Regular blackouts to hit *** within three years because there is a shortage of new power stations

Families face regular blackouts within three years because *** has not built enough new power stations, it has been claimed.

Sound familiar? Replace *** with Britain. This story comes from Britain's Daily Mail Online.

Seems Eskom are not the only ones that have gotten it wrong .Read on here

South Africa's Electric Car

I sincerely hope that this makes it into production. Optimal Energy, a privately owned South African company based in Cape Town, plans to start selling their electric 'baby' Joule in 2010 for between R200 000 and R250 000, and while locally this is a wee bit pricey it should be seen as a precursor for future, more affordable vehicles with more of a mass market appeal.
While we naturally suspect that we will not have the electricity to recharge our newly purchased Joule, we must remember our electricity shortfall only happens during peak usage hours, so we can happily plug our car in overnight with the knowledge that we are not over-burdening the national electricity grid.

Winter Loadshedding? Here's 2 helpful tools

As we edge into the grips of our South African winter, it seems an inevitability that there is going to be loadshedding as the SA power grid is stretched past it's paltry limit.
Fortunately there are two little tools, those of us who are 'connected' can use to assist us in keeping informed as to if and when we will be without power.

www.loadalert.co.za is an email based tool. Alerts are emailed each day and again when the grid status changes. The mails contain the current status and the resultant times the electricity is due to be shut off in the area(s) you have selected when signing up. I have used this tool for some time now and have been relatively impressed by it's accuracy and extremely impressed with the way they have communicated, not just the loadshedding updates but also their own challenges in getting the correct information from Eskom.

www.myenergy.co.za offers a little desktop application that you can download for free. It keeps itself updated with the latest status, displaying this graphically. While the expected outages are displayed within the application's interface, you can minimize it and should the status change or loadshedding about to be implemented in your chosen area(s) a little information alert pops up. It's nicely customisable, and a potentially very powerful feature, if Eskom and your local municipality come to the party, is the option to shut your pc down a configurable number of minutes before the imminent power outage(with a warning message).

South Africans are known for their resourcefulness, and these two tools are proof thereof.

Power crisis - Time for a conspiracy theory

There has been a surprising shortage of conspiracy theories surrounding the power crisis South Africa is currently contending with. So here's one for those that have an appetite for such things.

It's been widely reported that the CIA, and US President George Bush are concerned over the identified capability hackers have to shut down power grids. According to the UK's Telegraph.co.uk 'Tom Donahue told a utilities security conference in New Orleans all the successful hackings occurred outside America.' News24.com reported on the same issue on the 18th January this year, and also states that no details of the power cuts, the country in which they took place or when will be divulged. And this is not a new phenomenon, there are reports dating back to August 2003, of the problem.

The SA government, while projecting apologies the way only politicians can do, have up to now, refused to take action against any of those individuals responsible for the delivery and maintenance of our electricity supply. Couple this with the fact that, as Carte Blanche (video link) revealed, the real problem is not so much the increased demand but the massive shortages of supply and one can think that maybe are playing hardball with some cyber-terrorists.

How much could they be asking for?

Related Posts :

• 10 Power sketches
• Power problems affecting SA psyche
• Give Eskom the finger ... install your own nuclear reactor
  

DIY wind power generation

As the title of the web page says "Wind is free" Living in close to the tip of Africa, means that along with the beauty comes the a fair amount of wind. The ever present power outages and the wish to become a South African and world citizen, made me look into the possibility of utilising the wind to supplement my electricity usage from national power grid.
My research brought me to windpower.org.za. The page is an conglomeration Peter's research, experiences, designs, and the source material, gathered on his ongoing quest to build his own wind turbine. His model is currently running, powering a battery bank which in turn powers a light source. And as a result this page is a wealth of useful information.

He says that that it has currently cost him R3500-00 for his current setup. This includes the cost of experimentaion. When compared to the quotes I have received from the only two distributors I could find in Cape Town (or South Africa for that matter) of over R30 000-00 it looks like a worthwhile project on which to embark. However, me being severely challenged when it comes to DIY, it will remain a pipe dream. The site as a pretty active forum which is used to exchange ideas, and their seems to be a healthy community of enthusiasts hell bent on utilising the free power source. All strength to them.

