Roots Republic Have Your Say

The lights are off but EVERYBODY is at home!

By: Dominic Esposito

We are all guilty of it, going to the shop and looking for the cheapest deal. Looking at this concept on a national energy level, is choosing combustion over any other form of energy harvesting, despite its record of delivering periodic oil crises and a fouled environment. So in the search for a cheaper option I ask you this simple question, does the end justify the means? Let me try and open this up to debate…

The question our South African policy makers must ask, again, is whether the short-term gain made in the name of rapid growth and development is worth its contribution to global warming and environmental degradation.

Now obviously, if you are anything like me and are from the school of logic, the response would be to accept a degree of environmental degradation while we buy ourselves enough time, and accumulate enough capital, to find alternatives … correct?

It’s all very well applying the above logic, but to make the alternatives work, policy makers have to shift their mindset in two fundamental ways. Firstly, energy, of any alternative type, does not have to be converted into electricity to be directly and locally available. Secondly, where it is being converted into electricity, industries with co-generation capacity should be supported in contributing to the national power grid.

Its not rocket science but this is unlikely to happen while our one and only power provider, Eskom, monopolises the grid and remains under an obligation to be profitable … ‘An obligation to be profitable’… interesting!

We all remember sitting at home on a Sunday afternoon relaxing and catching up with friends around the world on a certain social networking website only to be disrupted by an electricity power-out with no indication as to when the power would return. All the elements that led to last year's catastrophe remain in place, while the cost to the environment and business continues to escalate. Holding no punches, it needs to be said that the train has left the station and it is now time for a radical recalculation of our priorities. Let me leave you with this last stone cold fact which is, our very much loved South Africa has made little, if any, progress in establishing a secure and affordable power supply … Where do we go from here?