Eskom may propose legislation to force companies to save energy, a senior manager said on Wednesday. <\/p>\n
"There’s an attempt within Eskom to push for energy efficiency and we’ve also been imploring the industry to drop their usage by about 10%," said Monkwe Mpye, senior manager of energy efficiency and demand side management at Eskom. <\/p>\n
"The energy power reservation programme is intended to do that. We do see some savings, but there is a view that maybe it must be legislated and we are in discussions about that," he told a convention of the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Johannesburg. <\/p>\n
Mpye was briefing the convention on Eskom’s energy saving incentives and said the most successful project so far had been the compact fluorescent lights (CFL) programme. <\/p>\n
CFLs use up to 80% less energy than incandescent light bulbs and they last six to ten times longer. <\/p>\n
In 2004, Eskom replaced five million traditional light bulbs with energy saving light bulbs. <\/p>\n
"This year alone we are doing six million of the CFL exchanges," said Mpye. <\/p>\n
That includes 1.3 million light bulb exchanges at corporate companies, an easy way to "reach out to the gated type communities", he said. <\/p>\n
The rollout would exchange more than eight million light bulbs in 2009 and 2010. <\/p>\n
Eskom would also like to replace electric geysers with solar water heaters but that was a costly exercise. The installation of a solar water heater could cost anything between R8 000 and R30 000. <\/p>\n
Local insurance companies replaced about 30 000 geysers every month. <\/p>\n
If 900 000 electric geysers could be replaced by solar water heaters, it would save Eskom 578 megawatts. <\/p>\n
"It will be good to see a mass rollout. The danger here is you will get fly-by-nights who will install geysers that break after a year," said Mpye. <\/p>\n
South Africa had only about three or four local manufacturers which were "very small businesses". <\/p>\n
"It’s a huge business opportunity to set up a plant here," said Mpye. <\/p>\n
Another energy saving area was replacing electric motor systems with pumps, fan systems, compressed air systems or conveyors. <\/p>\n
In South Africa, motor systems account for 60% of industrial electricity usage, and many of these motors are oversized. <\/p>\n
Globally, the percentage is 40%. <\/p>\n
Eskom’s aim is to replace 5 100 motor systems, but it has up to now only replaced 200.<\/p>\n