Notes from underground: Going Green: installing a solar-powered geyser

Notes from underground: Going Green: installing a solar-powered geyser:

This morning workmen came to install a solar-powered geyser in our house. It's a cold and rainy day and winter is approaching, so I'm not sure if we'll see the benefit immediately, but it will be interesting to see if the electricity bills are reduced after a few months.

Eskom, the national electricity supplier, offers subsidies for the installation of solar-powered geysers.

Eskom: clean energy, not coal! - Avaaz

In just days, the World Bank will vote on a proposed R29 billion loan to Eskom to build the fourth-largest coal plant in the world -- a climate disaster. At the same time, Eskom plans to effectively double electricity rates over the next three years. Big polluters are getting cut-rate electricity while ratepayers would be left to pay back this disastrous loan.

But the loan is not a done deal. Some creditors are having second thoughts, with the US expected to abstain and several European delegates reportedly on the fence. And we can tip the balance -- we just need one "no" vote to table the proposal since the Bank rarely proceeds with divisive votes!

While Eskom trumpets the plan, we can tell World Bank directors how we feel about coal. Let the Word Bank know that we don't want its dirty loan - click below to sign the petition today:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/no_eskom_coal_loan/?vl

The Bank is right to recognize South Africa's energy needs, but this loan would be putting money in the wrong place. Instead of dirty coal, South Africa needs energy efficiency and clean, renewable sources of power that people who most need it can actually afford. If this loan is approved, South Africans will pay for it several-fold -- in meteoric electricity rates, missed clean energy investments, polluted air, destroyed land, and the warming earth on which we live.

Dozens of South African environmental, community, church, labour, academic and women's organizations, representing a diverse, unified voice have mobilized to stop the loan. But every voice counts in these last days before the World Bank vote. Act now -- sign the petition opposing the loan:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/no_eskom_coal_loan/?vl

With hope,

Ben, Paul, Graziela, David, Alice, Ricken, and the whole Avaaz team

More information --

NGO Response to the World Bank panel report and Fact Sheet
http://www.groundwork.org.za/Publications/EskomFinalDocs/ResponsetotheWorldBankpanelreportandFactSheet.pdf

Original World Bank Fact Sheet
http://www.groundwork.org.za/Publications/EskomFinalDocs/WBEskomloanfactsheet.pdf

Eskom Tariff Hikes Slammed
http://allafrica.com/stories/201002250561.html

World Bank to Consider $4 Billion Loan Application From Eskom
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601116&sid=aGkhG0hBKlrE

SAfrica grants Eskom 24.8 pct price rise for 2010/11
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSWEB199720100224?type=marketsNews

Earth Hour 2010

On 28 March 2009, in probably the single biggest mass action in history, a wave of darkness swept across the world’s cities and towns as millions of people switched off their lights for an hour, pledging their support for decisive action against climate change.

In South Africa more than 100 000 people signed up their support. Further, based on the reduced electricity consumption over Earth Hour, ESKOM estimated that 1 million South African households participated!
Earth Hour 2010 will have a very important role to play in ensuring that the South African government takes strong action against climate change.

Please save the date: 27 March 2010, 8:30pm – 9:30pm.
We hope that you will support Earth Hour 2010. We look forward to engaging with you next year on this exciting and important worldwide campaign.

The right to dry clothes

Notes from a Common-place Book: Fight For Your Right to Dry!:

Clothes, that is. I am learning of a growing debate in this country over the right to hang out clothes to dry. I have never given this much thought, having lived (outside of college) in either semi--rural areas or small towns all my life. As a consequence, there has never been anyone to tell me what I could or could not do in my back yard. Such is apparently not the case throughout most of urban America. Clothesline proponents, as well as backyard chicken enthusiasts, are taking cities to court to reverse such prohibitions. I find it refreshing to hear of these sporadic outbreaks of common sense.

I believe that some blocks of flats in South African cities have similar regulations agains hanging up the washing to dry. Perhaps one way of combating the energy shortage would be for laws to be past to make such regulations ultra vires.

Yes, we have an electric clothes drying, which we use in emergencies on rainy days. My son is a mechanic and his overalls have to be washed every day, and three or four rainy days in a row can mean that he has nothing dry to wear. But regulations that force people to use such expensive and high-consumption machines even on sunny days really are too much.

See also Notes from underground: Fighting for the right to dry clothes

SA saved 400Mw during Earth Hour

SA saved 400 MW during Earth Hour

By: Creamer Media Reporter

30th March 2009

South Africans who participated in Earth Hour on Saturday saved about 400 MW of electricity, 400 t of carbon dioxide, 224 t of coal and about 576 000 l of water, power utility Eskom reported on Monday.

Earth Hour was organised by the World Wildlife Fund in an effort to get one-billion people worldwide to switch off their lights for one hour.

“The 400 MW translates to about four-million 100 W bulbs or 6,7-million 60 W bulbs switched off on Saturday. This shows a concerted effort by about one-million households,” said Eskom MD corporate services and Eskom climate change champion Dr Steve Lennon.

