Brandon Hurd works in Information Technology as a project manager for a small company with strong links to the energy sector. He joined ASPO in 2007 as he became concerned about the prospect of an increasingly energy-constrained future. Since that time he has continuously nourished his personal interest in both economics and energy, through targeted research. The areas he has focused on are: systemic weakness in the global economy, nuclear energy and electric vehicles. Brandon is a Political Studies Honours Graduate from the University of Cape Town. He is a born and bred Capetonian, yet has lived overseas for an extended period of time and travelled quite extensively. Somewhere along the way he came to realise that South Africa is the best place in the world to live and he therefore decided to return to Cape Town to raise his children and spend more time with his extended family. Brandon is also a keen mountaineer and lover of the great outdoors.

Dr Yaj Chetty is a medical doctor, having graduated in Glasgow, Scotland in 1985. He has been in GP practice in Cape Town and New Zealand since 1991 with a post-graduate diploma (UCT) in occupational and environmental medicine. Yaj has been an active member of the South African New Economics Network (SANE) since 1999 in association with the late Margaret Legum and a member of ASPO-SA since its inception. He has published several articles in the local SA media on economic and peak oil related issues as well as participating in public debates on national radio talk shows on these ssues. Yaj also has practical experience in the renewable energy sector.

Roger Diamond is currently doing a PhD at UCT in groundwater, as well as acting as an environmental consultant, specialising in groundwater work, environmental training, environmental law, etc. He has worked in Australia as a geologist and hydrogeologist and in South Africa in waste management and environmental consulting. He has worked for government, private industry, a small consulting firm and now for himself. He also lectures at Cape Peninsula University of Technology. His peak oil interest comes from an environmental angle, especially energy efficiency and related to this he has contributed to Bending the Curve, a local book on climate change, as well as 500 Energy Saving Secrets, an Australian publication. He also writes a blog on the Mail & Guardian's Thought Leader website, called Peak Oil Perspectives.

http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/peakoilperspectives

Michael has lived most of his life in Cape Town, South Africa and obtained a BA degree from the University of Cape Town in 1988. In 2005 Michael became aware of the Peak Oil problem and has spent much time keeping abreast of the developments in this area. He was a founder-member of ASPO - SA and is currently the treasurer for the organisation. Being perhaps more practical than theoretically minded, and very interested in the idea of self-sufficiency and sustainability, especially in the context of Peak Oil, he has been running a small scale organic farm for the past eight years. He has further been running his vehicle on home-made biodiesel - from recycled cooking oil from restaurants - for the past 5 years, clocking up more than 125 000kms on 100% home-brew. These experiences have given him a more micro, hands-on, view of some of the possibilities and challenges that we face as we start the descent from Hubbert's Peak. On the lighter side, Michael has a keen love of percussion and performs regularly with various outfits in and around Cape Town.