ENERGY MANAGEMENT & AUTOMATION SPECIALISTS

Look after the watts & the kilowatts will take care of themselves !!!

- OVERVIEW
- WHAT IS ESKOM SAYING TO US ?
- DEMAND REDUCTION – HOW ?
- WHAT ARE OTHER COUNTRIES DOING ?
- ALTERNATIVES
- C-BUS ENERGY MANAGEMENT
- WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

OVERVIEW

Do not be fooled into thinking that the current energy crisis is only a South African – or African problem …… Or that it is only temporary. We are fast approaching point zero

In the years past we experienced riots as well as stay aways , a non payment culture
developed in some sectors , the reasons given were poor service delivery , inferior supplies etc
Huge amounts of electricity theft took place leading to the introduction of prepaid meters which were also overcome & by passed
The councils battled to recoup what they had spent on the supply of the electricity from Eskom
Huge debts were incurred & were eventually written off - often crippling local municipalities

This culture & attitude has unfortunately affected the people who have paid on a regular
basis their whole lives - these same people may now find themselves penalized for using a basic 1st world commodity

What happened to the “electricity for all “ political campaigns of years past?

WHAT IS ESKOM SAYING TO US ?

DON’T USE OUR PRODUCT !!????

The concept of a company begging you NOT to use their one & only commodity is ludicrous to say the least !! This is like Coca Cola saying please don’t drink Coke drink Pepsi instead!!!!!!!!!! I am really battling to get my head around this Fat cat or what??
ESKOM is even encouraging us to use alternative energy supplies !! Remember the last winter ? Eskom telling us to go buy gas heaters – then what happened - we could not get gas !!

SAVE ELECTRICITY !!

This a very strange concept – AC Electricity cannot be efficiently stored & therefore cannot be “saved”
There is no National battery bank standing by to be used when demand exceeds supply. Electricity can only be generated and distributed. The only “saving” is to reduce demand there-by reducing generation and ultimately reducing the depletion of non renewable or expensive and dirty energy sources such as coal, oil, gas, diesel, petrol

ESKOM cannot currently supply/generate sufficient electricity to meet the demand
So lets look at ENERGY MANAGEMENT - ESKOM is asking us to manage, reduce or to control our personal usage so that they can supply enough to meet the reduced collective demand.
Soon they will be demanding that we do this & enforcing penalties if we don’t / won’t / can’t

ENERGY MANAGEMENT NATIONALLY

HOW DOES ESKOM REDUCE DEMAND ?

By Isolating different geographical areas from the grid, more commonly known as load shedding, resulting in Rolling Blackouts.
This is easy for ESKOM - they remotely switch off areas until supply matches demand. There is no conscious thought as to what industries will be effected it is simply an instruction issued to an Operator 7 floors below in The “Mighty Duva” power-station just outside Witbank, In all likelihood the operator probably has not even been to the town or area blinking with a red LED on the two story control panel in front of his/her operations desk.

RIPPLE RELAYS and Localised energy management is not a new concept
Load shedding can be performed via ripple relays or radio control so that the geysers in residential blocks / neighborhoods/ cities can be turned off via a localized management system – greatly reducing demand on the grid & allowing ESKOM to shift its supply to areas that have major industries requiring massive demands for certain production programs
This technology was in place in years gone by – where are these systems now? Where are the people who implemented & ran
them ?

SELF IMPOSED DEMAND REDUCTION

ENERGY MANAGEMENT @ HOME

We can all practice energy management & reduce our monthly electricity consumption with a little effort

GEYSERS
Turn the geyser off when you leave for work in the morning & then only switch it back on after 6.30pm in time for hot water to bath / shower later in the evening
Geyser insulating blankets will reduce heat losses and should be compulsory. Solar geysers are now affordable and should be considered when replacing burst geysers and made Law in terms of new developments. I wonder which Insurance company will be the first to give the green light on :home owners insurance policies to replace burst electric geysers with solar powered units. Perhaps government could assist with the shortfall

This consumer “Load Shedding” can also be achieved automatically with a programmable time switch switching off any, major appliance during non use periods

KETTLES
Kettles are really abused – we boil them - leave the kitchen , come back & boil them again , just incase its not hot enough for our tea !! the reality is 5 -10 minutes after the kettle has boiled its still hot enough for a cup of tea & certainly hot enough for instant coffee
I am not convinced that only boiling enough water for one cup has any real reduction in consumption of electricity
You could always knit a kettle warmer to improve the kettles insulating performance. !

COOKING EXCERCISE
When you get home – check your electrical meter & see how fast its spinning – then switch on your hob and oven - look again at the meter – if this does not make an impression on you then perhaps you should visit your optician
You are paying for each revolution of the disc

LIGHTS
Turn them on & off as you need them – its too easy to have lights burning all over the house – but this requires self discipline - not something most of us are too good at !

OCCUPANCY SENSORS
Intelligent occupation sensors can be located in the ceiling at the entrance to any room – this will automatically switch on the light when a person enters the room & then will switch it off again when the room is no longer occupied
These sensors can also be set to operate at required light levels – so typically would switch the light on when the area is dark if the day is overcast & naturally at night.
The beauty of using these sensors is that no one can forget to switch the light off – in the bathrooms, the garage , the scullery & kitchen etc

Besides the energy reduction benefits , the spin offs with the installation of occupancy sensors are ,fewer lamp burning hours, reduced artificial heat and reduced maintenance as light bulbs last years instead of weeks.
You do not require a light switch on the wall – you can carry your bags in with both hands & be greeted by light . A sensor in a passage lights up the passage for midnight pajama patrol and would switch off automatically afterward. Automated lights also would startle an intruder should they be creeping into your house.

