• Top 5 Reasons to Recycle Your Cell Phone
• Government declares war on power wastage
• Consumers urged use power sparingly
• Britain to switch off energy-guzzling bulbs
• SA may ban incandescent light bulbs
• Power-saving project to benefit customers
• Light at end of dark tunnel
• Local invents hybrid battery
• Solar handbags? Wind turbines? How to get green
• Computer Recycling: What You Need To Know
• Duo launch campaign to fight global warming
• Outrage over power cuts
• 10 YEARS TO SAVE PLANET
• 'Back local food' councils urged
• Disappearing world: Global warming claims tropical island
• Global warming could bring 'killer' to Joburg
• Power-Sipping Bulbs Get Backing From Wal-Mart
• Begin to cut pollution in your sphere
• Net-zero homes: The future lives here
• Efficient energy now a necessity for success
• It takes a new law to change a light bulb
• Restaurant boss finds another use for grease

By Louise Flanagan

Throw away your old high-energy light bulbs, get solar water heating and prepare for the municipality to cut off your geyser and washing machine in peak hours - the government has declared war on power wastage.

And it has a plan.

The government is rushing through new regulations so that emergency power rationing - a key part of its plan - can start within months.

Two weeks after widespread load shedding and a day after the national power grid hit critical strain and had to shed 4 000 megawatt (MW) in a hurry, ministers Alec Erwin and Buyelwa Sonjica announced a power conservation programme that includes voluntary and mandatory power savings.

"The unprecedented, unplanned power outages is a national electricity emergency that must be addressed with the urgent, vigorous and co-ordinated actions commensurate with such a situation," said Erwin.

The new incentives and penalties will be part of the Electricity Regulation Act.

"These regulations will be ready for public comments by Wednesday," said the ministers in a 20-page document outlining their crisis-management plan.

Quotas are being drafted to save total electricity demand by 10 percent.

To reach this, industry must cut use by 10 percent; residential users by 10 percent; agriculture by 5 percent; commercial business, large office buildings, government, municipal and electricity offices by 15 percent; and hotels, resorts, shopping malls and conference centres by 20 percent.

Hospitals, security installations, essential services and other "special cases" will be exempt.

Possible penalties for going over quotas include punitive tariffs and cut-offs for repeat offenders. Those who save will get incentives and large consumers can trade in their unused quotas.

Incandescent lights will be replaced by more efficient compact fluorescent lights. The government wants to get a million solar water heaters into homes, institutions and businesses, with subsidies of 20 percent to 30 percent depending on the cost of the units, which can be R7 000 to R20 000.

Housing laws will change so all new houses must have solar water heating with electric geysers as a back-up, and switches to stop geysers and stoves being on at the same time. Insulation for ceilings, geysers and windows will be required.

Smart meters will eventually be rolled out, allowing Eskom and municipalities to switch off remotely all geysers, laundry appliances, pool pumps and other appliances during peak demand. Government concessions will be issued to businesses to promote the sale and use of gas, mainly to domestic users for cooking.

The lights are expected to save 800MW, the solar water heating 650MW, the smart meters 3 265MW and the move to gas 500MW.

The government will also spend R400-million to convert all traffic lights and public lights to solar power with battery back up.

Motorway lights will be shut down. Small airports will be turned off at night. The entire hospitality industry will have to change water heating to solar power, with electric back-up.

The government intends carrying out energy audits of its buildings and shutting down what's not needed after hours.

The old diesel locomotive fleet is being hauled out of mothballs and rehabilitated, to reduce the railways' dependence on electricity.

The cuts are intended to reduce power use while Eskom builds power stations. By 2015, another 17 643MW in generating power is due to be added to the grid.

The plan includes 3 500MW expected to be added through co-generation by industry other than Eskom.

There's also a wind farm pilot project, to produce 100MW.

A "comprehensive" plan on renewable energy - which includes wind - is due to be handed to the cabinet within the next five months.

This article was originally published on page 1 of Pretoria News on January 26, 2008

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Consumers urged use power sparingly

Many Capetonians are dreading the 14 percent electricity price hike by Eskom, which comes into effect in July, but there are ways to keep costs down.

Eskom has urged consumers to use power sparingly to minimise the impact of the increase.

Eskom initially asked that the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) approve an 18 percent hike for the 2008-09 financial year to cover the cost of expanding its power generation.

A lack of capacity has seen Eskom implement random power cuts countrywide

Eskom says the top energy savers are:

• Shower instead of taking a bath.
• Use economy cycles when using electrical equipment.
• Use cold water taps.
• Use full loads in equipment.
• Use small appliances.
• Set geysers at 60°C.
• Sun-dry washing.
• Use electric blankets instead of heaters.
• Switch off heaters.
• Don't overheat rooms.

And if you're still not convinced, here are some interesting facts showing just how much you can save on average per year:

• You can save R44 by adjusting the geyser thermostat.
• R275 (or 57 loaves of bread) by insulating the geyser and hot water pipes.
• R162 by showering instead of bathing.
• R328 by fixing just one leaking hot water tap.
• R29 by not using the hot water tap for small amounts.
• R110 by fitting a low-flow showerhead.
• R184 by ceiling insulation.
• R26 by using electric blankets instead of heaters.
• R72 by sun-drying your washing.
• R52 by switching off lights in just one room when it's not occupied.
• R152 by using fluorescent lamps in places that require long hours of light, such as the garage and kitchen.
• R470 by regularly servicing the pool pump and cleaning filter.

