

Lisa Reynolds has a BSc (Chemistry) from Universityof Witwatersrand) and has a MBA from the University of Hull. She achieved her CEM in 2005.

Lisa has worked in the insulation and interior building industry for 12 years. In 2003, she became involved in fire and energy standards and in rewriting of the building code (SANS 10400 and SANS 204).  

In March 2009, the Technical Committee began Edition 2 of the SANS 204 series and Lisa is once again the Chairperson of the Working Groups responsible for the drafting of these standards. Lisa was a member of the Technical Working Group for the Green Building Council of SA which drafted the Green Star rating tool for Offices (published October 2008) and the Green Star rating tool for Retail (published 2009).

She served on the SAEE Board and other bodies including those at the SABS. She is actively involved in writing the energy efficiency standards for buildings and industry and is a member of the Regulatory Advisory Group.

Served as research steering committee member for DME research projects; served on a committee recommending interventions for condensation preventions in low cost housing in the South Cape area; working with Eskom’s Demand Side Management department on projects; Energy Efficiency (and insulation) training for specifiers, project engineers, developers, end users and other stakeholders; Board member of SAAE’s (South African Association of ESCO’s).

Hope holds a BSc Eng from Natal, a DMM from UNISA and a MAP from Wits Business School. He is also a registered Certified Energy Manager (CEM) and Certified Measurement & Verification Professional (CMVP).

He has a long trusting calling in the energy industry.  His career span periods working at Siemens Telecoms; ABB Powertech Transformers; Actaris Metering Systems, Vikinduku Engineering & Projects and at TFMC where he established Energy Management Dept to service Telkom nationally

Currently he is  Manager : Engineering & Energy at ABSA Corporate Real Estate Services.

Hope has performed a number of energy-efficiency related projects with Eskom DSM and is currently engaged with a large corporate energy efficiency program at ABSA, in collaboration with the Barclays Group.

He is a board member of Southern African Association for Energy Efficiency (SAEE), a board member of the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) as well as member of Council of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE).  Hope is also a registered Professional Engineer (Pr. Eng) with Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA).

Sydney Zeederberg holds a BSC degree in Chemical Engineering (1979) from the University of Pretoria and a MBL detree from UNISA (1987). He is a Certified Energy Manager.

At present he is a Chief Process Engineer at Sasol Synfuels responsible for the energy efficiency improvement initiative. He has been working for Sasol since 1980 where he has occupied roles in Production, Business Development, Project Management and Technology Management. He has been leading the Sasol Synfuels Energy Efficiency drive for the last 5 years where he has developed an energy efficiency/co-generation project pipeline in excess of 1000MW. 

Sydney has earned a reputation over many years as a process expert, energy manager and mentor of young engineers. His process knowledge, business knowledge, insight, holistic perspective and a unique level of creativity makes him an excellent developer of new concepts and innovative ways to improve energy efficiency. He is world class in this field.

Dr. TsakaniMthombeni currently holds the position of General Manager within the TechnologyInnovation Agency (TIA).  He previously worked within Anglo TechnicalDivision of Anglo American as Senior Energy Engineer. He was a technicalmanager as the Eskom’s Demand Side Management and he introduced the nationalenergy efficiency motor program (first for South Africa) and also co-chairedthe Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) Demand Side Management working group.Prior to joining Eskom, he was a research officer at the University of CapeTown in the Department of Electrical Engineering with the Advanced Machines andEnergy Systems research team. 

Dr. Mthombeniholds a BSc (Hons.) Elec. Eng from the University of Cape Town and MSc and PhDdegrees from Clarkson University, Potsdam, New York, both in electricalengineering. He also holds a Management Development Program (MDP) certificatefrom Gordon Institute of Business School, through the University of Pretoriaand is a Certified Energy Manager (CEM) and a Certified Measurement andVerification Professional (CMVP). 

He haspublished ten articles for IEEE (Institute of Electrical and ElectronicEngineers) Energy Conversion, Industrial Applications and IndustrialElectronics Transactions and he served as an external examiner (powerengineering exams and MSc thesis projects) for the University of Pretoria. Healso sits in review panels for the National Research Foundation (NRF). Dr. Mthombeni is a member of the IEEE, SAIEE, SANEA and SAEE.