By incorporating occupancy sensors – intelligent light switches & a dedicated management device , the home owner can enhance lifestyle options & reduce electrical usage at the same time
These home automation – energy management systems require the assistance of qualified electricians & certified systems engineers.

ENERGY MANAGEMENT AT THE OFFICE

Look around you at night – hundreds of high rise buildings – with hundreds of square meters of space & thousands of lights burning for absolutely no reason at all
Look around you during the day - the outside lights that are for nighttime use are more often than not still burning all day - which really is peak time
What a shameful waste of resources

Energy management systems are available on the market to control multi storey buildings , office blocks , football stadiums , conference centers & residential homes.

WHAT ARE OTHER COUNTRIES DOING ?

In some European countries the utilities have made an effort to control demand by offering the consumer two tariffs - a lower tariff during low demand & a higher “penalty” tariff during high demand periods

Typically on arriving home , the consumer would have a RED led indicator lamp burning on the distribution board – this would indicate a maximum demand period & should the stove or geyser be switched on during this red light period then the higher tariff would apply.
Should they choose to wait half an hour until the red light goes out & the green light burns then they would purchase their “cooking” energy at the reduced rate. (for illustration purposes) lets say that the GREEN LIGHT PERIOD tariff is R1 per kilowatt hour and R10 per Kilowatt hour during the RED LIGHT PERIOD)

This type of PENALTY based control is an effective means for the utility to control peaks & troughs & avoid maximum demand overloads or outages.

Germany’s feed law permits and encourages homeowners and farmers to connect their solar power systems to the grid and pays them a fair price for their electricity. This simple system has led Germany to world leadership in wind, solar, and biogas electricity generation. Germany operates more wind generation, more solar systems, and more biogas plants than any other country on earth. Renewable sources of energy installed through Germany’s feed law produce ... nearly 10% of German electricity consumption.

www.25x25.org – Our Goal is for America's Farms to provide 25% of Total Energy in USA by 2025
Good luck with that guys!!

Wind farms have been, and are being constructed in upland areas of the British Isles, such as Wales and the Lake District, but they have been objected to because of visual and noise pollution. To solve this problem, engineers have suggested offshore locations, where wind speeds are higher and the impact of visual pollution is dramatically reduced
Experts say that the amount of kinetic energy within Earth's atmosphere is equal to about 10,000 trillion kilowatt-hours.

WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES

COMPACT FLOURESCENT TECHNOLGY

There is a big drive toward this technology world wide – with Australia even making decisions at National level to ensure that all lighting applications – commercial & residential should have a 60% low energy lamp content
Now here is where I got blown out of the water – as an electrician I was taught that fluorescent lamps are supposed to be disposed of in properly equipped hazardous waste facilities because the gases in the lamps is extremely harmful & toxic to the environment
So here I see a double edged sword – reduce consumption of electricity by a minute proportion – but radically poison the environment !!
How do you, dispose of your expired fluorescent tubes & lamps ?

LED technology
One can retrofit standard low voltage 50w downlighters with a 220v LED lamp which will marginally reduce consumption however will also dramatically reduce LUX levels so one would have to have 3 times as many LED fittings as Low Voltage to obtain equivalent lux levels.

So my logic says rather keep lights off when you don’t require them. This is the only way to significantly reduce electricity consumption

Architects , town-planners , engineers , developers , life insurance companies and Government– all have a role to play in incorporating energy management systems into ALL new projects.
Alternative products such as solar powered geysers should be made mandatory. For both residential and commercial use.

Eskom has made some effort in rewarding energy conscious customers - but more , much more needs to be done.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES ??

A quote Herman Daly
"Nonrenewable resources should be exploited, but at a rate equal to the creation of renewable substitutes."

“For humanity's sake, to replace the demands we are currently making on fossil fuels with renewable energy sources, we must increase the use of wind power, hydro-electric, solar photovoltaics, biomass, and other renewable systems world wide by perhaps 20-35% or more per year. We are calling this great mobilization "

Check out http://energy.sourceguides.com

This lists 11 000 businesses world wide that deal in alternative energy - there are 117 listed in SA – 403 in Germany

What are you prepared to do ??
10 reasons to plant a windmill in YOUR field:
1. BENEFIT from energy and electricity price inflation by making greater savings
2. provide a reasonable return on your investment
3. generate a tax free income from excess electricity which is automatically sold back to the grid (your meter may even go backwards)
4. reduce your dependence on imported oil and gas
5. keep your lights on and provide a backup for an unreliable grid supply
6. make a clear statement about your green credentials
7. take a big step towards self sufficiency
8. reduce your carbon footprint
9. off set carbon emissions from other areas in your life
10. show environmental leadership in your community

WHERE TO FROM HERE ?

The growing economy is placing massive stress on services & infrastructure & massive stress on non replenishable energy sources - gas, coal

What is going to be the norm for our grand children & great grandchildren
What sort of legacy are we leaving them ?
Are we self destructing faster than we realize ?
When will the world start to take this seriously