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Britain to switch off energy-guzzling bulbs

London - Britain unveiled plans on Thursday to phase out energy-wasting traditional light bulbs by 2012 to cut the equivalent of a coal-fired power station's carbon dioxide emissions.

The voluntary initiative foresees removing energy-wasting incandescent light bulbs from shops and replacing them with low-energy compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs.

It aims to save up to five million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year by 2012, or the equivalent to the carbon emissions of a typical 1 Giga Watt coal-fired power station.

"Britain is leading the way in getting rid of energy-guzzling light bulbs and helping consumers reduce their carbon footprint," Secretary of State Hilary Benn said.

"Choosing energy-saving light bulbs can help tackle climate change, and also cut household bills, with each bulb saving up to 60 pounds (85 euros, 120 dollars) over its lifetime," he said.

A British household has 23 to 24 light bulbs on average.

"I am delighted that major companies have said they are prepared to help deliver this ambitious timetable and offer products which will help their own customers play their part in combating climate change," Benn said.

But he called for wider action from retailers, manufacturers and service providers to improve the energy efficiency of other wasteful products like televisions and offer greener choices to their customers.

While still the finance minister in March, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he hoped that the most energy-guzzling light bulbs would disappear before the end of 2011.

In June, the European Commission announced that manufacturers had decided to eliminate traditional light bulbs from the European market by 2015.

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SA may ban incandescent light bulbs

By Samantha Enslin-Payne

Plans to produce energy efficient light bulbs in southern Africa may reduce the price and make it feasible for the government to ban incandescent light bulbs.

It would also make it far more cost effective for Eskom to supply energy efficient bulbs on a mass scale, which it has already begun to do.

According to Eskom's website, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), which consume 80 percent less electricity than conventional light bulbs, originally cost between R60 and R80 each.

In 2004 the price dropped to between R13 and R20 due to promotions and bigger sales. In 2006 CFLs were selling for R10 a unit. The price has since risen to an average R19.

Incandescent light bulbs and CFLs are imported from Indonesia and China.

In 2006 CFLs, which have a lifespan of between three and five years, accounted for 15 percent of residential lamp sales.

In 2005 and 2006 Eskom distributed over 8-million CFLs, with 5-million issued in the Western Cape. A further 4-million will be issued in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

In 2006 Eskom's efficient lighting project in the Western Cape, including a door-to-door campaign, saved 229-megawatts (MW) of electricity.

The banning of incandescent light bulbs would be in line with international trends. According to the websites of the New Scotsman and the BBC, the EU and Australia will ban these bulbs from 2009 and 2010, respectively.

But encouraging widespread use of long-life bulbs may have negative consequences in the long term, as these bulbs contain mercury.

Andrew Etzinger, Eskom's general manager of investment strategy, said: "We are putting a [disposal] process in place so CFLs do not end up in general waste."

He described this as "amazingly complex" because of the many stakeholders that need to be involved, including environmental groups, retailers and the government.

"We need to do it properly. We want a 90 percent recovery rate," Etzinger said.

One possibility is to replace CFLs with new ones for free or at a reduced price. This would give people an incentive to hand in bulbs rather than throw them in the garbage.

Banning incandescent bulbs is just one measure to cut electricity consumption, which is far cheaper than building new generating capacity.

For example, it will cost R78,6-billion to build Eskom's 4 500MW Medupi coal-fired power station in Limpopo, which will come on stream from 2011 and be fully commissioned in 2015.

In contrast, Eskom has set aside R10-billion over six years to reduce demand by 3 000MW. The demand-side management initiative is combined with the R150-billion Eskom will spend on new generating capacity.

Other energy saving projects could include a mass roll-out of solar water heaters by Eskom. But whether such an appliance will become mandatory for new property developments or households is unclear.

Solar water heaters are costly. The Central Energy Fund recently ran a campaign subsidising the cost of 500 solar-heated geysers, which generated a good response.

Geysers are a primary target of any energy saving campaign, whether it focuses on insulation or solar heating.

Households generate a third of electricity demand, and geysers account for 25 percent of this.

Energy efficiency regulations relating to electricity, which the department of minerals and energy plans to issue later this year, will most likely focus first on appliances.

Ompi Aphane, the department's chief director for electricity, said last week that energy efficiency regulations would apply primarily to the domestic sector, as higher tariffs during peak periods already sent an effective pricing signal to the industrial sector.

Peak periods are from 7am to 10am and 6pm to 8pm.

Draft regulations on energy efficiency would be scrutinised by state law advisers before their release for public comment later this year, said Aphane .

Barry Bredenkamp, the acting operations manager for the National Energy Efficiency Agency (NEEA), said regulations on appliances, most of which are imported, would stipulate that labels indicate their energy efficiency.

"A" would indicate the most efficient and "G" the least. The most efficient appliances are usually more expensive to buy but more cost effective to run.

The NEEA was established recently as a division of the Central Energy Fund to advise the government on energy efficiency policy.

Bredenkamp said a tender would be issued this week to buy equipment to enable the SA Bureau of Standards to test locally made appliances.

In the longer term, he said, electricity quotas might be introduced, in terms of which households would pay much higher tariffs if they exceeded their monthly quota.

