Dr. Jason Samuels is a dynamic, energetic, and dedicated engineer and researcher with a PhD in energy usage of South African school buildings. After completing school, he joined Stellenbosch University in 2011 for his BEng, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and MEng in electrical engineering. During his PhD studies, he co-founded GreenX Engineering in 2021, an energy services company that provides solutions to schools and other commercial sectors to monitor, manage and reduce the energy usage of their facilities.
Samuels’s research focus on the energy usage of South African school buildings aimed to promote renewable energy sources such as solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, smart metering data analysis using the Internet of Things (IoT), and energy management, to achieve efficiency and to ensure energy resiliency. His goal is to expand this knowledge into other societal spheres too.
GreenX Engineering’s initiatives to equip Cloetesville Primary School in Stellenbosch with energy-saving technology ensured that it became the first school in South Africa to receive an Electrical Performance Certificate (EPC). The school received an A rating for electrical consumption of 17 kWh per m². GreenX is also formally accredited by the National Accreditation System (SANAS) as an EPC inspection body.
Samuels was recently also a crucial part of the team that switched on another no-fee school’s new PV system – that of Ikaya Primary School in Stellenbosch’s Kayamandi. The school received a hybrid 12 kW PV system with a 10-kWh battery that will enable them to switch seamlessly from the Stellenbosch municipal grid when loadshedding is implemented. Ikaya Primary will soon be able to bank almost R50 000 in yearly energy savings through this system.
Apart from these schools, Samuels and his team helped many low-income schools in the Western Cape to reduce their electricity consumptions by at least 30 percent. Samuels said more energy management and efficiency projects are in the pipeline for GreenX.
In his spare time, Samuels focuses his energy on mentoring students, learning new languages, playing guitar, engaging in lengthy discussions with friends, and making videos.