Breathing Space

The South African power crisis has brought to light a number of issues. The most prevalent of these are the failure to plan and poor judgement by the Government and Eskom - the national electricity supplier.As a response, most people and businesses are looking at ways to make up the shortfall. Petrol and diesel powered generators are selling like hotcakes.

But it also illustrates the complacency in South Africa about finding ways to use power more efficiently and looking into renewable energy sources. While the rest of the world has been actively seeking more efficient ways to use energy, South Africa has simply relied on Eskom to provide its needs.

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Living in Israel in the 1960’s most apartment blocks had an array of solar panels on their roofs to provide for the majority of each household’s hot water requirement. Solar heating systems have been available for many years. More than 40 years later, solar panels for homes to provide hot water are beginning to have an impact in South Africa. The growing popularity of solar energy in South Africa is mainly a result of a power generating crisis in the country.

The electricity supplier no longer has the capacity to supply all of the country’s electricity supply needs, and is offering subsidies to households willing to invest in solar panels. Solar hot water systems use the sun’s thermal energy - it’s ability to provide heat.Solar hot water systems are probably more affordable than most people think. Couple that to the fact that it will reduce the average household’s electricity bill by 40-50%, and the system will pay for itself fairly quickly.

Another technology being rapidly deployed are solar panels to provide energy to power traffic lights. This technology uses light energy or photovoltaics (PV). This converts light into electricity using semiconductor technology. The electricity produced can either be used immediately or stored using batteries. These units are now becoming quite advanced, and are able to provide energy even under overcast conditions. Units are now becoming available that can provide most of the power requirements for the average household!

The cost of transforming a home into one that is entirely powered by solar energy (using PV solar panels) is still prohibitive. The cost is likely to reduce as the technology improves and more people turn to solar powered houses. But there are ways of beginning the transformation that could be more manageable. Do not try to use these for hot water or heating requirements. Thermal units do this more efficiently. Begin by installing PV panels to supplement your electricity requirements - perhaps to power the lighting requirements or to provide power for the computer and TV. Gradually, step by step, a household can become independent of the national power supplier, using only renewable electricity sources.

In addition, wind powered generators are also readily available. These depend on a good supply of wind, to they would be great in cities like Cape Town. Similar to the traditional windmill, these units generate power that can be used immediately or stored in a battery for later use. An additional device to supplement the solar energy. 

So we are now ready to reduce the need for fossil fuels in the production of power!

Solar power may not be able to completely replace fossil fuels as a source of energy - at least in the short term. But the technology to reduce our dependence is becoming available quite rapidly.

Switching to alternative energy sources requires a change in mind-set, but with oil prices continuing their journey to the sky and the limited capacity of our power supplier, that mind-set change is beginning to happen. 

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