Repair (Heal) Your World

I thought you might all be interested in the latest status about renewable energy worldwide. Please see the REN21 Renewables Global Status Report: Energy Transformation Continues Despite Economic Slowdown. See http://www.ren21.net/globalstatusreport/g2009.asp Here are some of the facts: * Global power capacity from new renewable energy (RE) sources (excluding large hydro) reached 280,000 MW (280 GW) in 2008 - a 16% rise from 2007 and three times the capacity of the United States nuclear sector * 73 countries now have RE policies * the US will invest over $150 billion over 10 years in RE * RE investment in 2008 was $120 billion, up 16% over 2007 * Wind energy capacity grew by 29% in 2008 to reach 121 GW. (South Africa's total electricity capacity is 44 GW.) * Grid-connected solar PV grew at 70% to reach 13GW * Solar hot water in Germany (which has less sun than South Africa) set record growth in 2008, with over 200,000 systems installed. (South Africa installed a few hundred in 2...

Let's get around to looking at some calculations. I suggest that you sit down with a piece of paper and a pen so that you can work through this example with me. The problem: During a 4 hour Eskom power failure, you want to run your computer for 4 hours and it uses 300 Watts (per hour); you also want to run 4 lights for 4 hours. Each light draws 8 Watts. You don't want to use a noisy, smelly and pollution generating generator. You want to build a system yourself and one day add a solar panel or solar array to it. You are prepared to spend a bit extra to make that "start" in Renewable Energy. Renewable Energy "Thinking" Notes: Eskom energy is still much cheaper than generator energy, so we'll start with charging the battery using Eskom energy. Eskom energy isn't clean, but we need a starting point. We can add solar and other technologies to this system later. My Eskom energy (electricity) at the moment is about 70 cents per kwh. This in May 20...

Here are some specifications regarding energy saving fridges. Tafelberg sell some of the Ardo range of fridges. The Ardo rating is: 130KWH rating per year. Even if it really uses 165KWH per year, that will be amazing as an A++ energy star fridge is rated at 380KWH per year and a normal fridge much higher than that. My normal fridge (which I still need to replace) uses approximately 660 kwh per year which at 70 cents per kwh (my rate) is about R40 per month. Note that this is only based on one day's usage. After a few months, I will have a more accurate number. The Ardo fridge uses about 40Watts when it is on and is so quiet that a friend on mind has it in his passage outside two of the bedrooms. At 165kwh per year , the Ardo fridge costs R10 per month. A normal fridge is about R2000 and an Ardo fridge is about R8000. The difference is R6000, so R6000 / R30 (saving) = 200 months = 17 years. Not a very good payback period, but remember what I said in an earlier part of this blog s...

See http://repairyourworld.blogspot.com/2008/12/preventing-load-shedding-power-failures.html for my initial efficiency saving list. Here are some more notes: 1) Turn off everything at the wall when the appliances are off so that nothing runs on standby. 2) Don't leave computers on when they aren't needed. 3) Try to use laptops where possible. 4) Playstations use a lot of electricity and should not be left on standby. 5) Is your house properly insulated. Are there gaps between windows and doors where hot or cold air can escape? 6) Use CFL lights instead of incandescent (normal) lights. Incandescent lights were designed 100 years ago by Edison and Tesla. CFL globes do contain mercury, but so do fluorescent globes. And the fillings in our teeth. All need to be disposed of properly. 7) If you have an airconditioner on and you need to put on a jersey, then you are wasting resources. Turn up the airconditioner. A minimum setting of 21 degrees should be cold enough. 8) If it is ...

1) Once you have purchased an RE system, inflation is locked in. The more you use the system during daylight (sunny) hours or during windy house (if you have a wind turbine), the cheaper the cost is per kwh. 2) If you take your pension money and use if for an RE system, you are making a better investment than otherwise. This is my believe. It has not been proven. 3) Your house will be more valuable if you reduce its reliance on Eskom. If there is a power failure you might not even notice! 4) Many countries have 30% rebates on these kinds of systems. South Africa should have this kind of rebate program as well. It has been determined that a fossil fueled power station costs 30% of the cost of an RE power station and therefore the government would have spent this in any case to give you power and therefore should pay this back to you. 5) South Africa implemented feed in tariffs on 31st March 2009, but they don't include electricity made from Photovoltaic panels and someone has sai...

1) Make a summary of how many kilowatt hours (kwh) you are using per month and how much it costs you. Calculate your cost per kwh. If you have a service charge remember to include this as part of your kwh charge. 2) To find out how much electricity you are using, buy a Voltage and Current metre from me. You can plug your equipment into them and they will tell you how much watts you are using. R500 cash before despatch price each plus postage and packing. 3) This metre tells you per plug what you are using. If you'd like a metre that shows what your house is using, then I have one for about R950. It has a special plug that goes into your electricity distribution board and a wireless screen that you can have with you anywhere in the house. This allows you to see your total consumption and to look for "ghost consumption" ie consumption you don't know about. This could be a geyser that you don't know about or devices that you think aren't using electricity, ...

Here is my first thinking point. What is more expensive? 1) Buying a new car for R150,000 or spending the same amount of money to take part of your house off the grid? 2) Spending R20,000 on the annual family holiday or the same amount taking your TV room off the grid? (note that this R20,000 makes some assumptions - we will look into this when we get to design). How should we redefine "success" in the "green age"? Should we continue to measure success as the Rolex watch or the fancy car or should we change our measurement to "successful people live off the grid"?