Developing countries like South Africa often don't have the luxury of being able to invest in energy efficient equipment, particularly when the cost of electricity is as low as it is. Even competitive countries like Germany have been reluctant to improve efficiencies, for fear that the capital cost would price their industries out of their markets, despite reduced energy inputs, and South Africa is also vulnerable. But the current power shortage in sub-Saharan Africa, together with the prospect of imminent price hikes (as in Germany), is rapidly focusing attention on ways to reduce energy consumption without slashing economic growth.
Improved efficiency is probably the easiest - and certainly the quickest - way to address South Africa's energy crunch, and hopefully Eskom and industry will quickly come up with a plan for shared responsibility to work themselves out of the daily blackouts that are plaguing the country. There are lots of alternative ways Eskom could spend the billions it has earmarked for nuclear energy.
In an op-ed in yesterday's Cape Times, Terry Bell pointed out that there are a number of potential mega-projects across Africa that are either planned for implementation or waiting for the right moment to be revived, and while all mega-projects carry risk, these would surely be a safer investment than the untested PBMR nuclear reactor that is still on the cards. From the Kwanza River power station in Angola, to the Grand Inga on the Congo River (estimated to be able to produce up to 40 000MW, or almost equal to South Africa's total current generating capacity), these projects are not new, and neither is the idea of an SADC (Southern African Development Community) power grid linked to a pan-African grid. They are tested, they are feasible, and they could strengthen Africa as a power bloc.
On a much smaller scale, South Africa could also learn from Britain, which has set a target to build only zero-carbon homes from 2016. South African homes are not heated, so the potential savings are not as great as the potential £300 savings available in Britain from reduced household energy demand, but South African authorities could be developing green building codes for all types of buildings to improve the overall sustainability performance of the built environment, including measures to reduce the amount of energy embodied in the construction materials. South Africa could also learn from Britain's failure to set up the necessary support mechanisms to encourage householders to invest in energy saving measures. Again, leapfrogging past the mistakes of others.
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