Other measures to reduce electricity consumption include work being done by the department of housing.

A task group is drafting energy efficiency building standards for residential buildings.

This could include stipulating that all new homes be north facing, have thicker walls and incorporate insulation in ceilings.

This article was originally published on page 4 of Business Report on June 05, 2007

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Power-saving project to benefit customers

By Niyanta Singh

Pietermaritzburg is taking saving electricity to a whole new level.

Together with Eskom, the municipality's Infrastructure, Services and Facilities Committee is set to recommend to the Executive Council that energy-saving light bulbs or compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) be installed free of charge in the homes of Pietermaritzburg electricity consumers.

Following closely on the heels of the capital city's electricity woes and amid a nationwide threat of more crippling power black-outs, Eskom is implementing a project in specific areas in the country where the CFL light bulbs will be installed. Municipal residential customers will benefit from this programme.

An ordinary light bulb lasts about 1 000 hours compared with the CFL bulb, which can last for more than 6 000 hours and uses 80 percent less electricity. Consumers will thus have lower electricity bills and there will be reduced atmospheric pollution.

A roll-out process has been put in place to ensure the safety of residents when light bulb installations take place.

Identity cards have been designed and residents will be urged to verify the identity of the installer before allowing them into the home. If approved, installers will visit Pietermaritzburg homes as early as this month.

This article was originally published on page 4 of Tribune on February 11, 2007

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Light at end of dark tunnel

The City of Johannesburg has revealed massive plans to alleviate electricity blackouts as Eskom's regular load shedding of 4 000MW a day kicked in to stabilise the national power grid.

From next week, 200 000 geyser "ripple controls" will be installed in homes in Roodepoort, Bryanston and Randburg. These will enable City Power to switch off geysers remotely from a central point.

The devices will be installed free of charge - at least initially.

Ros Greeff, member of the mayoral committee for infrastructure and services, said qualified electricians would be appointed to do the installations.

The cost per household to City Power would be R1 350 - a total of R270-million for the 200 000 installations.

• Supplying 300 000 households with energy-efficient light bulbs over six months at a cost of R15-million, saving up to 45MW.
• Reinstating a decommissioned diesel and gas turbine within six months at a cost of R40-million. This will add 120MW to the grid - about 60 percent of the average load-shedding requirement from Eskom.
• The city will roll out solar power for traffic lights and public lighting. Up to 100MW could be saved within a year.
• With Eskom and the Development Bank, the city will intensify its programme to install domestic solar water-heaters.
• Steps to increase the output of Kelvin power station include a gas turbine contributing 30MW by December, and replacing parts of the station with modern generation plants. Maximum of 500MW to be available from Kelvin by 2013.
  Meanwhile, Kelvin will accelerate its asset refurbishment and maintenance programme to meet an immediate capacity of 300MW, and a long-term target of 400MW. eGoli gas will ensure the supply of gas critical to reinstate City Power's gas turbine project.  neGoli Gas will speed up infrastructure to household clients.
• Eskom and City Power to provide better communication on load shedding and robust and dependable load-shedding schedules.
• Co-operating with strategic institutions such as hospitals, banks, Iand security institutions, to ensure they have continued supply, or minimised disruptions.
• Energy-efficient measures in council buildings.

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Outrage over power cuts

Residential areas can expect their power to be cut off during the day for months to come as Eskom grapples with capacity problems.

Coffee shops, post offices, banks and restaurants that have blossomed in areas previously designated for residential purposes, like Melville, Soweto and Craighall Park, all stand to lose.

Shopping malls, business people who work from home, pensioners and new mothers could also be dealt a huge blow. It is still unclear how long the residential areas will be out of power, but Eskom said cut-offs would only be for a few hours each day. Eskom has appealed to businesses and consumers to conserve electricity in order to prevent load shedding.

Wendy McAllister, of the Craigpark Residents' Association, said she wondered how Eskom and City Power would switch off residential areas without affecting businesses.

"I work from home. If they cut power, my production is ruined. There are crèches, schools, people affected with HIV/Aids, old people staying in homes or retirement villages. Some of those places do not have enough money to buy generators - what are they supposed to do?" she asked.

The owner of Spiros, a Melville restaurant, who identified himself only as Robert, said the whole of Eskom's planning department should be fired.

"Who do I sue for loss of income?" he asked . "I do not want to talk about how much I will lose. I have doctorate students who come here to use the internet. What do they do when there is no electricity for three hours?" he said.

Last year, the Cape Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry estimated that one series of blackouts that spanned two weeks in Cape Town last May cost the economy R8,9-billion.

The Department of Minerals and Energy has said that power failures, caused largely by lack of infrastructure maintenance, cost the economy between R2,6-billion and R8-billion a year.

The department estimated the cost of the backlog on power distribution infrastructure to be about R5-billion.

Eskom and its Joburg distributor, City Power, met yesterday to discuss how and when to release a joint statement that would inform residents about power cuts.

City Power's Louis Pieterse was cryptic afterwards, saying: "I can tell you that we took a decision to issue a joint statement with Eskom."

This article was originally published on page 2 of Saturday Star on February 03, 2007

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IN 10 years time it will be too late to reverse the effects of global warming, a climate change expert warned yesterday.

Scientist Jim Hansen - one of the first to start alarm bells ringing in 1988 - said that unless cuts in pollution started happening within the next decade we would reach the "tipping point" where the damage could not be undone.

