Hybrid Desalination proposal to UGU by Professor Turton

Hybrid Desalination proposal to UGU by Professor Turton

Hybrid Desalination proposal to UGU by Professor Turton: Professor Anthony Turton is back with us again!

This time, in a constructive and positive proposal to our local UGU Municipality, addressing the current concerns over water supply and security.

NUMSA

NUMSA are the trade union for Eskom employees. NUMSA has made incredibly unreasonable demands including double-digit wage increases. And double housing and vehicle subsidies. And much more?!

These were summarily refused. And Eskom employees, who earn an average of R61 000 per month, are torching the place. This seems a high salary and it is because the fat cats take up to R7 000 000 per year!

And it’s these rotten, stinking eggs, that are NUMSA.

Sabotage. Strikes. Violence.

Equals.

Rolling blackouts.

When the power goes out, water extraction, purification and sewage systems fail. And we get no water or dirty water, and the shit flows into the rivers and onto the beaches.

So, with the background to our water situation out of the way, let’s proceed with the proposal by Professor Anthony Turton.

Enjoy the presentation…click play below…

Short-term Solutions

All of this said, however, does not mean you have to sit in the dark for now. The Sardine News has put together a solar starter kit (you just need to get a panel and a battery), that includes all you need to watch tv, work on your computer, power some lights and charge all your batteries. Maybe even your small fridge.

In the box is an inverter. A real powerful little guy rated at 800w! These things at this power rating used to cost an absolute fortune 5 years ago. There is also the neatest little charge controller. Which regulates the power from the panel. And has 4 USB ports built right in. Featuring the coolest digital display feeding you all the necessary status information about the system. At your fingertips. A bundle of cables and clips, and instructions (online), complete the package.

Delivery costs R99 (PostNet).

You need to buy your own battery. They are too heavy to post! And solar panels are readily available online and everywhere these days. A 100w panel will power the above system. The alternative is to buy a battery charger and plug it into the mains. So that when the power comes back on, it automatically restores the battery’s spent charge.

This little system will run your basic requirements for a good 3 to 6 hours. Or more, if you are careful and monitor and restrict usage where possible. This is how the starter pack teaches you the ropes. At minimal expense. Arming you for your very easy and profitable divorce from Eskom.

Divorcing Eskom

To power your fridge and geyser indefinitely on solar, you just need to spend more money. On panels and batteries. And your inverter. Or just get another inverter and isolate and dedicate circuits. Like one for the fridge. One for the geyser. You can also install a solar heater on your roof. Especially here in Africa where the sun shines so much.

The challenges are the geyser and the fridges. Although you would be surprised as I was to find that smaller fridge/freezers use very little power overall. (When I lived in the bush, we would fire up the generator upon setting up camp. Fill the chest freezer with water bottles. And let it rip. After that first day or so, the water turned to ice. And we could turn the generator off. That freezer and that ice inside there lasts a week if treated nicely.) This kept all our supplies fresh and cool. When we motored, the chest freezer was run on the vehicle’s powerful inverter and so on we kept on keeping on. Months.

The options for heating water are far more challenging. In the bush, we used the ever-present campfire. And make no mistake, that when you turn on the gas in your kitchen, you may aswell be lighting a campfire. Indoors! The gas propaganda was so successful (pre-internet), that everyone, including you most likely, thinks that gas is cleaner than electricity. It’s not. It is terrible stuff. Poisonous. Dangerous. And please do not for one second forget that it is a fossil fuel! It is also how the fatcats get fatter.

On another side note, it costs about the same to boil a litre of water, with gas or electricity.

So how do we get a hot shower? Or a piping hot espresso?

Electric shower heads that take cold water in one side and spit out reasonably hot water from the other, are back in vogue. I have been shocked to shit by one of these things though. But it was worth the shower so I just stood there taking it! This was Mozambique where the entire country is not earthed and nobody cooks barefoot. You wear no shoes outside, but when you come inside, shoes go on. Anyway, the newer varieties seem damn cool. They use very little power so you could easily power your shower, with a starter system.

Espresso, however, is not that easy. Coffee machines eat electricity. Do not use one. Until they come up with an energy saver version. You are going to end up on fire either way – a little gas fire right in your kitchen. I have seen one-cup water boilers that the CIA must surely also use for torture. That work on 12v – I am sure the CIA plug theirs into the cigarette lighter.

There certainly is a market for a 12v water heater here in South Africa. Like a well-insulated earn or something innovative. There are some interesting products on Alibaba. Along with many camping and tiny house solutions.

Watch this space!

Follow this link to another Sardine News article named Working on Sunshine, which lists many appliances and their power requirements.

The Sardine News solar gallery

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