"The source of energy in the future is going to be clean energy, but no single source will dominate. You wouldn't put a solar on the windy planes of North Dakota if you could put a turbine there," said Rick Needham, Google's director of green business operations in a recent interview.

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published a study mapping the potential of renewable energy sources in Africa. The report analyses the current energy consumption in Africa and assesses potential of renewable energy sources - solar, wind, biomass and hydropower - and their cost efficiency and environmental sustainability.

South Africa is one of the world's most carbon intensive economies, primarily because the majority of the country's electricity demand is satisfied through coal-fired power stations. This heavy dependency on coal and fossil fuels directly contributes to the current environmental crisis that is climate change and global warming. Unless the citizens of the world, including South Africans, make dramatic and sustained changes to their lifestyles, generations to come will have to face the consequences of our reckless and irresponsible utilization of the Earth and her natural resources.