Could we make Eskom redundant? Maybe not entirely, but already the national electricity supplier - contrary to popular belief - does not control 100% of South Africa's electricity market, and its share is declining. Municipalities have gas-fired generators to top-up peak period capacity, eThikweni is planning to harvest methane from landfill sites, and industries generate power for their own use and possible sale of excess to Eskom.
A less obvious corner of the market is the multitude of electricity generators installed to make up for Eskom's shortfall. Individual businesses around the country have backup generators in place, and the Barloworld equipment division (including Caterpillar) alone has generator units supplying 1 500MW to mines and other industrial customers.
The generators seem to be a necessary evil, but the next step is to reduce energy demand by designing better buildings, improving equipment efficiencies, using the sun to heat water, and installing alternative systems. Then we can start replacing conventional power sources with alternatives. Solar PV systems still are not financially viable without subsidies, but there are other approaches to consider. Some buildings are starting to change the mix in other cities around the world, using less conventional systems like CHP (combined heat and power), mining sewers for energy, or cooling buildings with water from lakes or oceans. If buildings and communities get together, they can use strategies that would not be feasible for individual buildings.
The key is to stop thinking of energy for buildings entirely in terms of electricity. Projects to generate electricity from alternative sources face legal, regulatory, institutional and financial hurdles. These need to be overcome as a matter of urgency, but in the meantime we are not helpless. Many strategies require little or no approval from regulatory or planning authorities; they just need know-how to apply good design. Little by little, we can wean ourselves off the national electricity grid.
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