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South Africa still struggles to ensure that all citizens enjoy modern energy services, just one example of how the U.N.'s International Year of Sustainable Energy for All aims to bring modern energy resources to the billions who lack it
January 31, 2012 | 14
South Africa is two different countries economically, often existing on top of each other. These children from Groutville still gather wood for the home fire, bringing it home along the newly paved road past homes connected to the electrical grid....[More]
For those who cannot collect their own wood, many countries across Africa south of the Sahara boast thriving markets for charcoal, allowing small traders like the Mozambican woman pictured here to turn a profit....[More]
The boys and girls of Aldinville Senior Primary School will now enjoy the benefits—improved hygiene and hot meals—from a newly installed solar hot water heater.
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This solar heater installed on the roof will provide hot water for the bathrooms and kitchens of Aldinville Senior Primary School. Rainwater collection also helps extend water supplies.
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The Aldinville children find my hands soft compared to those of their parents, a boon imparted both from my employment as a journalist but also nearly continual access to soap and hot water for hygiene....[More]
South Africa boasts several manufacturers of solar hot water heating systems, such as WaterLite. Those units used at Aldinville, another local school and 19 health clinics in the region, however, were generic....[More]
Dish-shaped mirrors double as solar cookers, used here in Durban to heat water for tea. But the need for maintenance has made it difficult for the technology to be used widely.
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Another cooking alternative to cut down on the smoky indoor air killing or sickening millions is a clean-burning cookstove like this one. The electric fan at the base allows for complete combustion of the fuel and, thus, no smoke....[More]
Such cookstoves enable smoke-free cooking and require less fuel, whether it is charcoal, wood or some other alternative. If widely adopted, they could help cut back on one of the drivers of deforestation....[More]
Many other varieties of cleaner cookstoves can also be used, such as the ethanol-burning ones pictured here in Mozambique. The idea for CleanStar Mozambique is to promote local agroforestry to grow the crops, such as cassava, that can then be locally brewed into the ethanol fuel for such cookstoves....[More]
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14 Comments
Add CommentNuclear power is a far cheaper, cleaner energy source for urban Africa than solar electricity or wind especially when enormous transmission and storage/backup costs are considered. Solar hot water/heat great idea.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSolar is an excellent alternative for backwood power gen until nuclear ammonia fuel cells can replace it.
In the isolated and small rural villages of Africa a smaller more personal touch should be taken. There's a young man right now in these villages obtaining used photovoltaic cells at a cost affective price and building solar panels by hand. He's also training others in these villages to make their own PV panels. Villages like these have very little infrastructure if any. Just supplying enough electricity to power a pump for the village water well and a few light bulbs at night will go a long way in helping these villages develop in the short term.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYes. Solar Water Heaters,Solar Cookers,Solar Driers,Solar Disinfection of Water,Solar LED lights ... all can enrich the life in African Region.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India
E-mail: anumakonda.jagadeesh@gmail.com
Coupled with cell towers and cheap laptops used for education, yes. They need to be taught how to fish - not be given a fish.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUnlike a solar electric collector, a solar hot water heater can be built inexpensively. It should even be possible to use some of that hot water to power a refrigerator such as is used in some campers. Thus a family could have hot water and refrigeration at a relatively low cost without having electricity. Then you would build the solar stove.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI know that one part of the camper refrigerator must have heat applied to it all the time for it to work. I don't know how to do that with the passive solar water heater on the roof. A pump would constantly bathe a point in the refrigerator with hot warted. Something else would be needed. Otherwise, it should be possible to provide a family with hot water, cooked food, and refrigeration for very little money.
Absolutely agree. The energy issues across Africa are so varied that multiple solutions are needed. Extending the grid & Mini-Grids (ideally renewables powered) are vital - as are smaller solar solutions.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPico Solar lights/lanterns (5 watts or less) can also have an immediate impact by replacing candles and kerosene, powering radios and charging mobile phones in off grid households (110 million off grid households in Africa).
The market can meet much of the demand... but governments can always do more stimulate it and improve the operating environment for the renewables industry.
John Keane, Head of Programmes, SolarAid
johnkeane1.wordpress.com
Pyrolyse wood and you've got a clean energy source. See International Biochar Initiative.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMost of the functions you mention only need solar arrays, but LED lights, to be of practical use, also need batteries, which don't usually last as long. I hope supercapacitors will soon be a viable replacement.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt should be mentioned that solar (or any heat) disinfection can be accomplished much more efficiently that you might expect, using counter-current heating technology, recovering heat from outgoing water to heat incoming water. The trick is to have water flowing in opposite directions, for instance with copper tubing inside a larger pipe, and lots of insulation around the outside.
I'm thinking of a cheap parabolic reflector solar cooker that would come in pieces and be assembled on site. It wouldn't have to have perfect focus, only good enough that all reflected light hits the bottom of the pot or griddle. The outside of the parabola would be spherical and sit in a spherical depression in the ground, so that the angle could be adjusted with the position of the sun, while the pot, hanging from a chain on a central post, stays upright. At times near sunrise or sunset, it might need guy wires to keep it from falling over. When small areas of the reflector get damaged, fill it in with plaster if needed and glue on some aluminum foil. I think other details wouldn't be too hard to work out.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSolar disinfection can be much more efficient than you might expect, using counter-current heat transfer from outgoing to incoming water. The trick is to have maybe copper tubing inside a bigger (preferably long and straight) pipe, with incoming and outgoing water flowing in opposite directions, and lots of insulation around the outside.
Oops, I thought I had accidentally deleted the previous message.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRight, let's go nuclear in Africa where only two nations at most (South Africa and Botswana) probably has the level of bureaucratic development to follow through the process to its end and then the security to ensure the nuclear elements are not stolen and used for malevolent purposes.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhile hypothetically nuclear is the answer to all our energy needs, to even think of using it, one must start with a nation/state that is fully secure in every way.
The expense of building nuclear plants is probably equal to some African nations annual budget, and aside from PR China no nation or private entity would even consider doing so.
As for China it wouldn't even consider it unless it somehow vastly improved their ability to utilize African resources on the SHORT term (as in a couple of years down the road, not the decade it usually takes to finish a Nuke plant properly).
The article is about realistic and easy to implement solutions to problems individuals face that are widespread and collectively have a massive negative impact on societies there, as well as solutions that can start producing results as soon as it starts.
Nuclear meets none of those requirements.
What an ironic sort of thing to say. LOL Yes I know you're being metaphorical, but the reality of the situation is were anyone to attempt to teach them how to fish, they'd find fishing rights off of the African coast has been sold to the highest bidder, and the same goes for most of the mineral wealth.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYes you do, you also cause massive deforestation in a region that is already suffering continent wide desertification due to over harvesting of wood in drier regions, and cutting the rainforest for lumber exports.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe point of the article is to come up with a solution that does NOT cause another problem that is even worse than the situation there already.
Also, at one time mangrove forests filled the African coasts. It might be possible to graft fruit trees onto mangrove roots or perhaps mangrove trunks. Red mangroves have glands in their trunks for getting rid of excess salt. Imagine branches from an orange tree grafted above that point.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA mangrove forest which went from a fish nursery to a denuded area worthless to both people and fish could again serve both.