He added: "Half the people in the world live within 15 miles of a coastline. A large fraction of the major cities are on coastlines.

"Once you get the process started and well on the way, it's impossible to prevent it.

"That's why we need to address the issue before it gets out of control. We just cannot burn all the fossil fuels in the ground.

"If we do, we will end up with a planet with no ice in the Arctic and where warming is so large that it's going to have a large effect in terms of sea level rises and the extinction of species."

Dr Hansen, director of the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, said: "If we go another 10 years, by 2015, at the current rate of growth of CO2 emissions, the emissions in 2015 will be 35 per cent larger than they were in 2000.

"But if we want to get on a scenario that keeps global temperature in the range that it has been in for the last million years, we would need to decrease the emissions by something of the order of 25 per cent."

Britain's chief scientist, Sir David King, said: "We need to remember: Action is affordable, inaction is not. Only heads of state working together can provide the new level of global leadership we need."

bob.roberts@mirror.co.uk

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Local businesses promote local goods, Mr Vaughan believes

Farmers Union of Wales president Gareth Vaughan is using his New Year message to highlight what he sees as the difficulties facing smaller businesses.

He says councils "bend over backwards" to help large supermarkets" while small shops selling local produce suffered.

The Welsh Local Government Association said it tried to balance the two.  

Mr Vaughan said: "I feel that councils are too ready to bend over backwards to help large supermarkets set up shop on the edge of their main towns with big car parks and wide roadways to accommodate huge lorries delivering goods from all parts of the world.

"Meanwhile, our town centre streets are covered in double yellow lines, bollards line pavements and parking spaces are virtually non-existent.

"Council-employed traffic wardens lie in wait for any motorist wishing to briefly pop into a corner shop."

He said corner shops were often run by "traditional, local traders" who were doing their best to support producers and supply the best local produce while facing rising business rates and rents.

Mr Vaughan added: "They sell the best meat, vegetables and dairy products available. Most of it is fully traceable from local suppliers and produced to the highest animal welfare standards.

"But councils seem more determined to help the supermarket chains set up retail parks and stores selling cheap, but often inferior, food flown or shipped across many thousands of miles."

He suggested increasing rates for supermarkets and compensating local traders to prevent them being "forced out of business".

School meals

Steve Thomas, chief executive of the Welsh Local Government Association, said: "Local authorities are very keen to support local businesses in their local communities."

He cited support for using local produce in school meals in Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire as an example of successful measures councils in Wales had taken to back suppliers.

However, he added: "That said, we have got to use some of the larger businesses. They tend to have the capacity to supply local communities that smaller businesses don't have.

"When there are out-of-town shopping developments, we have to look at them as planning authorities.

"Authorities will do all they can to support local businesses but it's got to be remembered that part of the local communities are the larger businesses that come into them."

"We are always seeking a balance between the two."

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For the first time, an inhabited island has disappeared beneath rising seas.
Environment Editor Geoffrey Lean reports
Published: 24 December 2006

Leon Marshall
December 24 2006 at 10:23AM

New battlefronts are opening in the war against malaria. The main cause is climate change, which is seeing the disease spread to new areas. Because people in such places are less resistant, many more die of infections.

In South Africa, fears are that changing weather conditions could result in it eventually spreading to areas like Pretoria.

In other parts of Africa, the shifts are already happening. Predictions are that, as the continent suffering most from malaria, this could in coming years see a further rise in its death rate, put at up to 2 million people a year, and in the debilitating effect it has on countless others.

Various factors are behind malaria's reputation as one of Africa's biggest killers. Socio-economic circumstances leave many communities particularly exposed. But contributing greatly to the problem are the characteristics of its carrier mosquito and the parasite itself, as well as the difficulties of effectively combating the carrier and curing the disease.

A reflection of its menace is the government's highly regulated but nevertheless contentious resort to DDT to fight the mosquito. Despite proving successful some years ago in pushing back malaria, its use was stopped because of its lingering harmful effect on the environment.

But, like some other African countries, the authorities saw no other way of curbing malaria's renewed onslaught.

Predictions are that global climate change will bring warmer and wetter conditions to the eastern parts of Africa, which in South Africa includes Gauteng.

The major malarial occurrences happen because of the warmer and wetter spells that climate change brings to higher altitudes.

One of the factors contributing to the malaria danger is that it is exactly such climatic conditions that favour Anopheles gambiae, Africa's most dangerous malaria carrier. The wet provides it with more breeding habitats, and the warm weather shortens its life cycle from larvae to adult mosquito from about nine to six days.

The result is that there could within a set period be several more generations. Another factor is that warm conditions happen also to be particularly suitable to the virulent species of malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, which the mosquito carries. It causes it to mature within six days instead of up to 12.

A third factor, Dr Andrew Githeko, a medical scientist attached to the Kenyan Medical Research Unit, calls a "human problem". In infested lowland areas, he says, up to 70 percent of the population could be infected, but most develop a degree of immunity.

Also, the public health system serving them is usually more or less geared to cope with the disease's high prevalence. In the cooler highlands, malaria could under normal circumstances affect only about 10 percent of the people.

Thus , the vast majority of the community is open to new infection, which they happen not to have any immunity to. When climatic conditions change and malaria mosquitoes move into higher areas, there could be an epidemic.