Lights on average consumed about 10% of household electricity, whereas geysers used as much as 40% of the total electricity bill, commented Lennon, highlighting the difference that could have been made if South Africans had also turned off their geysers during Earth Hour.

“We believe that the Earth Hour initiative has created incredible excitement around the need for efficient use of energy. As South Africa’s primary supplier of electricity, our hope is that all South Africans harness this excitement and use energy wisely every day of the year,” said Lennon.

City of Johannesburg member of the Mayoral Committee for Environment Prema Naidoo also on Monday applauded the Earth Hour initiative.

“We hope that this symbolic gesture has demonstrated to the world that people everywhere are concerned about this issue, and are willing to act,” he commented.

Naidoo expressed the need for people to take action against climate change and global warning now, saying that it hoped government’s National Energy Efficiency Campaign would be supported by every individual, business and energy player.

“Here in South Africa, we have unique reasons to be concerned about the energy issue. It is not widely understood that the production of electricity produces enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, one of the main greenhouse gases. As a result of our habits of energy wastage, we have become the eleventh highest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the world, he said.

Edited by: Mariaan Webb

The Blackouts Spread

With the rolling blackouts at the beginning of this year and the media coverage South Africans might be forgiven for thinking that Eskom was the only electricity provider in the world that has been having problems. But apparently the energy crisis is worldwide.

Falls Church News-Press - The Peak Oil Crisis: The Blackouts Spread:

Shortages, however, are not confined to small, poor states, but, in an increasing number of cases, are appearing in large, relatively well-off and active states on which the OECD world of North America, Europe and parts of Asia are very dependent. Several of the countries having energy problems are actually oil exporting states that, for one reason or another, are not able to turn their increasing oil wealth into smoothly functioning shortage-free economies. Unfortunately, several major countries appear to be on the path to an energy shortage-induced economic and perhaps political collapse within the foreseeable future which obviously will have serious consequences for us all.

Currently, the most serious situations appear to be in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Both are nations with populations in excess of 150 million people that are ensnared in devastating power shortages that have destroyed their export industries. Both are facing water and agricultural problems that threaten their food supplies. Liquid fuels are running short and reductions in exports threaten their ability to import oil and natural gas. It was recently revealed that the Saudis already are forgiving $6 billion of Pakistan's $12 billion annual oil import bill.

Australians named as world's worst polluters

It seems that Valli Moosa got it wrong -- Eskom is not the worst polluter in the world.

Australians named as world's worst polluters | Environment | The Guardian:

Australians are the world's worst individual greenhouse gas polluters if emissions are calculated from the output of the country's power stations, according to new analysis.

Each Australian produces nearly 11 tonnes of CO2 power sector emissions, the United States follows on nine tonnes per person, while Britain is ranked ninth at 3.5 tonnes and China - heavily criticised by the international community for its rapid development of coal-fired power stations - produces only two tonnes a year per person. Indians emit about half a tonne of CO2 per person....

The US produces 2.79bn tonnes a year and China slightly less with 2.7bn. They are followed by Russia with 661m tonnes; India 583m tonnes; Japan 400m tonnes; Germany 356m tonnes; Australia 226m tonnes; South Africa 222m tonnes; the UK with 212m tonnes and South Korea with 185m tonnes.

That's no reason for complacency, of course, and Eskom still needs to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, and look for alternative sources of energy.

Eskom is one of the biggest polluters in the world

Eskom is one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world said Valli Moosa, the non-executive chairman of the Eskom board, and former Minister for Environmental Affairs.

Moosa was speaking at the conference of the Southern African Faith Communities Environment Institute (SAFCEI) at Rosettenville last night. The picture shows Valli Moosa with Bishop Geoff Davies of Cape Town and Rabbi Hillel Avidan of Durban at the meeting.


Valli Moosa was Minister of Constitutional Development under President Mandela, and inserted a clause in the constitution on the right to a clean and healthy environment.

He was Minister of Environmental Affairs 1999-2004, after which he retired from government, but is still active in politics and was reelected to the ANC National Executive at the Polokwane conference last December.

He was asked to serve as non-executive director of the board of Eskom in 2005.

Here is a summary of Valli Moosa's speech:

There was a problem in serving on the board, Moosa said, as Eskom is one of the biggest polluters in the world. This was an interesting challenge for someone who had championed the Kyoto Protocol. The policy of Eskom had been to produce cheap electricity, so Eskom burns cheap coal, which is less efficient, and so produces more pollutants.

South Africa is one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases per capita in the world because of our use of low-grade coal, and there is no requirement for Eskom to reduce its greenhouse gases. The big challenge for Eskom is to meet the growing demand for electricity.

South Africa has become an energy-hungry country because we have had wrong policies. The policy has been to provide cheap electricity and thus attract industry and so create jobs. But because electricity was cheap, people tended to use more. We have had massive economic growth.

