Generally I retreat into technology when my more elusive creative and soul centred endeavours become too much like sweeping water uphill – against indifference, circumstances, collaborative vacuum etc. So on to the current or is it currency… or lack thereof.
Amidst all the wails and terribly material consequences of our lack of sufficient Eishkom branded current lies an excitement. No amount of activism, tree hugging and chaining of wives to nuclear rectors could possibly have got a whole nation to examine their energy use and alternative energy sources as Eishkom’s lack of foresight has. In the manner characteristic of invincible western deterministic thought many of us are applying really long range planning: buy a generator. Funny weather we’re having… want more? Buy a generator. Offended? Ag sorry man. I know the wheels have to keep turning..
To me its about meaning – what holds meaning for us; me and you. And I ‘pologise most profoundly if I sound preachy. So here are some “seems to me”s:
Autonomy:
We are in the grip of a very complex, huge web of intermediaries doing this, that, and even the other for us. We all do our bit and get along. The Eishkomish crash is exactly the kind of consequece of intermediaries becoming too big, too powerful, too top heavy, to immune to consequence until it explodes amongst us all. Buying a generator might help the weather to become even more funny than it is now but it also offers autonomy. Hell! How much money is spent on 4×4’s supporting the cause of autonomy and a pioneering spirit, long range tanks, all terrain: Self sufficiency big time!
Dr Peter Lindemann a well known free energy researcher asserts that energy is a form of currency. And to give people the capacity to generate their own is tantamount to allowing them to print their own money. Interesting idea in the light of which we should be celebrating Eishkom’s incapacity. But this is the stuff of conspiracy theorists who may have a point but… really, I don’t think the people “up there” much as they might like it are that smart. Ok, so the capacity to produce our own energy even with a smelly, noisy, polluting, earth destroying generator has an up-side in addition to allowing the show to go on. Networking all these small energy sources creates a very robust largely self-regulating system. The 220V equivalent of peer to peer information sharing on the iternet. A kind of open source electricity. This is a big idea but rapidly gaining ground in countries with progressive energy policies like Australia.
Well it does not always have to be generator does it – huh? The more we walk in to the local Mica domestic bliss emporium and say “generator? Can’t you do better? Where are the solar geysers, fuel cells, thin film photovoltaics, cold fusion reactors?” the more the opportunists who will seek out, anything there is a market for will push to get these things into everyday life. – don’t you think? Daniel Goleman, one of the gurus of emtional intelligence proposes that capacity for delayed gratification is a sure sign of high emotional inteligence. Well I’m not sure if I buy that completely but in this case YES! Putting up a solar geyser will take 3-5 years to pay for itself – a level of delayed gratification seemingly beyond the grasp of most of us urban ants. Somehow spending R20000 on something that makes hot water for free is far less interesting than R20000 (or more) of curtains, home theatre, extras on the new car, overseas trip, boob job, penis enlargement or a really discounted triple bypass. Well ok… but come on! Don’t tell me you can’t afford a solar geyser. It just does not mean enough. Be honest. Most of us could raise R20k if we really had to for something really important.
One step better that making a plan in the proudly South African way is make the plan according to a bigger cleverer plan: one that our kids can have fun with, still able to reproduce and all those quaint things.
Meaning:
Headspace management has a lot to do with our making of meaning. And it’s headspace management that is going to get us a life. So how about this? Throw out all the greenie arguments about sustanability and saving the planet. Its actually quite fun to make hot water from the sun. It’s all about headspace. When I am feeling crabby, discouraged and lonely I climb up on the roof and feel the hot pipes from my solar geyser, sitting in the lotus position. Then I love everbody again. Or I just take a lunctime bath and water the garden with the leftovers. Naah. Not really. Or perhaps I just won’t own up to it if I did but the point is… you get the point? This is a test of your emotional intelligence. If you don’t get it you are not spending enough time at business breakfasts. So the point is what holds meaning for you? Alarmingly… if what we spend monely on is an indication of what holds meaning for us Hooo! The point is that a solar geyser is a no brainer. The aliens looking down on earth roll their eyes to andromeda and howl in disbeleif at the sight of the human idiots digging stuff out of the ground, getting dirty, wheeling and dealing, oblivious of all the free stuff hurtling in from the sky. Who gets the Darwin award?
I merely use the solar geyser as an example of a mature, efficient technlogy under our noses that very few people seem to even give a second thought to – or not until our beloved Eishkom showed us the light. Of course you do all understand that all this verbiage is only to justify the small fortune I recently borrowed from the bank to install our very own solar geyser. Now I can’t afford a generator!
The bigger smarter plan:
Unless the conspiracy theorists’ wildest dreams come true some really interesting, viable ideas are just around the corner – a few years. The more we ask for it the quicker it will come. A facility to manufacture thin film photo voltaic (solar electric) cells is being set up in Cape Town. Based on a South African invention it will produce electricity far more efficiently and at a fraction of the cost of current silicon based solar cells. Some even claim they will charge your batteries in moonlight – a little more slowly but nevertheless… There are many exciting developments in battery technology the essential storage mechanism for any solar electric system. Much of this has been spurred on by mobile computers and phones’ growing need for more power in smaller, lighter packages. You see: a lot of people asked for it and what happened?
So here is my take: Get ready for this stuff. Ask for it. Its likely to come at an affordable price before Eishkom finish their new power stations. Unless of course some shadowy nobody shuts them down, shuts them up. If you need backup power – do your best to get an inverter solution which generates household electric power from batteries. This sets you up for solar electric power which will become more affordable along with smarter batteries Quiet, maintenance free, future friendly. Diesel and petrol generators: very temporary unsatisfactory solution. Unavoidable in some cases but for a domestic household you can do better. I would push for LP gas conversions on petrol generators. It’s clean, very viable and more cost effective. Ask and see what happens.
Moving into the lunatic fringe – or a fringe liberally populated with strange people that are very difficult to make sense of there are all manner of weird and wonderful contrivements, some of which are worth watching. Cold fusion and fuel cells being two such technologies that show promise. Ask for it. Go have a look at http://www.free-energy.ws/background.html
So in conclusion:
- There are viable, affordable alternative sources of energy under our noses that could make a significant difference to our current predicament and to a sustainable future.
- Aim to take advantage of emergent solar electric technology when investing in power backup solutions.
- The capital barrier that prevents the adoption of renewable energy is not insurmountable.
- Ask for it. The more interest shown in alternative, cleverer energy techology the more chance there is of current viable technology being integrated into society.
In the interests of brevity I might have ended up being confusing, fragmented and a little inconsistent. Sorry.