The severity of the disease depends on the number of parasites in the blood, which the immune system may be able to regulate. Parasites multiply in the liver and the blood cells, and the immune system kills parasites as well as controls their multiplication.

The reason why a higher parasite tally causes a more serious problem is because the parasite-infected cells clog the small blood vessels in the brain, heart, kidneys and lungs, thus blocking oxygen feed. Even in relatively immune people, the system can become overloaded from many bites.

The most lethal form of malaria is when the parasites reach the brain. They anchor themselves to the capillaries to avoid detection and destruction by the spleen. There they accumulate, causing oxygen supply to the brain to be cut off.

A drug called Cotexin used to be good at cleaning out most parasites, although it could not wipe out all. It has been taken off the market because the parasite became resistant to it.

The drug now recommended by the World Health Organisation is Coartem. Though expensive, it can clean out the system altogether.

Because of DDT's dangers, it can only be a stop-gap until something else is found. One of the possibilities is to change the mosquito genetically so that it becomes parasite-resistant. Another is to find out why other mosquitoes have a preference for animals and to see whether Anopheles gambiae can be engineered to have the same preference. The question is what controls this preference.

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As a way to cut energy use, it could not be simpler. Unscrew a light bulb that uses a lot of electricity and replace it with one that uses much less.

While it sounds like a promising idea, it turns out that the long-lasting, swirl-shaped light bulbs known as compact fluorescent lamps are to the nation’s energy problem what vegetables are to its obesity epidemic: a near perfect answer, if only Americans could be persuaded to swallow them.

But now Wal-Mart Stores, the giant discount retailer, is determined to push them into at least 100 million homes. And its ambitions extend even further, spurred by a sweeping commitment from its chief executive, H. Lee Scott Jr., to reduce energy use across the country, a move that could also improve Wal-Mart’s appeal to the more affluent consumers the chain must win over to keep growing in the United States.

“The environment,” Mr. Scott said, “is begging for the Wal-Mart business model.”

It is the environmental movement’s dream: America’s biggest company, legendary for its salesmanship and influence with suppliers, encouraging 200 million shoppers to save energy.

For all its power in retailing, though, Wal-Mart is meeting plenty of resistance — from light-bulb makers, competitors and consumers. To help turn the tide, it is even reaching out to unlikely partners like Google, Home Depot and Hollywood.

A compact fluorescent has clear advantages over the widely used incandescent light — it uses 75 percent less electricity, lasts 10 times longer, produces 450 pounds fewer greenhouse gases from power plants and saves consumers $30 over the life of each bulb. But it is eight times as expensive as a traditional bulb, gives off a harsher light and has a peculiar appearance.

As a result, the bulbs have languished on store shelves for a quarter century; only 6 percent of households use the bulbs today.

Which is what makes Wal-Mart’s goal so wildly ambitious. If it succeeds in selling 100 million compact fluorescent bulbs a year by 2008, total sales of the bulbs in the United States would increase by 50 percent, saving Americans $3 billion in electricity costs and avoiding the need to build additional power plants for the equivalent of 450,000 new homes.

That would send shockwaves — some intended, others not — across the lighting industry. Because compact fluorescent bulbs last up to eight years, giant manufacturers, like General Electric and Osram Sylvania, would sell far fewer lights. Because the bulbs are made in Asia, some American manufacturing jobs could be lost. And because the bulbs contain mercury, there is a risk of pollution when millions of consumers throw them away.

Michael B. Petras, vice president of lighting at G.E., concedes that “the economics are better with incandescent bulbs.”

All that has only spurred Wal-Mart to redouble its efforts — and, in typical fashion, it is asking those who may be hurt by the change to help achieve it.

During an extraordinary meeting in Las Vegas in early October, competing bulb makers, academics, environmentalists and government officials met to ponder, at times uncomfortably, how Wal-Mart could sell more of the fluorescent lights.

The proposals discussed at what Wal-Mart dubbed the “light bulb summit” ranged from the practical (advertise the bulbs on the back of a Coke 12-pack) to the quixotic (create a tax on incandescent bulbs to make them more expensive).

Selling 100 million bulbs “is not a slam dunk by any stretch of the imagination,” Stephen Goldmacher, an executive at Royal Philips, the Dutch company that is one of the world’s largest light-bulb makers, told the group. “If this were easy, it would have happened already.”

The attendees did not need to look far for evidence. Wal-Mart had asked the owners of the Mirage Hotel and Casino, where the conference was held, to commit to using the energy saving bulbs in its guest rooms in time for the meeting. The hotel politely declined.

It is not alone. Compact fluorescent bulbs, introduced in the United States with much fanfare in 1979 by Philips just as the nation’s second energy crisis of the decade was getting under way, have never captured the public imagination.

The new bulbs — lighted by sparking an efficient chemical reaction, rather than heating a metal filament — were ungainly, took several seconds to light up and often did not fit into traditional light fixtures.

Since then, refinements have made them far more convenient to use, reducing their size and price as well. But Wal-Mart sold only 40 million in 2005, compared with about 350 million incandescent bulbs, according to people briefed on the figures.

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Published: Sunday, January 28, 2007
By Candace Page
Free Press Staff Writer

HINESBURG -- Outside, the thermometer read minus 1 degree Fahrenheit on Thursday. Inside David and Carrie Fenn's new home, the temperature was a balmy 30 degrees warmer, although the house is unfinished, uninsulated and lacking two doors to shut out the wind.