For those of you DIY challenged, here are the alternatives :

• futuregreen.co.za
• kestrelWind.co.za
  

10 Power sketches

If any of the images below are unclear, click on them to enlarge ... enjoy

Leon helps us smile (Video)

Watch more free videos

Power problems affecting SA Psyche

It's become increasingly evident that the current power crisis has created a serious dent in the psyche of South Africans. No conversation will be complete without some mention of 'load shedding.' The news media, traditional and new, is abuzz with the latest developments, or lack thereof.
The wave of optimism that has been the prevalent for the past 36 months or so has undoubtedly come to a grinding halt, with a little help of ANC infighting. Posts like this at SA Rocks ("SA Rocks promotes the good things that happen every day in South Africa.") are indicative of the mood of ordinary South Africans. An Aussie immigrant puts it very succinctly in this great post entitled "I have the Sheds!" Local blog aggregator Muti's top tag is by far Eskom and the top voted posts are becoming full of posts with expletives in the headings.
The repercussions are now being felt on a macro level as the rand falls, obviously as a result of a slowing of investment and the acceleration of capital outflowing as investors foresee a long term slowing of large scale infrastructure projects reliant on a constant reliable energy source. The growth rate, currently the fall guy for the crisis, is due to come to a grinding halt. Not to mention the outages now becoming evident in the rest of the SADEC countries as Eskom pulls the plug on their supply as it endeavours to, quite rightly, ensure it keeps is local customers supplied first.

So what is a citizen of this beautiful country to do? Again SA Rocks has a great list of things one can do during power cuts ... er sorry ... load shedding. But we need to find answers so that we don't need to get to use these great suggestions in the first place. Increasing pressure on the utility and government is an obvious answer. However this situation has been brought on by years of non-action by our current administration. Things are been set in motion now, but these are all long-term solutions. Many have suggested, and promised, to sue Eskom and the government. All this will achieve is money going to individuals and corporations when it should and be used to assist in the alleviation of the problem.
There is however something positive that can be gained from all of this. The power cuts effect all of us. The haves and the have nots. Suburban and rural residents. Black, white, coloured and purple population. Those using public transport and those with their own means of mobility. Perhaps other than success on the sports field, this can be the great uniter?

So we have only have two things are can, and in my humble opinion, should do.

1. Reduce our power consumption. This alone will not make the problem go away but it makes us good citizens. Less consumption has the added benefit in that it assists in reducing pollution. Click here are some tips to assist you reduce consumption.
2. It's very important that those in power suffer the consequences of their bad planning. The inevitable changing of the guard must to deflect the our attention. We need to use our vote to ensure a more effective political mix. Those currently in power have let us down and those that replace them need to know that this will not be allowed to happen again.
   

Give Eskom the finger ... install your own Nuclear Reactor

Toshiba, Japan have developed a Micro Nuclear Reactor capable of powering an apartment building or a city block for 40 years, without needing refueling. With a footprint of just 11 square meters, it is engineered to be fail-safe, totally automatic and will not overheat.
"Unlike traditional nuclear reactors the new micro reactor uses no control rods to initiate the reaction. The new revolutionary technology uses reservoirs of liquid lithium-6, an isotope that is effective at absorbing neutrons. The Lithium-6 reservoirs are connected to a vertical tube that fits into the reactor core." www.nextenergynews.com
It is claimed to produce electricity for 35c per kilowatt hour.
Toshiba aims to install it's first reactor in Japan in 2008 and beginning worldwide marketing in 2009.

Anyone want to go halvies??

Sites you need to bookmark

It amazes me how many people are not aware of the following two sites, they are extremely useful, and provide a great service, bookmark them now!

The first one, is www.payfine.co.za. As the name suggests it's a way of avoiding the queues at the Traffic Department, paying your fines and remaining within the law, even though you broke it to start with! It's quick and easy to register and allows you to search either by notice number, or by ID number. The latter being particularly useful when you are unsure whether a fine has been paid or after the 'dog ate the notice.' In the FAQ they give you a 6 step payment process, but realistically once you have registered it's a simply search, select, pay, 1-2-3 process.
Now for the catch. Currently the following municipalities are on board with www.payfine.co.za. Cape Town, Johannesburg, Stellenbosch, Paarl, Swellendam and Mosselbay.
If your municipality is not listed perhaps you should be putting pressure on them to do so.
Incidentally, another way of paying fines without making the trek to the traffic department is via FNB atms. Personally, I prefer doing so from the comfort of my home.

The second site, is unfortunately only available to Capetonians. www.energy.co.za is an easy to remember and even easier to use online prepaid electricity vendor. You simply register, input your meter number and you are ready to buy your electricity from the comfort of your home. No more trekking off to the local 7Eleven to buy electricity in the middle of the night, while the family showers in candlelight! I have been using this site for over 6 years now and it amazes me how few people are aware that this type of thing exists.
For the rest of SA I have another site for you to try out: www.easypay.co.za. While it's operated by a reputable company, I have not given it a try as I have found www.energy.co.za has fulfilled my requirements and has never given me any hassles. Nevertheless, according to their site they have signed up municipalities in all the provinces, so if anyone decides to use them or is already using EasyPay to buy their electricity, let us know how well the process works.