Dealing Effectively With Our Power Problem

THE warning lights have been flickering for a long time now about a regional power crisis, and this week South Africa’s power utility, Eskom, declared a ‘state of emergency’.

This reduced the amount of power NamPower imports from South Africa, and it in turn called upon all large power users, businesses, as well as individual consumers to reduce their usage in order to manage the load and prevent a power collapse. This is not good news, but we cannot say we did not see it coming.Like the fact that we should always preserve our precious water resources, whether or not there has been a good rainy season, so too should we always try to minimise our electricity usage.Both resources are in short supply in Namibia, and we should look at making it a way of life to conserve them.Had we heeded the warning signals earlier, Namibians could have already made a significant dent in our electricity consumption to the extent that we would have already reduced our demand on this scarce regional resource, and under the circumstances perhaps even offset the current crisis to a very large extent.Unfortunately, we don’t learn from our mistakes.Our water consumption too, needs to be brought to a minimum, for we will always be a country where water is in short supply.It does not help the overall situation if we turn a blind eye to wastage and restricting our usage when the dams are full, and then have to introduce emergency measures when the rain season dries up.We have to embark on water savings as a way of life, and not only as temporary measures when times are tough.Likewise, against a background of global warming and power shortages, we should constantly be engaging in savings and alternatives to electricity.Some individuals are very conscious of doing their part with regard to all of the above, as well as living lives which try to minimise negative impact on the environment, but others don’t care at all about the consequences for the future.If one simply asks the general populace to cut back on their power use, it probably won’t help much, unless it is accompanied by a campaign of reporting back to Namibians on how far the campaign is going, and raising general consciousness on the importance of doing just that.It would perhaps also be helpful to call upon our power utilities to set targets and give weekly figures on consumption and whether we are succeeding in this bid or not.Also they should point out the culprits – those who are the biggest consumers and who aren’t cutting back, and set ultimatums in this regard where possible.Most individual homeowners, conscious of trying to cut down on their electricity costs, will probably make a contribution by switching off lights, keeping use of appliances and cellphone chargers to a minimum etc, which may assist the campaign.But it is the big power and water users who need to be monitored closely too.Government has to do what it can, and one wonders whether much thought has been given to the new mines springing up all over the desert, and which in turn will do their part to further deplete our water table! Planning for the future is important in regard to both water and electricity savings.And whereas it could be expensive for households to suddenly switch to solar-powered heating methods, among others, they should plan ahead for these kinds of things.Likewise people building new homes and offices could consider the solar and other alternatives to electricity from the outset.Much more needs to be done to sensitise the public.Apart from our major power utility, NamPower, we have the various Regional Electricity Distributors (ReDS), and then the municipalities who in turn distribute to the consumers.Together they should embark on a concerted campaign, not just at this time when the crisis is upon us, but as a matter of course and even when power is in more plentiful supply.Way-of-life conservation measures in regard to both power and water are essential for the wellbeing of our nation, our region and ultimately, that of the world.But with regard to the immediate crisis, the challenge is on the table for Namibia to do its part to ensure that of all the southern African power users, we try to top the list of those who save the most!This is not good news, but we cannot say we did not see it coming.Like the fact that we should always preserve our precious water resources, whether or not there has been a good rainy season, so too should we always try to minimise our electricity usage.Both resources are in short supply in Namibia, and we should look at making it a way of life to conserve them.Had we heeded the warning signals earlier, Namibians could have already made a significant dent in our electricity consumption to the extent that we would have already reduced our demand on this scarce regional resource, and under the circumstances perhaps even offset the current crisis to a very large extent.Unfortunately, we don’t learn from our mistakes.Our water consumption too, needs to be brought to a minimum, for we will always be a country where water is in short supply.It does not help the overall situation if we turn a blind eye to wastage and restricting our usage when the dams are full, and then have to introduce emergency measures when the rain season dries up.We have to embark on water savings as a way of life, and not only as temporary measures when times are tough.Likewise, against a background of global warming and power shortages, we should constantly be engaging in savings and alternatives to electricity.Some individuals are very conscious of doing their part with regard to all of the above, as well as living lives which try to minimise negative impact on the environment, but others don’t care at all about the consequences for the future.If one simply asks the general populace to cut back on their power use, it probably won’t help much, unless it is accompanied by a campaign of reporting back to Namibians on how far the campaign is going, and raising general consciousness on the importance of doing just that.It would perhaps also be helpful to call upon our power utilities to set targets and give weekly figures on consumption and whether we are succeeding in this bid or not.Also they should point out the culprits – those who are the biggest consumers and who aren’t cutting back, and set ultimatums in this regard where possible.Most individual homeowners, conscious of trying to cut down on their electricity costs, will probably make a contribution by switching off lights, keeping use of appliances and cellphone chargers to a minimum etc, which may assist the campaign.But it is the big power and water users who need to be monitored closely too.Government has to do what it can, and one wonders whether much thought has been given to the new mines springing up all over the desert, and which in turn will do their part to further deplete our water table! Planning for the future is important in regard to both water and electricity savings.And whereas it could be expensive for households to suddenly switch to solar-powered heating methods, among others, they should plan ahead for these kinds of things.Likewise people building new homes and offices could consider the solar and other alternatives to electricity from the outset.Much more needs to be done to sensitise the public.Apart from our major power utility, NamPower, we have the various Regional Electricity Distributors (ReDS), and then the municipalities who in turn distribute to the consumers.Together they should embark on a concerted campaign, not just at this time when the crisis is upon us, but as a matter of course and even when power is in more plentiful supply.Way-of-life conservation measures in regard to both power and water are essential for the wellbeing of our nation, our region and ultimately, that of the world.But with regard to the immediate crisis, the challenge is on the table for Namibia to do its part to ensure that of all the southern African power users, we try to top the list of those who save the most!