Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Blackouts prompt scramble for renewable energy

ESKOM’s scramble to mitigate an electricity crisis of gargantuan proportions is likely to accelerate the diversification of the power utility’s energy mix and its move towards renewable energy sources.

“Solar is something that has a lot of potential and, given the power shortages now, the economics of it is swinging much more in favour of using solar energy. It still needs careful analysis but should be done urgently.”

For more of this Business Day article, go here.

NVDL: Solar isn't capable of providing that much energy. I'm not saying don't try, I'm just saying for the investment and the amount of energy gained, you're not going to dig SA out of its hole any time soon. Bio is a joke. Wind is similar to Solar. You get very little for something. Nuclear is the answer, but it takes a helluva long lead up time. Let's face it, we're in kak. So we have to accept the long term constraints and downscale. What does that mean? It means, Koo Koo, a lot of people must change their lifestyles. Go and change your lightbulbs, turn off lights and computers when you're not using them (common sense stuff like that) - make it a habit. Change how you consume energy. It means being conscious of what we do, and conscious of our impact on others. That's something we divorced ourselves from, making ourselves disconnected, and we've created a monster. It was a foolish and lazy way of living from he start.

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