The Fenns can't wait to move in.

Big, south-facing, heat-capturing windows are the least of what they look forward to in a house designed to use less energy, make its own electricity and draw its heat from the earth.

"We are both very concerned about climate change and sustainability," said David Fenn, a 73-year-old retired computer executive. "We want to do what we can and a very energy-efficient house is one thing we can do."

Welcome to the cutting edge of home building.

South Farm, a six-home development on the edge of Hinesburg village, is one of the first -- if not the first -- Vermont subdivision to aim for "net-zero" status, meaning over the course of a year it will generate more electricity from clean, renewable sources than it draws from utility power lines. Succeeding also means close to zero emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

Individual Vermonters have been building energy-miser, rustic, off-the-grid homes since the back-to-the-land movement of the late 1960s.

It has taken high oil prices, improved renewable energy technology and the looming threat of global warming to introduce "green" building to the suburbs and the market for $400,000-plus houses.

Already the roof of the Fenns' house is plastered with photovoltaic film to turn sunlight into electricity. Pipes snake down a deep well beside the house, ready to warm the house with geothermal heat. Inside, walls more than 9 inches thick await a stuffing of insulation.

South Farm developer Chuck Reiss is testing the strength and consistency of the wind higher on the hillside. If a 10-kilowatt wind turbine proves feasible, all six homes should achieve energy self-sufficiency.

Their only contribution of greenhouse gases would come from the small amount of propane burned in the homes' cookstoves and clothes dryers.

Jo White has a strategy even for that fossil fuel.

"I love hanging my wash outside to dry," said the 70-year-old retired banker, who hopes to move to her new South Farms home in March.

Saving money,
saving the planet

Vermont lawmakers just wrapped up three weeks of special hearings on global climate change and ways in which the state can reduce its emissions of fossil fuels.

They heard one message repeatedly: One of Vermont's most obvious opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is making the state's homes and businesses more energy-efficient.

Commercial and residential buildings use almost 40 percent of the energy and 70 percent of the electricity in the United States, according to the federal government. In Vermont, it's estimated that nearly one-third of carbon emissions can be attributed to residential and commercial buildings.

Not to mention the hit that homeowners' wallets take, paying the electric and heating bill -- home heating bills in Vermont can top $1,000 a year.

"I'm 70 years old, on a fixed income. If I want to travel, to do the things I like, then I do have to worry about how I'm spending my money," White said.

Lawmakers are certain to consider extending the state's energy-efficiency programs, which until now have focused on reducing use of electricity. That program could be expanded to help middle-income homeowners improve insulation and stop air leaks in their homes to reduce the amount of heating fuel they burn.

Moving to 'Energy Star'

Meanwhile, the world of new residential construction already has changed.

Vermont has enacted minimum energy standards for all new houses.

Efficiency Vermont, the state-funded efficiency utility, provides technical assistance and some financial incentives for builders to beat the minimum standards by constructing Energy Star homes.

Better insulated, equipped with the most efficient furnaces and energy-efficient appliances and lighting, an Energy Star home will use about 30 percent less energy than a standard home, according to Pat Haller, residential new construction market manager at Efficiency Vermont.

In 2005, 25 percent of new residential units met Energy Star standards in Vermont, Haller said.

Builders tell him qualifying for an Energy Star rating adds about $2,000 to the cost of building a home, he said.

"To get to net-zero, you are going to have to be 50 to 70 percent more efficient than Energy Star. That's hard to do," he said.

Designing for net-zero

Nevertheless, a few home builders are ready to try -- not just a home here and there but whole small subdivisions.

Reiss' South Farm appears to be the first, but builder Tom Moore of Underhill is close behind, with an eight-home subdivision, Locust Knoll, scheduled to break ground this spring off U.S. 2 south of Richmond village.

Both developers are selling not just energy efficiency but the idea of a "green community" of homes built from sustainable materials, near an existing village and beside an organic farm.

South Farm will have a pedestrian path to connect it to Hinesburg village. Residents will be able to walk to the grocery store half a mile away.

In both cases, building near-net-zero homes begins with location. David and Carrie Fenn's home, like all those in the development, is snugged into a south-facing slope to capture the sun and uses the earth as insulation against the back wall of the first floor.

"That sounds easy, but it is hard to orient houses for southern exposure because we all like to have our front door facing the street," Haller said.

Another key is building smaller-than-usual homes -- less than 2,000 square feet at South Farm. The less space to heat and light, the less energy is needed. Double walls and extra insulation also reduce the energy demand of the homes.

"Some builders want to build a net-zero home, but they don't necessarily push themselves to get there. Chuck is really pushing himself," Haller said.

Reiss's combination of solar roofs and geothermal heat, for example, provides the South Farm homes with a zero-carbon source of home heating.

Pipes draw water from deep in the ground through a heat pump that extracts and concentrates the warmth to heat the house. The heat pump uses a lot of electricity, but much of the time that power will come from the solar panels on the roof.

In all, Reiss estimates his homes will use about 5,500 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually to turn on the lights, run most appliances and operate the geothermal heat pump. (The average Green Mountain Power residential customer uses 7,827 kilowatt-hours a year). The solar roof will generate about 4,000 kilowatts. (When the roof is generating more electricity than the home can use, the extra power will flow to the local utility, Green Mountain Power, and the home's electric meter will run backward.)

