"The movement of the big waves deeper into the sea is one of the largest alternative and renewable energy sources in the world which is still not exploited and utilised on a large scale today to displace fossil energy such as crude oil and coal," says Fanie Brink, an independent agricultural economist.
These sea waves release an enormous amount of renewable energy every day, while fossil energy will not be available for ever and signs are already showing that it will eventually run out.
For many years, this renewable energy source could have made a huge contribution to the country's energy needs, especially since South Africa is one of the countries in Africa that has a very long coastline. It could also have been a great advantage to significantly reduce the distribution costs through decentralised power plants. In addition, it could have helped the country tremendously to reduce the massive air pollution released by coal-fired power plants and the use of fossil fuels.
The technology to exploit the sea waves as a source of energy has been available in the world for more than a decade and has the added advantage that the energy so generated can also be used for desalination of seawater. Desalinated seawater has become an ever-increasing necessity to alleviate the effects of global warming and climate change and can, at the same time, make a major contribution to the sustainability of food security.
The development of electric vehicles that do not emit detrimental exhaust gases has already progressed very far in the world and will become one of the most important means of transport in the future, such as the already widely used electric buses and locomotives.
Any country that reduces its air pollution can gain specific benefits, such as the earning of carbon credits, which have been already trading in international markets for some years. The countries in the world who are unable to adequately reduce their exhaust gases can purchase these carbon credits to meet the requirements of the Kyoto-treaty, which was already signed in 2008, to reduce air pollution and global warming.
The country has been plunging into serious energy problems for some time, which has been directly caused by Eskom's ignorance, incompetence and corruption for a number of years, even though billions of Rands are being pumped into Eskom to divert a final collapse and to try to complete the new electricity plants that cost more every day.
Even the stale oil refineries are also experiencing serious capacity and quality problems today because the state or the local fuel industry do not want to be upgraded it to manufacture fuels that meet international quality standards, except when the fuel consumers must pay for it.
"The negative effects of a very possible dramatic weakening of the R/$ exchange rate within the next year or two, which is due to the further weakening of the economy and the government's growing debt burden, together with a subsequent downgrade of its creditworthiness, should not be underestimated at all.
The threatening policy prescriptions to the country's pension funds to invest in the government's development projects, as well as the very clear onslaught by the ANC to gain access and control over the country's gold and foreign reserves through the nationalisation of the Reserve Bank, will together with abovementioned negative effects have more serious consequences for the economy and the country,” says Brink.
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Bothaville
23 May 2019
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