MONDAY, 10.30AM:
AMERICAN energy expert Amory Lovins, currently visiting South Africa, says Eskom is making a mistake “running wires out to people who can’t pay”. He suggests that Eskom “leap-frog” to looking at the potential of solar energy, which would cut infrastructure costs and help consumers pay their energy bills.
Lovins, who runs the Rocky Mountain Institute, says the South Africa government needs to give greater stress to efficient production of energy, rather than rewarding increased electricity output, which is what the British model results in.
He said US energy utilities had made massive savings and increased revenues from more efficient energy production, citing the example of Southern California Edison, which gives away fluorescent light bulbs because they use less energy.