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Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 02 Aug 2011 South Africa hopes to cut its carbon emissions 34 percent by 2020, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa says. Building coal-fired power stations would not affect this, as cutting emissions did not [...] Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 22 November 2010 The annual Hout Bay Green Faire will take place this weekend (27 November 2010) on the fields at Kronendal Primary School from 10:00 to 18:00. The Green Faire is a showcase of renewable energy, [...] Posted by: Yes Solar Cape (Cape Town, South Africa) – 09 October 2010 Government has warned that rolling blackouts would be imposed from next year unless “extraordinary” measures were taken by Eskom to ward off an impending power crisis.  Load shedding a reality from 2011, lasting until 2016 Eskom, in turn, has appealed to the public to conserve energy, and has urged private investors to help rescue the situation. “We are going to run out of power,” spokesperson for Department of Minerals and Energy, Bheki Khumalo, said yesterday. Khumalo was responding to a government report which predicted load shedding would become a reality from next year, lasting until 2016, unless urgent solutions were found. Released for public comment yesterday, the Medium Term Risk Mitigation Plan (PTRM) for Electricity in South Africa – 2010 to 2016 anticipates rolling blackouts if energy providers other than Eskom are not found soon. “This situation poses a real risk of rolling blackouts, similar to those experienced in 2008, and a serious threat to government’s objectives for growth and job creation,” the report states. Khumalo said the report was a warning to all that energy in South Africa would not last forever. Continue reading “We are going to run out of power” Posted by: Yes Solar Cape (Cape Town, South Africa) – 15 September 2010 Three ground-breaking renewable energy projects earmarked for Nelson Mandela Bay with a combined investment value of more than R1-billion are on track, with at least one to start being implemented before the end of the year, top project officials have revealed.  Solar hot water. Evacuated tube installation. They include the resumed roll- out of up to 100000 solar water heaters (high-pressure solar-powered geysers) to residents after the R900-million project was put on ice in June, as well as a proposed wind farm at Van Stadens consisting of up to 15 giant wind turbines, and methane gas harvesting facilities at the Arlington or Koedoeskloof waste disposal sites. Because the three projects are being funded by ETA Energy Ltd – a subsidiary of parastatal the Central Energy Fund (CEF) – they are on track and unaffected by the Bay municipality’s cash-flow problems which has seen many infrastructure projects halted. The three projects will see the metro catapulted to the forefront of attempts by cities around the country to minimise their dependence on energy provider Eskom and its steep annual price increases by “going green”. Continue reading Roll-out of 100000 solar water heaters resumes Posted by: Yes Solar Cape (Cape Town, South Africa) – 29 August 2010 Miss Piggy is not the only porker that can make money from hot air. Limpopo farmer Willie Humphries, 34, is using the waste from his 17000 pigs to create methane gas, which is then converted into electricity.
Electricity generated from pig effluent, including pig urine, is used to run all his farming operations – including the electrical motors that process food for the 26 pig pens – as well as the heating and temperature control in the grower houses, the boreholes and for domestic use in the farmhouse. The project has also been brought to the attention of the Department of Energy in the hope of securing finance to provide households from a nearby informal settlement with power and gas for cooking. At least 9000 tons of pig effluent at the 520ha farm is stored in a biodigester – a 60m x 60m storage tank that is almost 5m deep. The air-tight tank is sealed with thick plastic to prevent leakage into the groundwater. Continue reading Pigs power Limpopo farm |
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