We also did not bother to develop legal standards, like building regulations to make buildings more energy efficient. There are no regulations for the energy efficiency of light bulbs. The problem of cheap electricity is also seen in consumer behaviour. Salesmen comparing fridges never say which model consumes less electricity, and consumers never ask this.

But even though we are a developing country (and ths exempt from having to apply the Kyoto Protocol) we still need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The ANC conference at Polokwane last December adopted a resolution calling for the country to set emission targets. This was largely ignored by the media, who were interested in other things, but no other ruling party in the world has done this.

Eskom also has a responsibility to set its own targets, and has begun to do so. Eskom aims to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases per megawatt up to 2025, and after that to achieve an absolute reduction. After 2025 the older coal-fired power stations will begin to be decommissioned, and they should be replaced by power stations that do not use fossil fuels. Two new coal-fired power stations are being built, and Moosa said he hoped they would be the last.

There will have to be a mix of renewable and nuclear energy sources, and there has to be a trade off. The best thing is solar energy. Nuclear power requires uranium, and the mining of uranium itself damages the environment, and there is also the problem of nuclear waste, but Moosa said he believed it was better than the use of coal-fired power stations.

The most effective renewable source of energy is solar, and the government is introducing a subsidy for solar panels to heat water for household use. Wind is another option, and Eskom is building two wind farms, but wind is not reliable all the time, and so wind power may not be available when it is most needed. It is difficulty to store electricity, but we do have some dam storage schemes, where water is pumped up to a storage dam at times of low demand, and released to generate electricity at peak periods.

There is also solar thermal technology that can produce distributable power, but this is still at the research stage.

In spite of recent and proposed price hikes, South Africa's electricity remains the cheapest in the world, and even if we doubled the price we would still be cheaper than anywhere else. Without the increases we will not achieve energy efficiency, because people will continue to waste electricity.

There is an opportunity in the crisis, which may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Until the power cuts last January, no one took the problem seriously. From the environmental point of view it has encouraged people to use energy more responsibly. If we hadn't built big aluminium smelters there would be no energy crisis, and this is another example of wrong policies in the past leading to the present problem, but this is a sensitive issue, as can be seen in BHP Billiton taking away its business from Standard Bank as a result of a Standard Bank spokesman saying that aluminium smelters should be closed down.

During question time several people queried the need for nuclear power, but Moosa maintained that it still remained the most feasible alternative to coal-fired power stations, which did more damage to the environment. Another questioner asked for more tranparency on the part of Eskom's board, and Moosa promised to try to arrange a meeting between the Eskom board and representatives of SAFCEI.

Environmental aspects of the Budget speech

Some comments from Harald Winkler of the environmental aspects of yesterday's budget speech.

Many of you will no doubt have looked at the budget speech already. It includes quite a bit on climate change explicitly, and other items that are directly related:

• a recognition that climate change may require us to change our growth path (p. 6-7):
• puts under scrutiny for implementation" options from an earlier paper on environmental fiscal reform, which many of you will have seen - specifically mentions (p. 22) " include the use of emission charges and tradable permits, tax incentives for cleaner production technologies and reform of the existing vehicle taxes to encourage fuel efficiency" (p. 22)
• announces a 2 c/ kWh tax on non-renewable electricity, generating R2 billion in 2008/9 and R 4 bn in 2009/10, - and gives R60 bn to Eskom (p. 24)

Regards

Di Mellon
Secretary :
Southern African Faith Communities' Environment Institute
Ph: 021 7018145

South Africa's Power Crises: Understanding Causes and Assessing Prospects

University of Cape Town

Energy Research Centre

Seminar Series

Anton Eberhard

Management Programme in Infrastructure reform and Regulation, UCT GSB

and

Phillip Lloyd

Energy Research Centre, UCT

Will be debating

South Africa's Power Crises: Understanding Causes and Assessing Prospects

Chaired by

Kevin Bennet

Energy Research Centre, UCT

This Thursday – 7^th February, 1-2pm

In the Level 2 Seminar Room, Chemical Engineering Building, Upper Campus, UCT

(same level as reception)

Power crisis may shift Eskom to renewable energy sources

It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good.

Business Day - News Worth Knowing:

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.

With the commissioning of additional coal-fired and nuclear plants several years away before they will bring relief to SA’s overburdened power system, Eskom is turning to alternatives to bring more power in faster.

Cherryflava: A possible solution to South Africa's energy crisis?

Cherryflava: A possible solution to South Africa's energy crisis?: "In Holland - a company called Qurrent is pioneering a new way of effectively working with renewable energy within suburban neighbourhoods.

Here's how it works: Using renewable energy sources like small wind turbines and solar panels, this company develops devices, software and services that enable the creation of small Local Energy Networks. Within these networks, which are mostly privately owned, Qurrent members exchange energy to maximize the efficiency of the energy they produce. Surplus energy is then sold back to the grid to subsidise the network."