 |
|
|
|
|
|
Photo: A Trunz waterfilter, powered by a solar panel and wind turbine, was
recently installed at the Lynedoch Eco Village outside Stellenbosch.
The filter can purify up to 20 000 litres of water per day. Lynedoch is
the headquarters of the Sustainability Institute – an international
living and learning centre focusing on sustainability. In conjunction
with the Institute, the University's School of Public Management and
Planning offers a master's degree in Sustainable Development, linking
up with the new postgraduate programme in Renewable and Sustainable
Energy Studies. All the postgraduate modules of the newly established
Centre is presented in Lynedoch.
A green way of living
by Engela Duvenhage
Wikus van Niekerk from Mostertsdrift is on a mission to make his family
of four people and two dogs more energy-efficient and therefore greener.
A few weeks ago he swapped all the light bulbs in his double-storey
home for power-saving compact fluorescent ones. His wife didn't find
the change particularly aesthetic, and promptly switched the ones in
the entrance hall back to the originals.
Earlier this year Wikus replaced his electrical geyser with a solar
unit to heat the water for their showers. This could cut his
electricity bill by up to 40% – and of course reduce his carbon
footprint somewhat.
Ranging from R10 000 to R23 000 for a 200-litre system, Wikus realises
that this once-off expense is not within every household's reach,
regardless of how keen they might be to do their bit for the planet.
However, subsidies are currently available and more are on the way,
which would make it more affordable.
It could take up to four years before the savings achieved by switching
to solar heating offset the cost of the unit, but after that your hot
water will be virtually free of charge!
In his open-plan office Wikus, a professor in mechanical engineering,
shivers with cold on a winter morning. He has forgotten his jumper at
home. He also tries to save energy in his building, even though that
hasn't made him very popular with his secretary, Anita, who would
prefer to turn on the heater.
|
 |
|
“Tomorrow I have to remember to dress warmer," he states pragmatically,
because he knows it's not easy to live sustainably. As director of the
Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies
he has to set an example to inspire ordinary households and industries
to believe in and live a greener life.
The Centre was established last year with funding received from the
South African National Energy Research Institute (Saneri), a subsidiary
of the Central Energy Fund.
Saneri also supports the Senior Chair of Energy Research: Biofuels and
other Clean Alternative Fuels, awarded to Prof Emile van Zyl from
Microbiology this year.
The Centre acts on Saneri's behalf as an umbrella body to facilitate
research by and the training of scientists, planners and engineers
across the country.
Anyone with a four-year or postgraduate qualification in engineering,
natural sciences, management or economics may enrol for their research
or course-based master's degree and doctorates. The multidisciplinary
MPhil and MIng programmes are presented by the School of Public
Management and Planning and the Department of Mechanical and Megatronic
Engineering. Research is also done at the Faculty of Natural Sciences
and the Faculty of AgriSciences.
Thanks to Saneri bursaries, the first 21 master's degree and 4 doctoral
students could enrol in February to study sustainable development,
renewable energy systems, energy-efficient cities, renewable energy
policies, solar power and bioenergy.
The Centre's monthly Renewable Energy discussion forums are going from
strength to strength and are addressed by leading local and national
experts on cutting-edge developments in the field.
It may sound complicated, but it's essential to get engineers and
planners to think alike on our energy situation: South Africa is
responsible for the 19th highest level (1,43%) of hothouse gases in the
world.
“Although we are a small country, and it doesn't seem a large part of
the total percentage, it's not acceptable," says Prof Van Niekerk. “If
we look at our CO2 outputs compared to our energy consumption, we have
one of the worst records in the world."
All this contributes to global warming and, as is increasingly
realised, to climate change, the rise in sea level, melting glaciers
and dwindling resources like water. Research has proven that
temperatures in the Koue Bokkeveld near Ceres, for example, have
already risen by 1°C since the 1970s.
Prof Van Niekerk and his research engineer, Katot Meyer, believe South
Africa's abundant sunshine holds the biggest potential for generating
sustainable energy locally, rather than wind power or biofuels, for
example.
Both of them consider risk and funding as the most important challenges
preventing sustainable energy sources from making a bigger impact on
the supply picture.
Although it has the potential to generate significant power, a
visionary project like the kilometre-high solar tower by Prof Detlev
Kröger from the Department of Mechanical and Megatronic Engineering is
a risky undertaking of a few billion rand. “The tallest building in the
world is only 452 m high.
“We know wave energy works, but practical matters such as mounting a
generating structure on the seabed, and doing the required
environmental impact studies must also be considered."
Engineers are still figuring out how to efficiently store wind energy for later use.
In addition, believe it or not, Eskom is generating power from coal at
only about 12c/kW, compared to the 50 eurocent (about R4,80/kW) in
Europe.
“There is not yet sufficient incentive to find alternative sources of
energy. Why reinvent the wheel if it's working?" is Meyer's sentiment.
Journalist Max du Preez agrees in the magazine mind/shift that it is
difficult to allocate unlimited resources or change one's lifestyle if
one cannot yet perceive the impact of a real threat like global
warming.
It may be even harder for governments who are as much more interested
in the elections, or companies that hate spending money on things
they cannot define or predict exactly, he explains.
However, this doesn't mean people should feel defeated or, at the other
end of the scale, should simply carry on with an energy-intensive
lifestyle.
Initiatives like the Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Studies, as well as the objectives of the South African government to
reduce the demand for energy by 12% by 2015, point to an increasing
awareness that energy consumption patterns should change. In Eskom's
“Power Alert" initiative in the Cape last year the public responded in
a positive way by “switching off" when it was necessary.
“It all boils down to how one lives," Prof Van Niekerk explains. “Adapt
your lifestyle, drive less, walk more. Buy a hybrid Toyota Prius or
another small car. Wrap your geyser in an insulating blanket. Switch
off your computer at night. Design new buildings more efficiently.
And save energy wherever you can."
SOURCES:
• “The heat is on", Max du Preex, mind/shift
• Adapting to climate change in the Cape Floristic
Region, Rebecca Freeth, Bastian Bomhard and Guy Midgley, SANBI
• www.sun.ac.za/crses"
|
|
|
|
 |
