Nuclear power for SA is the height of idiocy. Nuclear (I hope) is not a remote possibility in SA until we are an order of magnitude more jacked-up. This will **never** happen, so we must investigate other alternative energy options. You would not be apprehensive about a nuclear option for SA?? Does the example of SA’s ‘well-oiled-machine’ ethos give you confidence? Does our surfeit of skilled and nuclear-trained engineers make nuclear an obvious choice for energy? Of course, we always have our efficient health system which is ready to spring into action in the event of a nuclear accident with skilled practitioners of nuclear medicine. Nope. I think we have problems enough without compounding them with a nuclear specter.
I favour biofuels. As well as ‘green energy’, they solve employment problems and exploit current infrastructure. Bio-diesel is the answer. Stacks of rural employment because the farming need not be commercial – standards don’t apply (except for food). The plants (high-yield, purpose directed plants - not food plants) are suitable for small-scale farming on crappy land with no quality control. Just plant them and harvest them in time for pick-up.
Picture it. A railway spur (<ahem> implying a working rail network) is laid-down at major nodes. A
bio-diesel locomotive sponsored by SASOL (your friendly alternative fuel giant – building a better nation <gag>) leaves trucks on the spur for about a week (a residential carriage as well for officials) to collect fuel plant matter from myriads of subsistence farmers. They also tow around trailers with
bio-diesel powered tractors to collect the harvest of farmers who cannot get to the rail node. Payment is by cheque - no carrying of cash so that they or the farmers become targets for criminal attack. Cheque validation is by the farmer’s thumbprint (illiteracy is addressed). The banks in nearby centres have the biometric apparatus necessary to cash cheques and have been instructed to treat a severed thumb, dripping blood with deep suspicion. The banking industry also wins – all these farmers have bank accounts. Genetically engineered fuel crops (Monsanto?) should be looked into for greater yields.
With the bio-diesel option, all the existing power stations can be used with little or no modification (they are just boilers, you burn different stuff is all). As the vegetable matter for bio-diesel is low tech. agriculture, it will provide masses of employment. The bio-diesel growing plants are robust (so neglect is not a big issue) and do not require the same standards as foodstuff. Insecticides, gro-fast muti etc. are OK. No refrigeration or time-critical transport required. Just harvest the stuff (in your own time) and get it to the fuel-making centres at some stage – the sooner to be paid. There is also a massive infrastructure devoted to the internal combustion engine (cars). Little modification with bio-fuels is required. What modification that is required is cheap. There will not be a rush to buy expensive ‘green’ vehicles that require a non-existent infrastructure (wishful thinking). No money.
