The last 2 weeks have been rather frustrating for most of us South Africans, as we have experienced power outages almost every single day, sometimes up to 6 hours a day. It is frustrastraing, but the reality is we need to live and work around it, for the next 5 – 7 years. I’m pretty sure that something will be done before then, otherwise, the economy is just going to crash, and we will fall in a deep dark (no pun intended) depression.
But we need to look for solutions. And it can be done. The next big problem we are facing as a world is Global warming. Why not use the one to try and fix the other. The sun is shining so much brighter, and we should be using it to create energy from solar panels, to create electricity.
Imagine, we install a couple of rugby field size “solar panel plants” in the Northern Cape. Maybe near Upington. The Northern Cape is one of South Africa’s poorer provinces with a high unemployment rate. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Create employment, while helping the economy grow in the region, AND we get more electricity. It can be done. 2 sites in the USA have recently been installed using this technology.
Stafford Masie, wrote a brilliant post on his blog about how we need to look for renewable energy sources, and has links to both these projects in this post.
Another source of electricity is in our homes. Every day. Even when Eskom does turn our power off. How ? Our Telephones. On every telephone line there is 12v of current running through, regradless if the elctricity has been turned off or not. We could use this source to power essential items around the house. Recharge batteries, be able to use our laptops…there are so many opportunities. This American site has a few different products which you can use this source of power .
The bottom line is that we need to find solutions to the problems. We are in a crisis, but we just need to put our heads together and solve it…
(OK, just as I was about to push the publish button, I get shed into darkness…Karma is a bitch :) )