Until and unless Reiss can install a wind turbine, the homes will draw electricity from Green Mountain Power when their solar roofs are not making power.

Paying a premium

Buying a near-net-zero home is not for everyone. Reiss's homes are likely out of reach for most first-time homebuyers.

"There's no getting around the fact that doing a green building just plain costs more. It costs more to put up a photovoltaic array than not to put it up," said Keith Dewey, the Londonderry architect who is designing Moore's Richmond development.

For this reason, Reiss's buyers (three of the six homes are sold) are older people with homes they can sell to finance the move to South Farm.

White and the Fenns describe themselves as environmentalists willing to pay a premium for a near-net-zero home. Carrie Fenn and Jo White serve together on the Hinesburg Planning Commission, which they would like to see make Energy Star construction a requirement of new homes in town.

Just how close their homes will get to using little or no electricity from the grid will be up to them in part.

"There will be some lifestyle changes for some people," Reiss said. "If you leave the lights on all the time or turn on the dishwasher every five minutes, you will use more electricity."

White said she doesn't see attention to her electric use as a burden.

"I'm a switcher-off of lights. I don't let my car run when I'm not in it. I've always tried to be energy-conscious, not just because it costs more to leave the lights on, but because I don't want to waste energy."

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By Samantha Enslin

Sustainable energy interventions, such as solar power, efficient public transport networks and building regulations, could reduce South Africa's carbon dioxide emissions by up to 864 million tons over the next 20 years.

To achieve this goal, local governments need to be at the forefront of promoting the efficient use of energy, through awareness campaigns, conversion to solar water heaters and energy efficient building regulations.

This is the view of The State of Energy in South African Cities 2006: a review conducted between April 2005 and September 2006, funded by Sustainable Energy Africa, Danida, the Wallace Global Fund and the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership. The report was released yesterday.

"Huge carbon dioxide savings can be realised from sustainable energy interventions in South African cities (of) between 119 million and 864 million tons in the next 20 years," says the report. "Carbon dioxide reduction targets of between 15 and 20 percent over 20 years appear to be manageable for cities through efficiency and renewable interventions."

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Los Angeles - A California legislator wants to make his state the first to ban incandescent light bulbs as part of California's initiatives to reduce energy use and greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

The How Many Legislators Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb Act would ban incandescent light bulbs by 2012 in favour of energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs, which use about 25 percent of the energy.

"Incandescent light bulbs were developed almost 125 years ago and... have undergone no major modifications," assemblyman Lloyd Levine said on Tuesday.

"Meanwhile, they remain incredibly inefficient, converting only about five percent of the energy they receive into light."

Levine is expected to introduce the legislation this week.

If passed, it would be another pioneering environmental effort in California, the first to mandate cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, targeting a 25 percent reduction in emissions by 2020. - Reuters

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Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin - A fast-food franchise owner has found a way to turn grease into gold by using left-over vegetable oil to heat his water boiler.

The experiment could soon become an industry standard in the United States as rising fuel costs encourage small businesses to search for savings, analysts said.

"My mother's from Germany, so I've seen how they recycle in Europe, and I think we need to do more of that here," said Ed Rich, who has been serving up ButterBurgers and frozen custard for five years at a Culver's fast-food franchise about 90km north of Chicago.

"We have to find a way to become less dependent on foreign oil, and if we all do our part, it can make a difference."

Rich came up with the idea after he read about people using fryer oil to fuel their cars. He hooked up with a company on the other side of Wisconsin that has been making boilers that burn waste motor oil for more than 15 years.

"We're at a point where we can't afford to throw away energy," said Rebecca Faas, president of INOV8, which designed and installed Rich's system. "There are something like 925 000 restaurants in the US, and if we could heat all their water with renewables, just think what that could save."

Many restaurants pay to have their used oil hauled away for re-use in cosmetics and animal feed. That could change as rising oil and gas prices make the used oil more valuable.

"With the recent energy costs skyrocketing, we've had people offer to pay for used oil," said Barbara Behling, spokesperson for Culver's corporate office in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin.

Culver's already runs several corporate cars and trucks on biodiesel made from cooking oil. If Rich's system works well the company will recommend it to all franchisees, Behling said.

"If this catches on, it can gain some momentum and become standard practice in the industry," said Matthew Matenaer of Focus on Energy, a state-funded Wisconsin group that promotes energy conservation.

The state of Wisconsin offers rebates to companies that cut consumption and Focus on Energy is helping Rich determine how much gas he saves with the system.

Meanwhile, INOV8 is working on a new boiler that will automatically switch to natural gas if there's a problem with the oil supply. The system costs $9 000 to $11 000 plus about $2 000 for installation and is expected to last more than 20 years.

It is free of harmful emissions and doesn't even smell of French fries. - Sapa-AFP
 

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A South African man and a British friend have launched a campaign to get people around the world to pledge to do their bit to fight global warming. They are billing the EarthFireIce campaign as the first online campaign to collect pledges from individuals.

For example, you can pledge to stop using a hair dryer, or turn your heating down, or to walk more and use your car less - and your contribution towards saving greenhouse gasses will be calculated so you can monitor your impact.

