Embracing ecotechnologies

There is growing plethora of renewable energy sources, including innovative homegrown alternatives to expensive manufactured solutions, and it has become vital that the world exploits the advantages of alternative energies, which are usually free resources after installation.

Carbon dioxide is the primary culprit behind g l o b a l w a r mi n g , a n d renewable energies replacing fossil fuelpowered generators are the only practical way to address the issues of warming and pollution.

Eco-friendly systems are available for both wealthy consumers and the poorest communities, but the instant gratification electricity yields is placing huge pressure on electricity supplies.

In informal settlements particularly people should be embracing ecotechnologies, but there is an expectation that the government will provide electricity. Mind-set change and understanding the impact of electricity remains a challenge.

Recycling is also important in townships. Creating solar panel arrays from t wo-litre plastic soft-drink bottles may seem improbable, but entrepreneur Tony Lopes has been doing exactly this. He has demonstrated how to build solar geysers with plastic bottles and other household items, which have the added outcome of creating entrepreneurship opportunities i n p o o r c o mmun i t i e s through building and selling the geysers.

“Having been in [the] industry I have been directly exposed to the [excessive] amount of waste and endless consumption. I saw the continued destruction, so I researched and developed eco-friendly alternatives,” he said.

Energy efficiency and renewable energy are not one and the same. Global savings through efficient system process control management runs into billions of rands, and savings from energy efficiency are greater than the output from any single fuel source at present, including coal, oil, nuclear, and gas.

When talking renewables, top of mind is usually solar, for which South Africa’s climate is ideal. There are now solar arrays across the country supporting the grid, but solar power is not without its drawbacks as banks of non eco-friendly batteries are required.

Wind uptake has been slow here, but in 2014 the first large-scale wind farm became operational and more wind farms are popping up, primarily along Western and Eastern Cape coastlines. Wind is a promising alternative, still capitalintensive, but is becoming more affordable and is pollution free. Its drawbacks include suffering from the same lack of energy density as solar radiation, thus large numbers of generators requiring substantial tracts of windy land are required to produce useful amounts of electricity.

Another alternative is geothermal energy. It is cost-effective, sustainable and reliable technological advances have expanded its range of viable uses. Being environmentally friendly means it has the potential to lessen global warming. Its drawbacks are that only a fraction of it can be profitably exploited, and drilling and exploration for deeper resources are expensive.

Any alternative energy discussion would be incomplete without mentioning biofuels, with their widely debated social, economic, environmental and technical issues. While these fuels come from multiple sources including soy molasses, sugarcane, corn, used cooking oils — and there is even a bus fleet in the UK running on human waste — matters such as the food versus fuel debate hamper the uptake of this viable alternative.

By 2050, one-third of the world’s energy will need to come from r e n e w a b l e r e s o u r c e s . C l i ma t e change, population growth, and fossil fuel depletion mean that renewables are going to have to play a larger role. Combined with recycling, the use of clean alternative energies will help ensure the very survival of our species.