In late January and again in the second week of March, the sun lashed out in a bit of a temper tantrum, on both occasions sending out a powerful interplanetary coronal mass ejection whose full effects reached Earth in a few days. We got lucky: Nothing much happened, and the resulting space weather storm didn’t pack as big a punch as expected.
About 77% of the country’s primary energy is provided by coal. Of that, 53% is used for electricity generation and 15 of the utility’s 27 existing and incomplete power stations are coal fired. South Africa’s dependence on fossil fuels is fast depleting our energy sources and is slowly resulting in a substantial depletion.
On Friday afternoon we were about to hit ‘send’ to release this issue, when a thick smoke invaded our office like a ghost. We ran outside to see the wetland beyond our wall go up in flames – fanned by a strong wind blowing in our direction.
South Africans have flooded social networks after rumours that an approaching solar flare was deadly.
“South Africa is likely to see drastic rises in surface temperatures over the coming century as well as an increase in the occurrence of very hot days. Heat waves are expected to occur more frequently,” said Francois Engelbrecht, Principal Researcher on Climate Studies – Modeling and Environmental Health at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR.)
Not nuclear or coal, but the sun could power up the whole of South Africa. After the Sahara and some parts of Australia, The Rainbow Nation has the most stable and reliable solar radiation output in the world and is blessed with ample space and plenty of solar hours.
Hybrid cars, powered by a mixture of gas and electricity, have become a practical way to "go green" on the roads. Now researchers at Tel Aviv University are applying the term "hybrid" to power plants as well.
Having a problem with your internet or cellphone connection? Or making strange bleeps yourself? You may have to blame a higher power – the sun.
In recent months South Africa has seen a dramatic change in its energy policy as the Department of Energy, NERSA and Eskom have taken steps to move to a renewable energy future.
Greenpeace Africa's quirky new renewable energy campaign, Use Me More, is a plea from the South African sun and wind to be used more as renewable energy sources. Instead of letting them blow away dandelions and give us a tan, we'd like them to power our country!
Enough solar energy falls on the earth's surface every 70 minutes as humankind can use each year, and delivers reliable power without any fuel or significant storage costs.
