Planning for the future

It's a typical Cape winter rain day. Not hard pelting stuff, but soft drifts of droplets just an iota bigger than mist, turning the whole world an even shade of grey.

The perfect day for my son's school swimming gala! NOT... :) But the educational system is unbending, and the entire school sits shivering by the side of a half-olympic expanse of water, which is likely to be warmer than the air above it.

Anyway, with Eskom's track record in power supply and/or weather-related episodes, I've come prepared for a potential black-out. I've brought what will become my Office Reader's Digest Condensed Book. I'll leave it here (heck, I have another 120 at home!) in case of a couple of hours of darkness.

And talking Eskom, one of our local news services has the gumption to say what we're all thinking - that the excuses they come up with are downright ridiculous. They're the only independent news service, so are not beholden to any government regulations - they can do what they want. Where other news readers will passively carry on to the next story after an item detailing corruption/stupidness, these guys will literally shake their heads and give a wry grin before they move on.

So what are Eskom's excuses as to the power cuts?
* bird poop on the lines
* smoke from the recent fires dirtying up things enough to cause a short
* pollution and mist doing the same thing
* over-use of power (they're now going to PAY businesses not to use their power in peak times...)
* broken nuclear reactor - or sabotage - or something
* overload on remaining nuclear reactor - hence it stopped working

And then there are the unofficial excuses, the ones everyone else comes up with
* mismanagement (the bloke in charge not only got a gigantic salary, but also a bonus - earning him R13 MILLION last year! That's more than the president gets paid!)
* lack of skilled workers. They've either fired the gusy who knew what they were doing, or they've left.
* lack of planning for the area's growth rate - and probably not taking into consideration that numerous guys are plugging in to their nearest power lines illegally...
* lazy-ass do-nothingness. All those power stations they wanted to build are still unbuilt, the maintenance on current systems taking a back seat to something-or-other
* and many, many more

So far there hasn't been any real progress toward solving the situation. In fact, the government is a bit peeved that Eskom doesn't even bother to turn up to talk. They appear to have cut Eskom's financial abilities for the future, thanks to their bad track record.

Treehugger.com reported recently that Eskom will be handing out 500 million CFL bulbs to those affected by the power cuts, to ensure that they use less energy and bring the load down to manageable levels. Unfortunately, they're not free, just subsidized...

As much as I'd like to see alternative energy coming into play, I'm amazed how quickly it's shot down in favour of coal and gas. I thought we signed the Kyoto Protocol?

Anyway, I've been thinking about options to keep my little corner of the planet going should we have regular rolling blackouts in the cold dead of winter. I've looked at home-made wind power, solar options, and even thought of investing in gas heating/cooking equipment. I'd love to put in a fireplace - but where? For my part, I'm replacing the 8 bulbs still left in my house with energy-saving ones, and will probably buy a butane-gas single-plate cooking device (Benbel, R160, 9 hours worth of cooking) for emergency meals. And coffee.

And today, I've got my book. That's about as much planning as I can do for now!