To kick off their campaign and raise awareness the two founders are taking part in the hottest and coldest marathons in the world. No one takes part in this race lightly. Each year a few hundred runners come to the Sahara desert in Algeria for perhaps the toughest marathon in the world. Money raised by the event benefits the Saharwi people, refugees who were forced from their land in Western Sahara 30 years ago.

Family and friends join in
This year Ed Stumpf, who grew up in Port Elizabeth, and Brit Sean Cornwell were there in a bid to kickstart their EarthFireIce online campaign, which they have set up in their spare time. People can log on to their website to make a pledge to do their bit to fight global warming, and invite family and friends to do the same.

"There's a very common perception that only governments and businesses can make any difference in the climate change arena and that you know, if an individual wants to make a difference they have to make these huge enormous sacrifices in their life like, you know, I'm never going to fly again, I'm going to live in a hippie commune or something. And we're trying to show the opposite. Actually you don't have to make these huge sacrifices to have, and yet you can still have a significant impact," Sean said.

While Sean and Ed have put tens of thousands of rands of their own money into the campaign they've attracted some sponsorship and hope more companies will support them People can donate money to environmental projects in the third world, but the founders are keen to stress that what they really want is not money, but action.

Ed said: "Seventy five percent of the world's CO2 emissions come from the first world, and yet the effects are far and away the most severe in the developing world. And a short trip, even our trip to the Sahara, was kind of, it really pushed home that point. It's quite obvious. What would these people do if global climate changed?"

I million people
The EarthFireIce founders hope as many as one million people will join the campaign which they believe is the first to target individuals. With one gruelling marathon behind them, Ed and Sean face another. Both men will be running in the North Pole marathon in early April.

While the two founders of EarthFireIce are going to extremes, they're keen to stress that others do not have to, but that small changes together can have a big impact.

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Recycling is one of the best ways in which to have a positive impact upon the world in which we live in. Recycling is highly beneficial for the natural environment and human beings. The amount of the rubbish we create and dump into the environment is rapidly increasing everyday, which is having a horrendous effect on the environment, resulting in global warming and the increase in temperature rise.

The reasons why we are creating more waste are due to; increase in wealth, therefore we have more money to buy products, resulting in more waste. Increase in population means, there are more people creating waste. New packaging and technological products are being developed, much of these products contain materials that are not biodegradable.

Recycling is incredibly important as waste has an extremely negative blow upon the ecosystem. Harmful chemicals and greenhouse gasses are released from rubbish in landfill sites. Recycling helps to reduce the pollution caused by waste. Habitat destruction and global warming are some the affects caused by deforestation. Recycling reduces the need for raw materials so that the rainforests can be preserved.

The production of computer parts involves numerous chemicals which are highly dangerous to our health and surroundings. The Information Technology production industry has enormous carbon imprints; however the carbon imprints can be reduced through recycling of computer components.

In order to produce computer parts the IT industry uses raw dwindling resources and materials which are already relatively scarce. It is a well known fact that major companies only keep IT equipment for around 3 years and then dispose of it. Most of the IT equipment is in good condition and can be reused and deployed in the use of charities, homes, schools etc.

Recycling can help in the deployment of old computers, computer components and other computer related equipment, recycling redundant and damaged computers can be turned into component metals which can then go towards building new computer or fixing damaged machines.

Most of the environmental concerns which lie with inappropriate disposal of computers are the monitor. Each colour monitor contains on an average of 4 to 5 pounds of lead. Other chemicals found in computers are mercury, cadmium a known carcinogen and Hexavalent Chromium which is known to cause high blood pressure, iron-poor blood, liver disease, and nerve and brain damage in animals.

Organisations such as Oxfam have set up schemes where other charities and schools in the third world can benefit from old disposed computers. Oxfam collect old computers in order to raise money to help those in need. By disposing of computers in this way, you can help the environment and decrease the population levels. Also at the same time companies can feel good about the way they have disposed computers, knowing that they are helping others.

It is very important to recycle computers, due to high number of computers being disposed of incorrectly or just stored away, is increasing the risk of polluting the environment with unfriendly toxins and excess waste.

Basically any part / component of a computer can be recycled, the keyboard, mouse, printer and monitor. The steel cases can be sold on for scrap metals, as can the chassis of the computer, floppy drive chassis, hard drive cases and drive platters. Heat sinks have to be separated out during the recycling process due to their high aluminium alloy content and these are recycled separately and for less money per kilo nonetheless still worth a cash value.

Just by correctly disposing products can help the environment greatly. By doing this you are also doing your bit to help fight against global warming, habitat destruction and deforestation. All things which are harmful to us and the future generations that have to live on this planet. Due to vast amount of computer waste, computers could become more expensive, due to European laws may force makers to recycle old machines and computer hardware in order to help the environment.

Computer experts have warmed when the new laws are put into force overall computer prices may levitate to anything between $50 to $100. This may force companies into leasing computers to reduce their CPA, and bring down cost in general.

Overall disposing of computers correctly by recycling parts and components could result in a better cleaner less toxic environment. Cleaner environment means less global warming, habitat destruction and deforestation. Also reducing the amount of raw materials needed in order to produce these machines. It is therefore highly important to dispose of the computer in the right place. In many countries dumping of electronic equipment in many areas is banned due to highly toxic chemicals in some components.

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Sylvia Westall 26 February 2007 at 07h29